About PayCheck Cal

A free, private, and accurate way to estimate your take-home pay.

What PayCheck Cal does

PayCheck Cal is a free online calculator that estimates how much of your paycheck you actually keep after taxes and deductions. Enter your salary or hourly wage and it breaks down federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, and state payroll deductions, then shows your take-home pay per paycheck, per month, and per year.

It was built to be genuinely useful and transparent — showing not just a number, but a full breakdown of where every dollar goes.

Features

• Salary or hourly pay, with multi-line overtime and double-time support.
• All 50 states, including each state's income tax rules.
• State payroll deductions that many calculators miss — California SDI, New York PFL, New Jersey TDI/FLI, Washington Cares, and more.
• Pre-tax and post-tax deductions — 401(k), HSA, FSA, dental, vision, medical premiums, Roth contributions, and more.
• Filing status and pay-frequency options for a result that matches your situation.
• A clear visual breakdown of taxes and contributions.

Accurate 2026 tax data

The calculator uses the official 2026 federal income tax brackets, the current standard deduction, and 2026 Social Security and Medicare rates, along with up-to-date state income tax brackets and mandatory employee payroll deduction rates. We update the figures as new tax-year data is released.

Your privacy

Everything is calculated locally in your browser. The figures you enter are never transmitted to a server or stored. See our Privacy Policy for details on cookies and advertising.

A note on estimates

PayCheck Cal provides estimates for planning and education. It does not account for every possible tax credit, local city tax, or special situation, and it is not tax, legal, or financial advice. For decisions that matter, confirm with a qualified professional or your payroll department.

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Why we built PayCheck Cal

Most people never see a clear explanation of their own paycheck. You accept a salary figure, and then a smaller number arrives in your account every two weeks with a pay stub full of abbreviations that nobody explains. PayCheck Cal exists to close that gap: to let anyone enter what they earn and immediately see, line by line, where the money goes.

How the calculator works

The tool applies the 2026 federal income tax brackets to your taxable income after subtracting the standard deduction for your filing status. It then applies Social Security at 6.2% up to the annual wage base limit, Medicare at 1.45% on all wages plus the 0.9% additional Medicare tax on earnings above $200,000, and your selected state's income tax rules. Where a state requires mandatory employee payroll contributions — such as California's State Disability Insurance, New York's Paid Family Leave, or Washington's Paid Family and Medical Leave — those are applied as well, including their respective wage caps where they exist.

Pre-tax deductions are handled in the order the tax code actually treats them. Contributions to a traditional 401(k) reduce income subject to income tax but remain subject to Social Security and Medicare. Health, dental, and vision premiums, along with HSA and FSA contributions made through an employer plan, generally reduce both income tax and FICA. Getting this ordering right matters, because a calculator that applies every deduction to every tax will overstate your take-home pay.

What the calculator can and cannot tell you

PayCheck Cal produces a careful estimate, and for most salaried and hourly employees it lands close to the real figure. It cannot, however, know everything about your individual situation. City and county income taxes, wage garnishments, union dues, employer-specific benefit structures, imputed income from group life insurance, and the specific extra-withholding elections on your W-4 can all shift your actual paycheck. Multi-state workers, people with substantial non-wage income, and anyone with an unusual filing situation should treat the result as a starting point rather than a final answer.

We deliberately publish the assumptions behind the calculation rather than presenting a single number with no explanation, because an estimate you understand is far more useful than one you have to take on faith.

Privacy by design

Everything you type runs entirely in your own browser. Your salary, your deductions, and your state selection are never transmitted to a server, never stored, and never associated with you. There is no account to create and no email address to hand over. When you close the tab, the numbers are gone. This is not a policy promise layered on top of data collection — it is simply how the tool is built, because a paycheck calculator has no legitimate reason to keep your income on file.

Keeping the numbers current

Tax figures change every year, and sometimes mid-year. Federal brackets and the standard deduction are adjusted annually for inflation, the Social Security wage base rises most years, and states periodically revise both their income tax brackets and their payroll contribution rates. We update the underlying figures as new official rates are published. If you spot something that looks out of date or inconsistent with your own pay stub, that feedback is genuinely valuable.

Not tax advice

PayCheck Cal is an educational and planning tool. It is not tax, legal, or financial advice, and using it does not create any professional relationship. For decisions with real consequences — how to complete your W-4, whether to choose traditional or Roth contributions, how to handle income across multiple states — consult a qualified tax professional or financial advisor who can look at your complete circumstances.

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