# Paycheck Calculator

> 6-in-1 take-home pay calculator: hourly, salary, bonus, raise, reverse & annual summary

Free paycheck calculator for 2026. Calculate take-home pay from hourly wage or salary. Federal + state + FICA + Medicare + 401k + HSA + FSA deductions.

URL: https://tools.scoreroute.com/tools/paycheck-calculator/

Markdown: https://tools.scoreroute.com/tools/paycheck-calculator/.md

### How is my take-home pay calculated?

Take-home pay starts with your gross pay per period, subtracts any pre-tax deductions (Traditional 401k, HSA, FSA Healthcare, FSA Dependent Care, pre-tax commuter benefits), then applies federal income tax withholding on the resulting taxable wages. FICA Social Security is 6.2% of gross up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Medicare is 1.45% of all gross. Additional Medicare Tax is 0.9% on wages over $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly. State income tax is calculated using the rate for your filing status and state. After all withholdings, the remainder is your net take-home pay. This calculator handles all of these steps in a single browser calculation.


### What changed in 2026 federal taxes that affects my paycheck?

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of July 2025 made permanent the TCJA 7-bracket structure, lowered the bottom two brackets (10% and 12%) by an extra 4% inflation adjustment on top of the standard 2.3%, raised the standard deduction by $350 single and $700 joint, and indexed the Child Tax Credit to inflation ($2,200 per child). The 2026 federal brackets are: Single 10% up to $12,400, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, 24% to $201,775, 32% to $256,225, 35% to $640,600, 37% above. The Social Security wage base increased from $176,100 in 2025 to $184,500 in 2026.


### Why do AI chatbots get my paycheck wrong?

AI text models give you a single rough estimate like take-home equals 70 percent of gross. They forget that the Social Security wage base of $184,500 means high earners stop paying 6.2% halfway through the year, they forget the Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% kicks in above $200,000 of wages, they forget pre-tax 401k and HSA reduce taxable wages not gross, they forget state income tax varies from 0% in 7 states to over 13% in California, they forget the bonus 22% supplemental method is different from your normal withholding, and they cannot apply the new W-4 step-by-step method introduced in 2020. The same inputs to ChatGPT or Claude give a different answer every prompt. This calculator applies all 9 deterministic factors using official 2026 IRS tables.


### How is my bonus taxed?

Most employers use the federal supplemental wage method: a flat 22% federal withholding on bonus amounts up to $1 million in a calendar year, and 37% on amounts above $1 million. Some employers use the aggregate method which folds the bonus into your next regular paycheck and computes withholding as if it were ordinary income. The flat 22% method usually results in more being withheld than your actual marginal tax rate if you earn between $50,400 and $105,700 single (22% bracket). You get the difference back at tax time. This calculator uses the aggregate method by default which gives your true marginal rate.


### What is the difference between pre-tax and post-tax deductions?

Pre-tax deductions (Traditional 401k, HSA, FSA Healthcare, pre-tax commuter up to $315/month in 2026, traditional IRA if eligible) reduce your taxable wages for federal income tax, Social Security tax, Medicare tax, and usually state income tax. They lower your current tax bill. Post-tax deductions (Roth 401k, Roth IRA, after-tax FSA contributions, wage garnishments, union dues) are taken out after taxes are computed and only affect your take-home pay, not your tax bill. This calculator handles both types in the proper order so your federal withholding is computed correctly.


### How much should I contribute to my 401k?

The 2026 elective deferral limit is $24,500 (under age 50) plus a $8,000 catch-up contribution for age 50 and older, for a total of $32,500. The overall 415(c) limit including employer match is $72,000 (under 50) or $80,000 (50+). A common recommendation is to contribute at least enough to get the full employer match (typically 50% to 100% of your contribution up to 3% to 6% of salary), then 10% to 15% of gross total including employer match if possible. Use the Pay Raise Comparison mode in this calculator to see how a 1% increase in 401k contribution affects take-home.


### Which states have no income tax?

Nine US states have no wage income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire (only on dividends and interest, not wages, fully repealed for 2026), South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Tennessee and New Hampshire fully repealed their dividend and interest taxes effective 2026. If you work in one of these states, your state withholding on wages is $0 but you still pay federal income tax, FICA, and Medicare. Note that if you live in one no-tax state and work in another, you generally pay taxes only where you work.


### Is my financial data private?

Yes. All calculations happen in your browser using JavaScript. No salary, hourly rate, state, deductions, or any other input is sent to any server. Close the tab and your data is gone. The only data persisted is your last inputs in localStorage so the form reloads when you come back. There is no account, no email capture, no analytics tied to your paycheck. This is critical for tax and salary privacy.


## About This Calculator

The Free Paycheck Calculator is a 6-mode take-home pay tool for US workers. Mode 1 converts an hourly wage plus hours-per-week to a per-period net paycheck. Mode 2 converts an annual salary to per-period net. Mode 3 calculates bonus tax withholding using both the 22% flat federal supplemental method and your true marginal rate. Mode 4 compares two salary scenarios side-by-side. Mode 5 reverse-calculates the gross salary needed to hit a target take-home. Mode 6 shows annual totals with effective versus marginal tax rate and a 12-month tax breakdown chart.

The math uses the 2026 federal income tax brackets from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (post-OBBBA), the 2026 standard deductions ($16,100 single, $32,200 MFJ, $24,150 HoH, $16,100 MFS), FICA Social Security at 6.2% each side with the $184,500 wage base, Medicare at 1.45% each side with no limit, and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax above $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly. Pre-tax deductions (Traditional 401k, HSA, FSA Healthcare, FSA Dependent Care, pre-tax commuter) lower taxable wages for federal, FICA, and state income tax. Post-tax deductions (Roth 401k, Roth IRA, garnishments) lower take-home only.

State coverage includes all 50 US states plus the District of Columbia. Nine states have no wage income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire (dividends only, repealed 2026), South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. The remaining 41 states plus DC use either a flat rate (Arizona 2.5%, Colorado 4.4%, Georgia 5.39%, Idaho 5.695%, Illinois 4.95%, Indiana 3.05%, Iowa 3.8%, Kentucky 4%, Michigan 4.25%, Mississippi 4.4%, North Carolina 3.99%, Pennsylvania 3.07%, Utah 4.55%) or a graduated bracket structure. State Standard Deductions are also applied where applicable.

JavaScript is completely deterministic and runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. No login. No daily limits. No API calls. No tracking. The outputs are always identical despite the presence of other inputs.


## Related Tools


### Quick Reference


### How to Use

- Select your **State** and **Filing Status**
- Enter either an **Hourly Rate** or **Annual Salary**
- Add any pre-tax deductions (401k, HSA, FSA, commuter)
- Switch modes using the tabs to see Bonus, Raise Compare, Reverse, or Annual Summary
- Click **Copy Results** for a plain-text summary

## References

- [ISO 4217 — Currency Codes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217)
- [Bank for International Settlements](https://www.bis.org/)