From salary to paycheck
Your take-home pay is what is left after four things come out of your salary: federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare (often shown together as FICA), state and sometimes city income tax, and anything you choose to put away before tax, such as a 401(k) contribution. This calculator works through each one with the 2026 federal figures, so you can see how much of a raise, a new offer or a bigger retirement contribution actually reaches your bank account.
Federal income tax is charged only on taxable income, which is your salary minus pre-tax contributions and the standard deduction. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer, $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly and $24,150 for a head of household, so the first slice of everyone's pay is not taxed at all.
How the brackets really work
The federal system is progressive, which means each rate applies only to the income inside its band. Moving into a higher bracket never lowers your take-home pay, because only the dollars above the threshold are taxed at the higher rate. That is why your effective rate, the share of your whole salary that goes to federal tax, is always well below your top bracket. A single filer earning $75,000 with a 5% 401(k) contribution has a top bracket of 22% but pays an effective federal rate of a little over 9%.
Federal tax = sum of (income in each band × that band's rate)
The detail table under the result shows every band your income touches and how much tax each one adds, which is the clearest way to see the progressive system at work.
Social Security, Medicare and state tax
Social Security takes 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 in 2026, and nothing above that. Medicare takes 1.45% of all wages, plus an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for joint filers. Unlike income tax, these are charged on your full salary, so a 401(k) contribution lowers your income tax but not your Social Security or Medicare.
State income tax ranges from zero in states such as Texas, Florida, Washington and Nevada to rates near 10% at higher incomes in California, New York and a few others, and some cities add their own. Because every state has its own brackets and deductions, the calculator asks for one blended rate. Your state's average rate at your income is a good input, and you can set it to zero to see the federal picture alone.
What this calculator leaves out
Real paychecks can differ because of health insurance premiums and other pre-tax benefits, tax credits such as the child tax credit, itemized deductions, bonuses withheld at a flat rate and the way your employer sets withholding. Treat the result as a close estimate for planning and comparing offers, and use your actual pay stub or the IRS withholding estimator when you need the exact figure.
Common questions
How much is $60,000 a year after taxes?
For a single filer with no 401(k) contribution and no state income tax, about $50,390 a year or $4,200 a month in 2026.
How much is $100,000 a year after taxes?
For a single filer with no 401(k) contribution and no state income tax, about $79,180 a year or $6,600 a month in 2026.
Does a 401(k) contribution lower my taxes?
Yes. A traditional 401(k) contribution comes out before federal and most state income tax, so it lowers those taxes, but Social Security and Medicare are still charged on it.
Why is my effective tax rate lower than my bracket?
Each bracket rate applies only to the income inside that band, and the standard deduction is not taxed at all, so the average rate on your whole salary is always lower than your top rate.
Sources
This calculator gives estimates for planning. Real returns, rates and prices change, so treat the result as a guide rather than a promise. Read how we build and check our calculators.