US paycheck calculator — your 2026 take-home pay by state
See what actually lands in your check after federal tax, Social Security, Medicare and state tax, using the 2026 tables. Free, by state, no email required.
Calculate your take-home pay
Tips, overtime, a car loan or 65+? (optional)
Where your money goes (per year)
Your take-home, every way you're paid
Same salary, another state
What would a raise really give you?
Email me this breakdown + the tax changes that affect me
Worked examples
Texas technician paid $28.50 an hour, single
Your estimated take-home pay: $24 per hour
In Texas, a gross of $59,280 a year leaves you $49,811 after taxes.
California senior engineer, $218,500 — past the Social Security cap
Your estimated take-home pay: $146,274 per year
In California, a gross of $218,500 a year leaves you $146,274 after taxes.
⚠ California hasn't published its 2026 schedules yet — these are 2025 rates as a placeholder, refreshed when the FTB posts 2026 (~Sep 2026).
Florida head of household, $1,450 every two weeks
Your estimated take-home pay: $1,287 every 2 weeks
In Florida, a gross of $37,700 a year leaves you $33,461 after taxes.
Examples are recomputed whenever the underlying rates or data change; the date above is the last recompute.
Server on $42,000 with $18,000 in tips — what "no tax on tips" is really worth
- All $18,000 is deductible — under the $25,000 cap, and income is nowhere near the $150,000 phase-out
- Federal tax saved: $2,070 — that is a 11.5% marginal rate on those dollars, not 100%
- Social Security and Medicare on the same tips: $1,377, still paid, still withheld
- Net effect of the headline: about $693 better off, not $18,000 tax-free
- And it arrives at filing on Schedule 1-A — the paycheck itself does not change
Overtime: why $45/hour does not mean $45 is deductible
- Only the FLSA half-time premium counts: $30 × 0.5 × 200 = $3,000, not the $9,000 of time-and-a-half wages
- Deductible in full (under the $12,500 single cap), saving $660 of federal tax at 22%
- The other $6,000 of overtime pay is taxed normally, and all $9,000 pays FICA
Methodology & data sources
The calculator annualizes your pay by frequency, subtracts the 2026 federal standard deduction (single $16,100 · joint $32,200 · head of household $24,150), and applies the 2026 federal brackets 10%-37% (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). It adds Social Security (6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500), Medicare (1.45% plus the 0.9% additional tax on high earners), and state income tax for your state: none in Texas, Florida and Nevada; flat in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Georgia and North Carolina; progressive in California, New York, New Jersey and New Mexico, each with its own deduction or exemption. It's a take-home-pay estimate — it excludes voluntary withholding (401k, health insurance) and credits realized at filing (Child Tax Credit, EITC). Our Freshness Keeper checks these tables against the IRS and state revenue departments; the stamp shows the last verification, and we flag any state (like California) whose 2026 tables its tax authority hasn't published yet.
The 2025–2028 OBBBA deductions. P.L. 119-21 created four temporary above-the-line deductions, and this calculator models all four with their real caps and phase-outs: tips up to $25,000, the FLSA overtime premium up to $12,500 ($25,000 joint), car loan interest up to $10,000, and $6,000 per person aged 65+. Three things almost every headline gets wrong, and this tool shows explicitly: they are deductions, not exclusions — Social Security and Medicare still take 7.65% of every tip and overtime dollar, and we print that number next to the saving; only the half-time premium of overtime qualifies, never the full time-and-a-half, so we compute the premium from your rate and hours rather than letting you overstate it; and they are claimed on Schedule 1-A at filing, so your paycheck does not grow — the take-home figure above is deliberately unchanged. Each deduction phases out on its own schedule (tips and overtime lose $100 per $1,000 of income over $150,000/$300,000; car loan interest loses $200 per $1,000 over $100,000/$200,000; the senior deduction loses 6% of the excess over $75,000/$150,000), and we name the threshold whenever yours is reduced. We do not reduce state income tax for these: state conformity varies and many states do not follow.
Sources: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 · Tax Foundation (federal 2026) · Tax Foundation (state 2026) · 2026 Social Security wage base $184,500 (SSA).
Does "no tax on tips" mean my tips are tax-free?
No. It is an income-tax deduction of up to $25,000, not an exclusion. Social Security and Medicare still take 7.65% of every tip dollar, the tips still appear on your W-2, and your state may still tax them. Enter your tips above and the tool shows the tax you save and the FICA you still pay, side by side.
My overtime pays time-and-a-half. Is all of it deductible?
No — only the extra half. If your regular rate is $30 and overtime pays $45, the deductible part is the $15 premium, not the $45. That is why this calculator asks for your rate and your overtime hours instead of a dollar total: it computes the FLSA premium for you so the number can't be overstated.
Will these deductions make my paycheck bigger?
Not by themselves. They are claimed on Schedule 1-A when you file, so they show up as a smaller tax bill or a larger refund. The take-home figure at the top of this page deliberately does not change — you could adjust your W-4 to get some of it sooner, but that is a separate decision.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate take-home pay in 2026?
From gross, subtract federal tax (after the standard deduction), Social Security (6.2%), Medicare (1.45%) and state tax. What remains is your take-home. The calculator does it with the 2026 tables.
Which states have no income tax?
Texas, Florida and Nevada — so the same salary stretches further there than in California or New York.
Why does California say "2026 tables pending"?
California indexes its brackets for inflation yearly and its tax authority (FTB) hasn't posted 2026 tables yet. We use 2025 rates as a placeholder and tell you — rather than showing an unofficial 2026 number.
Does it include the Child Tax Credit or EITC?
No — those are credits claimed at filing, not in your paycheck. Use our Child Tax Credit & EITC calculator (coming soon) for those.