Tax year 2026 · Federal + all 50 states + FICA
Paycheck Calculator: Take-Home Pay by State (2026)
Enter your pay and state to see your real take-home — per paycheck and per year — after federal tax, state tax and FICA. Hourly or salary, every state and filing status, instantly.
You're paid
Your take-home pay per paycheck
$2,218
$75,000/yr gross in California leaves $57,677 a year after federal tax, state tax, FICA — an effective tax rate of 23.1%. You keep 76.9% of every dollar.
- Take-home$2,218
- Federal tax$295
- State + local$151
- FICA$221
| Pay stub | Per bi-weekly | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $2,885 | $75,000 |
| Federal income tax | −$295 | −$7,670 |
| State income tax | −$113 | −$2,941 |
| CA SDI (1.3%) | −$38 | −$975 |
| Social Security (6.2%) | −$179 | −$4,650 |
| Medicare (1.45%+) | −$42 | −$1,088 |
| Net (take-home) pay | $2,218 | $57,677 |
Estimates for tax year 2026 using IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 brackets, the standard deduction, FICA and OBBBA. All 50 states + DC with 2026 state rates. State brackets are single-filer and doubled for married-filing-jointly (exact for CA/NY, approximate elsewhere); head-of-household and married-filing-separately use single-filer state brackets. CA SDI and NYC resident tax are modelled; county/city local taxes (e.g. in MD, OH, IN, MI, PA, OR) and NJ SDI/FLI are not. This shows your annual tax liability spread evenly across pay periods — your real per-paycheck withholding depends on your W-4 and can differ. Verify against the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator and your state before relying on these figures. General information, not tax advice.
How to calculate your take-home pay in 2026
Your take-home (net) pay is your gross pay minus everything withheld: federal income tax, state and local income tax, FICA payroll taxes, and any pre- or post-tax deductions. The order matters. First, pre-tax deductions (traditional 401(k), HSA, pre-tax health premiums) come out to give taxable income. Then federal, state and FICA taxes are withheld. Finally, post-tax deductions (like a Roth 401(k)) are subtracted. What's left is your net pay. This calculator runs all of it for tax year 2026 and shows the result both per paycheck and per year, in a pay-stub layout — using the same IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 brackets as our federal income tax calculator, so the numbers always agree.
Federal income tax is progressive: your income after the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly in 2026) is sliced into brackets taxed at 10% to 37%, and only the income inside each band is taxed at that rate — so your effective rate is always lower than your top bracket. FICA adds 6.2% Social Security on wages up to $184,500 plus 1.45% Medicare on all wages: 7.65% of most paychecks, matched by your employer but still deducted from your side.
Hourly or salary, and how pay frequency changes each check
If you're salaried, your annual figure is fixed and each paycheck is simply that amount divided by the number of pay periods. If you're paid hourly, annual gross is your rate times hours per week times 52, plus any overtime (typically 1.5× above 40 hours a week) — toggle to hourly mode above to enter it directly. Either way, pay frequency changes the size of each check but not the annual total: weekly means 52 smaller checks, bi-weekly 26 (the most common), semi-monthly24 (twice a month), and monthly 12. Bi-weekly and semi-monthly look similar but aren't identical — 26 checks versus 24 means bi-weekly checks are slightly smaller, with two "extra" paychecks a year. Use the frequency dropdown to match your schedule exactly.
Why your state is the biggest variable
The largest swing between two identical salaries is where you work. Nine states — Texas, Florida, Washington, Nevada, Tennessee, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska and New Hampshire — charge no income tax on wages. At the other end, California's top brackets plus its 1.3% uncapped SDI, or New York plus New York City's resident tax, can take an extra 6–10% of your pay. On a $100,000 salary, that difference is often $6,000–$9,000 a year — real money that never shows up if you only compare headline salaries. Use the Compare states button to line up two or more states on your exact pay, per paycheck and per year.
Reading your pay stub: pre-tax vs post-tax
A pay stub lists gross pay, each tax withheld, each deduction, and net pay — the layout this calculator mirrors. The key distinction is pre-tax vs post-tax deductions. Pre-tax items (traditional 401(k), HSA, most health premiums) come out before income tax is calculated, so they lower your taxable income and your tax — a $6,000 pre-tax contribution in the 22% bracket saves about $1,320 in federal tax. Post-tax items (Roth 401(k), some insurance, garnishments) come out aftertax and don't reduce it. This is why maxing pre-tax accounts is the simplest way to raise take-home relative to what you save — see the long-run effect in our 401(k) calculator.
Withholding is not your final tax
One subtlety trips people up: the tax withheld from each paycheck isn't always your true tax. Your employer withholds based on the W-4 you filed and IRS tables, which can take slightly more or less than you owe — withhold too much and you get a refund, too little and you owe in April. This tool shows your annual liabilityspread across pay periods, which is the honest number for budgeting and comparing offers, rather than a specific paycheck's withholding. If you consistently get a large refund, you're over-withholding; adjusting your W-4 puts that money in each paycheck instead. Model the refund itself with our tax refund estimator.
What this calculator includes and leaves out
It models federal income tax, state income tax, FICA, CA SDI and NYC resident tax across all 50 states and DC, plus pre-tax and post-tax deductions and the Child Tax Credit. To stay fast and accurate it does not include county or city local income taxes in states like Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Oregon, nor NJ's SDI/FLI — these add a point or two where they apply. It uses the standard deduction rather than itemized deductions, and joint-filer state brackets are approximated by doubling single-filer thresholds (exact for California and New York). For bonuses, which withhold differently, use the bonus tax calculator.
