About the Paycheck Calculator
“Paycheck calculator” is the single biggest personal-finance search family there is, and the incumbents hide their tables and their assumptions. This one shows its work: 2026 federal withholding built exactly the Pub 15-T way from the Rev. Proc. 2025-32 figures, FICA with the wage base and the additional Medicare rule, and 2026 tables for all 50 states + DC from the Tax Foundation’s annual survey — standard deductions, exemptions, credits and the local-tax field the big local-tax states need.
The part that makes people share it is the marginal arithmetic: another $100 into the 401(k) does not cost $100 of take-home, and a raise does not disappear into a higher bracket. The engine passed 21,208 Node assertions before shipping, including a full 51-jurisdiction cross-check against an independent implementation and longhand worked cases.
W-4 details (two jobs, other income, extra withholding)
Most employers withhold a flat 22% federal on separate bonus checks (37% above $1M), plus FICA and state. Withholding is not the tax — if 22% overshoots your real marginal rate, the difference comes back at filing.
How to Use the Paycheck Calculator
Enter your salary, schedule, state and filing status; add your pre-tax deductions; open the W-4 panel if your form has anything in Steps 2–4. The result is your paycheck as payroll aims to compute it: federal withholding by the current method, Social Security and Medicare with their 2026 limits, your state’s actual 2026 table, and an optional local rate for the county- and city-tax states.
The Three Tax Buckets, and Why Pre-Tax Placement Matters
Federal and state income taxes respond to almost every pre-tax dollar; FICA only to some. A 401(k) contribution skips income tax but still pays the 7.65% FICA. An HSA funded through payroll and Section 125 health premiums skip both — which makes the payroll HSA the single most tax-efficient dollar in the American system. This calculator routes each bucket correctly, which is precisely the detail cheap calculators flatten.
Marginal Beats Average, Every Time You Decide Something
Your effective rate answers “how much of my pay goes to tax”; your marginal rate answers every actual decision — take the overtime, raise the contribution, negotiate the raise. The Pro panels compute margins honestly, by running your full paycheck twice and differencing, so bracket edges, the Social Security cap and state quirks are all in the number. That is how you get sentences like “another $100 into the 401(k) costs $71 of take-home” that are actually true for you.
Related tools: the Time Card Calculator for the hours side, the Budget Calculator for where the net goes, and the S-Corp vs LLC Calculator if you are your own payroll department. Browse every Personal Finance tool for more.
Estimates for planning, not tax advice, and withholding is not your final tax bill. Sources: federal figures from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the Pub 15-T method; the SSA 2026 wage base; state tables from the Tax Foundation’s 2026 survey, verified 2026-09-07. Known approximations, stated plainly: most states’ head-of-household filers use the single table (few states publish one); some states’ official withholding formulas differ slightly from annualised liability; Connecticut’s exemption phase-out, Utah’s credit phase-out and Wisconsin’s sliding deduction are simplified; local rates are yours to enter. State disability/family-leave payroll deductions (CA SDI, NY PFL, WA PFML, NJ SDI and similar) are separate programs not included.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is federal withholding calculated in 2026?
By the method in IRS Publication 15-T for the current W-4: annualise your taxable wages, adjust for the W-4's other-income and deduction entries, subtract the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household for 2026), run the result through the seven 2026 brackets, then subtract the Step 3 credits and add any extra per-period withholding. The two-jobs checkbox switches to half-width bracket tables, which is mathematically the same as splitting the household's brackets between two earners. This tool implements exactly that construction from the Rev. Proc. 2025-32 figures.
What are FICA taxes?
Social Security at 6.2% on wages up to $184,500 (the 2026 wage base — nothing above it), and Medicare at 1.45% on everything, plus an additional 0.9% employers must withhold on wages over $200,000 regardless of filing status. Your employer pays a matching share you never see. One subtlety this tool gets right: 401(k) contributions do NOT reduce FICA wages, but health premiums through a Section 125 plan and payroll HSA contributions do.
Why does my state's number differ from a coworker's in another state?
Nine states tax no wages at all (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming). Fifteen are flat-rate; the rest run brackets from under 1% to 13.3% at the top in California. The 2026 tables bundled here come from the Tax Foundation's annual survey, verified at source, with each state's standard deduction and exemptions applied — and the big local-tax states (Maryland counties, Ohio cities, NYC, Indiana counties, Pennsylvania municipalities) get a local-rate field, because leaving local tax out silently is how other calculators miss by thousands.
What does putting $100 more into my 401(k) actually cost?
Less than $100 — that is the whole trick. A traditional 401(k) dollar skips federal and state income tax now (not FICA), so at a 22% federal marginal rate and a 5% state rate, $100 of contribution only shrinks your paycheck by about $73. The marginal panel computes your personal number by actually running your paycheck twice, one dollar apart — not by quoting your bracket, which is usually wrong at the edges.
Is this exactly what my paycheck will say?
It is the arithmetic your payroll system aims for, but expect small differences: employers may use the per-period bracket tables rather than exact annualisation (pennies of difference), your benefits may hit different tax buckets, some states have their own withholding formulas that differ slightly from annualised liability (disclosed here), local taxes vary block by block, and head-of-household state tables are approximated with single tables in most states because most states publish no separate HOH schedule. Withholding is also not your final tax — that gets settled on your return.
