A salary offer rarely matches what actually hits your bank account. Your take-home pay is reduced by federal income tax, state income tax, payroll taxes, and any pre-tax deductions you elect. Knowing the net figure helps when you set a budget, compare job offers or decide how much to put into a 401(k).
How the paycheck formula works
The calculator starts from gross pay and works down in layers. Your traditional 401(k) contribution and any other pre-tax deductions, such as health premiums or HSA and FSA contributions, come off first for income tax. The 2026 standard deduction for your filing status comes off next, and the federal brackets apply to what remains: 10% on the first slice, 12% on the next, and so on, so each rate only touches the income inside its bracket. The income tax calculator breaks those brackets down line by line.
Social Security (6.2% of wages up to the $184,500 wage base) and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% withheld on wages above $200,000) are figured separately. A 401(k) deferral does not reduce them, but cafeteria-plan deductions such as health premiums do. State tax uses your state's 2026 brackets and deductions on the same wages as the federal calculation, except in Pennsylvania, which taxes 401(k) deferrals.
Worked example: a $72,000 salary
For example, imagine a single filer making a $72,000 annual salary, paid biweekly in California, contributing 6% to a 401(k). The gross biweekly pay is $2,769.23. The 401(k) deduction takes out $166.15. Federal income tax is $233.06, Social Security $171.69 and Medicare $40.15. California income tax adds another $84.70. That leaves $2,073.47 per paycheck. Taxes take 19.12% of gross pay, which is the effective rate the calculator shows.
The same earner in Texas, which has no state income tax, has identical federal and FICA amounts. With state tax at zero, take-home pay rises to $2,158.17 per paycheck and the effective rate falls to 16.07%.
How pre-tax deductions help
A traditional 401(k) contribution lowers the income that federal tax, and in most states state tax, is charged on. That is why it reduces take-home pay by less than the amount you contribute. In the example above, the $166.15 contribution lowers take-home pay by $116.31 per paycheck, because federal and California income tax both fall. Try 6% and then 10% to see what each extra point of contribution actually costs you per paycheck.
Limits and assumptions
This calculator uses the 2026 federal brackets and standard deductions and the $184,500 Social Security wage base, and it assumes you take the standard deduction. 401(k) contributions are capped at the 2026 elective deferral limit of $24,500; catch-up contributions for workers 50 and older are not modeled. Other pre-tax deductions are treated the same way in every state, although California and New Jersey tax HSA contributions. It leaves out local income taxes, post-tax deductions and credits such as the Child Tax Credit. If the result differs a lot from a recent pay stub, your W-4 elections are the first place to look.
Key terms
- Gross pay
- Your total earnings before any taxes or deductions are removed.
- Take-home pay
- The final net amount that actually reaches your bank account after all taxes and deductions.
- FICA
- A federal payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare, deducted directly from your paycheck.
- Standard deduction
- A fixed dollar amount that reduces the income you are taxed on, based on your filing status.
- Pre-tax deduction
- Money taken out of your paycheck for benefits like retirement or health insurance before income taxes are calculated.
- Effective tax rate
- The actual percentage of your total gross income that you pay in taxes.