Paycheck estimator — your take-home pay, estimated
Enter your salary or hourly wage and see your estimated take-home pay per paycheck, per month, and per year — with a simple breakdown of where the rest goes. No sign-up, no download, everything runs in your browser.
Default shown for your filing status — replace it with your actual withholding rate for a better estimate.
Use 0% if your state has no income tax.
For example retirement or health premiums. Leave 0 if unsure.
Disclaimer: These are rough estimates for planning only, not tax advice. Actual take-home pay depends on your real withholdings, state and local taxes, benefits, and your employer's payroll. Check your pay stub or a tax professional for exact figures. FICA is applied here as a flat 7.65%; in reality Social Security tax stops above the annual wage base.
How to use this paycheck estimator
- Choose how you are paid — annual salary, or hourly wage plus hours per week.
- Pick your pay frequency — weekly, biweekly (the most common in the US), semi-monthly, or monthly. The number of paychecks per year changes the per-paycheck figure.
- Adjust the tax rates — the federal and state rates start as rough defaults. For the best estimate, copy the withholding percentages from your latest pay stub.
- Read your take-home pay — net per paycheck, per month, and per year, with the full breakdown of what was deducted.
How paycheck deductions work
Every paycheck starts with gross pay — the full amount you earned. Before it reaches your bank account, several things are taken out. Federal income tax is usually the largest deduction and depends on your income and filing status. State income tax varies a lot: some states charge nothing, others charge a flat or graduated rate. Then there is FICA: Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%, which together take 7.65% of most employees' pay. On top of that, many people have pre-tax deductions for health insurance, retirement plans, or commuter benefits, which reduce taxable pay. What is left after all of that is your take-home pay — the number that actually matters for budgeting.
A useful rule of thumb: for a typical US employee, take-home pay lands somewhere around 70 to 80 percent of gross pay. If your result looks very different from that range, double-check your tax rates — you may have entered a rate that does not match your real withholding.
Frequently asked questions
What is a paycheck estimator?
A paycheck estimator takes your gross pay — your salary or hourly wage — and estimates how much you actually take home after taxes and deductions, per paycheck, per month, and per year.
How accurate is this paycheck estimator?
It is an estimate, not a payroll calculation. Real take-home pay depends on your actual federal and state withholding, filing status, pre-tax benefits, and your employer's payroll setup. Replace the default rates with your pay stub percentages for the closest result.
What taxes are included in the estimate?
Federal income tax (adjustable rate), state income tax (adjustable rate, 0% if your state has none), and FICA — Social Security 6.2% plus Medicare 1.45%, totalling 7.65%. Local taxes are not included.
How do I convert an hourly wage to a paycheck?
Choose the hourly option, enter your wage and weekly hours, and the calculator works out annual pay (wage × hours × 52 weeks) and then divides it by your number of pay periods per year.
What is the difference between gross pay and take-home pay?
Gross pay is what you earn before deductions. Take-home (net) pay is what remains after taxes and deductions. The gap is usually around 20 to 30 percent for a typical employee, though it varies widely.
Does filing status change my paycheck?
Yes — in real life, filing status affects federal withholding. Here it sets the default federal rate to a rough starting point (single 12%, married filing jointly 10%, head of household 11%). Overwrite it with your actual rate for a better estimate.