How we calculate take-home pay
Every figure on this site is computed by the same small set of formulas, written in plain PHP with no third-party tax engine. This page states them, with a worked example: $25 an hour in California, single, 2026.
1. Gross pay
Hourly: rate × min(hours, 40) × 52 + rate × 1.5 × max(0, hours − 40) × 52. Salary: the salary itself. Salary to hourly uses 2,080 hours (40 × 52).
Example: $25 × 40 × 52 = $52,000.
2. Pre-tax deductions
Traditional 401(k) deferrals reduce federal and (except in Pennsylvania) state taxable wages, but not Social Security or Medicare wages. Health premiums paid through a section 125 plan reduce income tax and FICA wages (New Jersey still taxes them). Static pages assume neither; the calculator lets you add both.
3. Federal income tax
taxable = gross − pre-tax deductions − standard deduction − overtime deduction, then the 2026 brackets. Standard deduction: $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
| Rate | Single | Married jointly | Head of household |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 12% | $12,400 | $24,800 | $17,700 |
| 22% | $50,400 | $100,800 | $67,450 |
| 24% | $105,700 | $211,400 | $105,700 |
| 32% | $201,775 | $403,550 | $201,750 |
| 35% | $256,225 | $512,450 | $256,200 |
| 37% | $640,600 | $768,700 | $640,600 |
Overtime deduction. For 2026 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act lets workers deduct the premium part of FLSA overtime (the extra half in time-and-a-half), up to $12,500 ($25,000 jointly), reduced by $100 for each $1,000 of income over $150,000 ($300,000 jointly). We apply it to hours over 40 on hourly pages and in the calculator. It does not reduce Social Security, Medicare or, in our model, state tax.
Example: $52,000 − $16,100 = $35,900 taxable; tax $4,060.
4. Social Security and Medicare
Social Security: 6.2% of wages up to the $184,500 wage base. Medicare: 1.45% of all wages, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages over $200,000 ($250,000 married jointly). We show what you owe; employers withhold the additional tax on wages over $200,000 whatever your filing status, and the difference settles on your return.
Example: Social Security $3,224, Medicare $754.
5. State income tax
For each state we start from the income the state starts from (federal adjusted gross income in most states; federal taxable income in Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico; gross compensation in Pennsylvania), subtract the state's standard deduction and personal exemptions with their phase-outs, apply the state's brackets, subtract nonrefundable personal credits, then add surtaxes and recapture rules. States with unusual mechanics are handled explicitly:
- New York's supplemental tax (benefit recapture) above $107,650 of income; Connecticut's personal exemption phase-out, 2% phase-out add-back, benefit recapture and personal tax credit table.
- Federal income tax deductions in Alabama (full), Missouri (a percentage by income) and Oregon (capped, phasing down with income).
- Stepped exemptions in Maryland, Ohio and Illinois; Rhode Island's stepped phase-out; Wisconsin's sliding standard deduction; Minnesota's two-tier deduction phase-out; Massachusetts' deduction for Social Security and Medicare paid and its 4% surtax; Arkansas's high-income table; Idaho's $10 permanent building fund tax; Colorado's add-back above $300,000; California's 1% tax over $1 million.
Example: California taxable income $46,294, tax after the exemption credit $1,160.
6. State payroll contributions
Where the law requires employees to pay them, we deduct state disability, paid family and medical leave, unemployment and long-term-care contributions at their 2026 rates and wage caps. Programs where the employer may pay the whole premium are included at the employee's maximum share, which is what most employers withhold.
- Alaska: Alaska unemployment insurance (employee share), 0.5% of wages up to $54,200 (at most $271.00 a year)
- California: CA SDI (disability insurance + paid family leave), 1.3% of wages
- Colorado: Colorado FAMLI (paid family & medical leave), employee share, 0.44% of wages up to $184,500 (at most $811.80 a year)
- Connecticut: Connecticut Paid Leave (CTPL) employee contribution, 0.5% of wages up to $184,500 (at most $922.50 a year)
- Delaware: Delaware Paid Leave (employee share, employers with 25+ employees), 0.4% of wages up to $184,500 (at most $738.00 a year)
- Massachusetts: Massachusetts PFML (employee share: all of family 0.18% + 40% of medical 0.70%), 0.46% of wages up to $184,500 (at most $848.70 a year)
- Maine: Maine Paid Family & Medical Leave (employee share), 0.5% of wages up to $184,500 (at most $922.50 a year)
- Minnesota: Minnesota Paid Leave (employee share, new 1 Jan 2026), 0.44% of wages up to $185,000 (at most $814.00 a year)
- New Jersey: NJ unemployment + workforce development (employee UI/WF/SWF), 0.425% of wages up to $44,800 (at most $190.40 a year)
- New Jersey: NJ temporary disability insurance (TDI, employee), 0.19% of wages up to $171,100 (at most $325.09 a year)
- New Jersey: NJ family leave insurance (FLI, employee), 0.23% of wages up to $171,100 (at most $393.53 a year)
- New York: NY Paid Family Leave (employee), 0.432% of wages (at most $411.91 a year)
- New York: NY Disability Benefits (SDI, employee), 0.5% of wages (at most $31.20 a year)
- Oregon: Paid Leave Oregon (employee share), 0.6% of wages up to $184,500 (at most $1,107.00 a year)
- Oregon: Oregon statewide transit tax, 0.1% of wages
- Pennsylvania: PA unemployment compensation (employee), 0.07% of wages
- Rhode Island: RI TDI (Temporary Disability / Caregiver Insurance), 1.1% of wages up to $100,000 (at most $1,100.00 a year)
- Washington: WA Paid Family & Medical Leave (employee share), 0.807% of wages up to $184,500 (at most $1,489.21 a year)
- Washington: WA Cares Fund (long-term care), 0.58% of wages
Example: California SDI $676.
7. Take-home pay
net = gross − federal income tax − Social Security − Medicare − state income tax − state payroll contributions − pre-tax deductions. Per-period figures divide the year evenly: 12 months, 26 biweekly paychecks, 52 weeks, 260 working days.
Example: $42,126 a year, $1,620 every two weeks. Effective tax rate 19%.
What we leave out
- Local income taxes (New York City, Yonkers, Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania localities, Ohio municipalities and school districts, Maryland counties, Indiana counties, Michigan cities, Kentucky localities, Missouri earnings taxes, and others).
- Dependents, the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit and other credits; itemized deductions; other income such as interest or a spouse's wages.
- Withholding-table quirks: we compute the tax you owe for the year, which is what your paychecks should add up to when your W-4 is accurate.
- State conformity with the federal overtime deduction; we tax overtime in full at the state level.
Rounding: we compute in cents and round only for display, so columns can differ by a dollar from their total.