Free · No sign-up · 2026 rates

Paycheck CalculatorKnow your take-home pay before payday.

Enter your salary or hourly wage and see exactly what lands in your account — after federal tax, state tax, Social Security and Medicare, with the 2026 rates your employer actually uses.

Most people start here: California · Texas · New York · Florida

Same $75,000 salary — two very different paychecks

TexasNo state income tax$61,593take-home a year · $2,369 a check
CaliforniaState tax + SDI$57,690take-home a year · $2,219 a check

The state alone costs $3,903 a year

Where a $75,000 Texas paycheck actually goes

  • Take-home pay$61,593
  • Federal tax$7,670
  • Social Security$4,650
  • Medicare$1,088

Single filer, paid biweekly. Figures rounded to the nearest dollar — run your own numbers above.

Paycheck calculator by state

Your state's own page: its rates, its brackets, its examples.

All calculators

Pay first, then the hours behind it.

Why workers check here

Real 2026 rates, not last year's leftovers

Federal brackets, state rates and payroll caps checked against the IRS, SSA and state tax departments for the 2026 tax year.

The deductions others forget

California SDI, New Jersey TDI/FLI and the NYC city tax are in the maths — because they are on your real pay stub.

Every line shown

Federal, state, Social Security and Medicare each get their own line, per paycheck and per year. No black box.

Salary or hourly, your call

Enter a yearly salary, or an hourly rate and your hours per week — the result is worked out per paycheck and per year, in the pay schedule you actually have.

How it works

1

Pick your state

State tax is the difference-maker. Choose where you live and work.

2

Enter your pay

Salary or hourly, how often you are paid, and any 401(k) you contribute.

3

See every deduction

Net pay per paycheck and per year, each tax on its own line.

Understanding your paycheck

Most people check one number — what lands in the account. But a paycheck is a small system, and once you see how the parts fit, the number stops being a surprise. Three things explain almost every paycheck in America.

Gross pay is not take-home pay

Your salary is the price of the job before anyone takes their share. Between the offer letter and your bank account sit income taxes and payroll taxes, taken in a set order. On a $75,000 salary that stack adds up to roughly $13,400 a year in Texas — which is why the deposit never matches the headline number.

The four deductions on almost every stub

Federal tax works in brackets: 10% on the first slice of income, 12% on the next, and so on — a raise never taxes your whole salary at the higher rate. Social Security takes 6.2% until your wages pass $184,500 for the year, then stops. Medicare takes 1.45% on everything, plus 0.9% on pay over $200,000. State tax is the wildcard — nine states take nothing at all.

Why the number moves

Start a job mid-year and payroll still spreads your pay as if you worked all twelve months, so early checks can look off. Move from Texas to California on the same salary and your take-home drops by thousands without your pay changing at all. Work overtime and the extra hours are taxed at your top bracket — there is no special overtime rate. Test each of these above before they happen.

Questions, answered straight

How accurate is this paycheck calculator?

It uses the real published 2026 rates: IRS federal brackets and standard deductions, the Social Security wage base of $184,500, and each state's own rates, brackets and deductions — including things many calculators skip, like California's SDI and New Jersey's disability and family-leave deductions. Your real stub can still differ slightly with W-4 choices, benefits or local taxes.

Why does the same salary pay differently in different states?

Federal tax is the same everywhere, but state tax is not. Nine states take nothing from wages; North Carolina takes a flat 3.99%; California climbs past 12% at the top. On a $75,000 salary that gap is worth roughly $2,500 to $4,000 a year — use the state pages to compare yours.

What pay frequency should I choose?

The one on your pay stub: weekly (52 checks a year), biweekly (26 — the most common), semi-monthly (24) or monthly (12). The yearly tax comes out the same either way; the frequency only decides how it is split across your checks.

Why is the first paycheck of a new job sometimes bigger?

Because income tax is annualised. If you start work in October, payroll spreads your remaining salary as if you earned it all year, so early checks can be under- or over-withheld until things settle. The annual figures in this calculator stay steady either way.