Worked example: $90,000 in Texas vs California (single)
Texas, $90,000, single. Taxable income after the $16,100 standard deduction is $73,900. Federal tax works out to about $10,970. FICA is 6.2% + 1.45% of $90,000 = $6,885. Texas has no state income tax, so total tax ≈ $17,855, leaving a take-home of about $72,145 a year — roughly $2,775 per bi-weekly paycheck.
California, same $90,000. Federal tax and FICA are identical ($10,970 + $6,885). But California adds about $4,293 of state income tax plus $1,170 of SDI (1.3%), so total tax ≈ $23,318, leaving about $66,682 a year — roughly $2,565 bi-weekly.
The lesson. The same $90,000 offer is worth about $5,463 more per yearin Texas than California — nearly a full month's take-home, purely on state tax. When you weigh two offers, compare the after-tax number, not the headline salary. Change any input above and every line recomputes instantly; use Compare states to line up your own two.
Frequently asked questions
How much is $75,000 a year after taxes?
It depends heavily on your state. A single filer earning $75,000 in 2026 pays about $7,670 in federal income tax and $5,738 in FICA (Social Security + Medicare), leaving roughly $61,590 in a no-income-tax state like Texas or Florida — about $2,369 per bi-weekly paycheck. In California, state income tax of about $2,940 plus $975 of SDI drops take-home to roughly $57,680, or about $2,219 bi-weekly. That state gap — nearly $3,900 a year on the same salary — is exactly what this calculator lets you see side by side.
How much of my paycheck goes to taxes?
For most workers, 15–35% of gross pay is withheld — the share rises with income. The pieces are federal income tax (usually the biggest, rising with income), FICA at a flat 7.65% (6.2% Social Security up to $184,500 of wages plus 1.45% Medicare), and state income tax of 0–13.3% depending on where you work. A single person on $60,000 in a no-tax state keeps about 84% of gross; the same person in California keeps closer to 80%. Pre-tax 401(k) and health deductions lower the taxable portion, so they cut the tax bite. The calculator above breaks your exact split into a pay-stub view.
What's the difference between gross pay and net pay?
Gross pay is your total earnings before anything is taken out — your salary, or your hourly rate times hours worked. Net pay, also called take-home pay, is what actually lands in your bank account after federal income tax, state and local income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and any pre- or post-tax deductions like 401(k), health premiums or Roth contributions. The gap between the two is typically 20–35% of gross. This tool shows both, line by line, in a pay-stub layout so you can see exactly where the difference goes.
How much is $60,000 a year per paycheck?
Before tax, $60,000 a year is $5,000 a month, about $2,308 every two weeks (26 pay periods), $2,500 twice a month (24 periods), or $1,154 a week. After federal tax and FICA, a single filer in a no-income-tax state takes home roughly $50,400 a year — about $1,938 per bi-weekly paycheck. In a state with income tax, subtract another few percent. Switch the pay-frequency dropdown above to see your exact per-paycheck take-home for any schedule.
Which states have no income tax?
Nine states levy no tax on wage income: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. (New Hampshire historically taxed interest and dividends, but that has been repealed, so wages are untaxed.) Washington taxes only very high capital gains, not ordinary wages. Living in one of these states can raise your take-home by 4–10% versus a high-tax state at the same salary — though cost of living often offsets part of the gain. Use 'Compare states' above to see the exact difference on your pay.
What is FICA and why is it on my paycheck?
FICA is the payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare. For 2026 it's 6.2% Social Security on wages up to $184,500, plus 1.45% Medicare on all wages (an extra 0.9% Medicare applies above $200,000 single / $250,000 joint). Your employer matches the 6.2% and 1.45%, but the employee half — about 7.65% of most paychecks — comes straight out of your pay, separate from income tax. For lower and middle earners it's often the single largest deduction, and unlike income tax it isn't reduced by the standard deduction or most pre-tax benefits.
How can I increase my take-home pay?
The cleanest lever is adjusting your W-4 so you're not over-withholding — a big refund means you lent the government money interest-free all year. Beyond that, pre-tax contributions (traditional 401(k), HSA, pre-tax health premiums) reduce the income that's taxed, so they cost your paycheck less than their face value while building savings; note they don't reduce FICA. Choosing or moving to a no-income-tax state is the biggest one-time jump. And because tax is marginal, a raise always increases take-home — moving into a higher bracket never lowers it.
Why is my real paycheck different from this estimate?
This calculator shows your annual tax liability spread evenly across your pay periods. Your actual paycheck withholding is set by the W-4 you filed and the IRS percentage-method tables, which can withhold a little more or less than your true tax — that gap becomes your refund or balance due at filing. Bonuses are withheld separately at a flat 22%, and mid-year raises, multiple jobs or a working spouse also shift withholding. For the precise amount withheld per check, the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator is the official tool; for planning and comparing offers, the liability figure here is the right one.
Related tools
Hourly to Salary Calculator
Convert an hourly wage to an annual salary — and the reverse.
Federal Income Tax Calculator
Your 2026 federal tax by bracket, effective and marginal rate.
Bonus Tax Calculator
How much of a bonus survives the flat 22% withholding — and what you get back.
Tax Refund Estimator
Will your withholding come back as a refund? Estimate it.
H1B Take-Home Salary
Same engine, tuned for H1B workers — take-home in $ and ₹.