Paycheck Calculator

Your gross salary and your actual take-home pay are two very different numbers, and most people are surprised the first time they see how large the gap is. Federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, and retirement contributions can collectively take 25% to 40% of a paycheck before it reaches your account. The Paycheck Calculator helps you work out your net take-home pay for any pay period after accounting for 2024 federal income tax brackets, FICA taxes, and your pre-tax deductions, giving you an accurate picture of what you actually bring home.

What Comes Out of a Paycheck?

Every US paycheck has two categories of deductions: pre-tax and post-tax. Pre-tax deductions reduce your adjusted gross income before federal income tax is calculated, which makes them particularly valuable. The most common pre-tax deductions are traditional 401(k) or 403(b) contributions (up to $23,000 in 2024, with a $7,500 catch-up for those aged 50 and over), health insurance premiums paid through your employer under a Section 125 cafeteria plan, and HSA contributions for those enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (up to $4,150 for self-only coverage in 2024). Each of these reduces not only your federal income tax but also, in many cases, your state income tax.

After pre-tax deductions, federal income tax is withheld based on the 2024 IRS tax brackets. The IRS adjusts bracket thresholds every year for inflation, so the exact amounts that come out change slightly year to year. The IRS 2024 inflation adjustment announcement sets the standard deduction at $14,600 for single filers and $29,200 for married filing jointly, which the Paycheck Calculator applies automatically based on your filing status.

Understanding FICA: Social Security and Medicare

FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) taxes are separate from income tax and are calculated on gross wages, not taxable income. Social Security tax is 6.2% of gross wages up to the wage base limit of $168,600 in 2024. Once your earnings reach that ceiling, no additional Social Security tax is withheld for the rest of the year, which is why many higher earners see their net pay increase in the final months of the calendar year. Medicare tax is 1.45% with no wage ceiling, and an additional 0.9% applies to wages above $200,000 for single filers ($250,000 for married filing jointly), though that additional amount is handled at filing rather than through payroll withholding for most employees.

FICA taxes are a flat cost on gross wages that you cannot reduce through pre-tax retirement contributions. As a result, contributing more to a 401(k) lowers your federal and state income tax but does not lower your FICA bill. On top of that, your employer matches your 6.2% Social Security contribution and your 1.45% Medicare contribution, paying an identical amount on your behalf. The IRS FICA topic page explains the employer match and the wage base limit in full. Given that FICA adds 7.65% to the cost of your labor from the employer's perspective, it is worth taking the time to carry out a total compensation comparison when negotiating.

How Pay Frequency Affects Your Withholding

Your pay frequency affects how much is withheld per paycheck, but not your total annual tax. If you are paid biweekly (26 pay periods), your employer withholds roughly 1/26th of your estimated annual federal tax each period. That said, the withholding is recalculated each period based on your W-4 elections, not your actual year-to-date tax, which can cause over- or under-withholding if your income varies. The Paycheck Calculator assumes consistent income throughout the year.

Common pay frequencies include weekly (52 periods), biweekly (26 periods), semi-monthly (24 periods), and monthly (12 periods). A biweekly schedule produces 26 paychecks per year, which means two months each year have three pay dates instead of two. With that in mind, if you budget monthly from biweekly paychecks, you should build up a buffer for the months when a third paycheck feels like a surplus but is actually part of your annual income. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator at irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator lets you figure out whether your current W-4 withholding is on track to match your actual year-end liability.

Accuracy and Limitations

This calculator uses the 2024 IRS federal income tax brackets for all four filing statuses and applies the standard deduction. It does not model itemized deductions, tax credits (including the Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit), the Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000, or Alternative Minimum Tax. The Social Security wage base used is $168,600 for 2024. The state income tax field applies a flat rate to gross wages as an approximation. Actual state tax calculations vary significantly by state and may use different brackets, deduction amounts, and income definitions.

Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums entered here are assumed to be pre-tax under a Section 125 cafeteria plan, which reduces both federal income tax and FICA. If your premiums are post-tax, they should not be entered in the pre-tax fields. The calculator does not include post-tax deductions such as Roth 401(k) contributions, life insurance, or wage garnishments. For a fuller federal tax picture including the Self-Employment Tax relevant to freelancers, use our Self-Employment Tax Calculator alongside this tool.

The Most Common Paycheck Mistake I See People Make

The single most common mistake I see is budgeting from gross pay rather than net pay. People receive a job offer for $70,000 and immediately plan a budget around $5,833 per month, when their actual biweekly take-home might be $2,050 per paycheck ($4,100 per month equivalent), depending on their benefits elections and state. The gap between $5,833 and $4,100 is real money that people then scramble to narrow down at the end of the month. With that in mind, I always recommend running your numbers through a paycheck calculator before accepting a job offer, not after. Given that pre-tax deductions can meaningfully shift your net pay in ways that are not obvious from the gross salary, it is worth carrying out this exercise whenever your benefits change, not just when you start a new role. If you want to understand how your hourly rate translates to these same numbers, the Salary to Hourly Calculator works out the equivalent pay at different pay periods and hourly rates.