Take home pay calculator: paycheck tax and withholding for 2026

How take-home pay is calculated

Every paycheck goes through the same sequence, and once you see it laid out the deductions stop feeling random:

1. Start with gross pay. Your salary divided by the number of pay periods, or your hourly rate times hours worked.
2. Subtract pre-tax deductions. 401(k) contributions, health insurance premiums, HSA and FSA contributions come out before tax is figured, which is why they cost you less than their face value.
3. Withhold federal income tax. Your employer estimates your annual tax from your W-4 and takes a slice of it from each check.
4. Withhold FICA. Social Security at 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 for 2026, and Medicare at 1.45% with no cap. Your employer pays a matching share that never appears on your stub.
5. Subtract state and local tax and post-tax deductions. This varies by state, from nothing to a serious bite, and it is the piece this calculator leaves for you to add.

What is left is your net pay. For most middle-income W-2 workers, the federal pieces together take somewhere between 15 and 25 percent of gross, before state tax.

The 2026 numbers this calculator uses

These are the figures for tax year 2026, the paychecks you are receiving this year, from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the Social Security Administration:

2026 figure	Amount
Standard deduction, single	$16,100
Standard deduction, married filing jointly	$32,200
Standard deduction, head of household	$24,150
Social Security tax	6.2% on wages up to $184,500
Medicare tax	1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000
Tax brackets	10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%

The 2026 brackets for a single filer start at 10% on the first $12,400 of taxable income, then 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, and 24% to $201,775. Married couples filing jointly get roughly double each band. Because the rates are marginal, a raise that pushes you into a higher bracket only taxes the new dollars at the higher rate, never your whole salary.

How much of my paycheck goes to taxes?

For federal taxes alone, a single filer with no pre-tax deductions gives up roughly this much of each check in 2026:

Annual salary	Federal income tax	FICA	Roughly kept
$40,000	6.6% ($2,620)	7.65%	85.8%
$65,000	8.6% ($5,620)	7.65%	83.7%
$100,000	13.2% ($13,170)	7.65%	79.2%
$150,000	16.5% ($24,734)	7.65%	75.9%

Those income tax percentages are effective rates on gross pay, not bracket rates, which is why they look lower than the 22% or 24% bracket you may know you are "in." The standard deduction shields the first $16,100 entirely, and the lower brackets tax the next slices gently. State income tax comes on top of all of this in most states.

Why is my take-home pay less than the calculator shows?

The usual suspects, in order of likelihood:

• State and local income tax. The biggest missing piece. A California or New York paycheck loses another 5 to 10 percent that a Texas or Florida paycheck keeps.
• Your W-4 tells your employer to withhold more. Extra withholding on line 4(c), a second job marked in Step 2, or an old W-4 filled out years ago can all push withholding above the actual tax you owe. That money comes back as a refund, but you lived without it all year. Our guide to filling out a W-4 walks through fixing this.
• Post-tax deductions. Roth 401(k) contributions, disability insurance, garnishments, and charity deductions come out after tax.
• State payroll taxes. A handful of states take disability or family-leave insurance from employees, like California SDI.

If withholding is the reason, that is fixable this week: file a new W-4 with your employer and the next paycheck changes.

Pre-tax deductions: the raise you give yourself

Every dollar you put into a traditional 401(k) skips federal income tax now. If you are in the 22% bracket, a $500 monthly contribution only shrinks your paycheck by about $390, because $110 of it would have gone to the IRS anyway. The calculator shows this directly: add a 401(k) amount and watch the income tax line fall.

Health premiums, HSA, and FSA contributions under an employer cafeteria plan do even better, because they skip Social Security and Medicare tax too. That is a guaranteed 7.65% return before you count the income tax savings.

One thing pre-tax deductions do not change: your eventual refund depends on total withholding versus total tax. To see the year-end picture rather than the per-paycheck one, run the tax refund calculator with your expected W-2 numbers.

From your paycheck to your filed return

Withholding is an estimate. The truth comes out when you file: your W-2 shows what you earned and what was withheld, and the return settles the difference. If too much came out, you get it back. If too little, you owe.

TaxFile reads your actual W-2s and 1099s, prepares your federal and state return, finds the deductions and credits you qualify for, and runs an error check. You review every line and approve before it e-files through an authorized IRS e-file provider. If your paycheck picture includes 1099 or side income, start with self-employed tax filing instead, since nothing is withheld from that income and the quarterly tax calculator shows what to set aside. TaxFile is self-prepared tax software, not personalized tax advice, and for complex situations you should consult a CPA or tax professional.