Paycheck Deductions Calculator

Your gross pay is what you earn before any deductions. Your net pay (take-home pay) is what actually lands in your bank account after mandatory and voluntary deductions.

Standard US paycheck deductions:

Federal income tax is withheld based on your W-4 filing status and taxable income bracket. Withholding depends on your W-4 entries, so treat the figure here as an estimate rather than a prediction of your actual paycheck.

Marginal brackets versus the effective rate. The brackets below are marginal: only the slice of income inside each band pays that rate. Nobody in the 22% bracket pays 22% of everything they earn. What this calculator applies is an effective rate, a single blended percentage that approximates the total bill. That is why a $75,000 salary produces roughly 18% here even though its top marginal bracket is 22%.

Federal Tax Brackets (Single filer, 2025):

• 10%: up to $11,925/year
• 12%: $11,926 to $48,475
• 22%: $48,476 to $103,350
• 24%: $103,351 to $197,300

Bracket thresholds are indexed to inflation and shift every year, so check the current figures before relying on them.

FICA taxes (Federal Insurance Contributions Act, always fixed rates):

• Social Security: 6.2%, on wages up to an annual base that rises each year ($184,500 for 2026)
• Medicare: 1.45%, with no income cap
• Additional Medicare: a further 0.9% on wages above $200,000/year, applied by this calculator

State income tax ranges from 0% (Texas, Florida, Nevada and six other states) to 13.3% at California’s top rate. This calculator uses whatever rate you enter.

Common voluntary deductions:

• Health insurance premium: varies ($50–$400/paycheck)
• 401(k) contribution: up to $23,500/year (2025), taken before federal and state income tax
• HSA (Health Savings Account) contribution: up to $4,300/year for individuals in 2025
• Dental and vision insurance: varies ($5–$50/paycheck)

The 401(k) is not taxed the same way as the rest of your pay. Money going into a traditional 401(k) escapes federal and state income tax now and is taxed on withdrawal instead. It does not escape Social Security or Medicare, which come out of gross wages regardless. So a 6% contribution costs you noticeably less than 6% of take-home pay, and this calculator models that: raise the contribution rate and watch the federal tax line fall alongside it.

How often are you paid?

• Weekly: 52 paychecks/year
• Bi-weekly: 26 paychecks/year (most common in the US)
• Semi-monthly: 24 paychecks/year
• Monthly: 12 paychecks/year

Example: $75,000/year salary, bi-weekly pay, single filer, 5% state tax, no 401(k): Gross per paycheck = $75,000 ÷ 26 = $2,884.62 Federal tax ≈ 18% effective = $519.23 FICA ≈ 7.65% = $220.67 State tax 5% = $144.23 Take-home ≈ $2,000.48 per paycheck, about $52,013 per year

Add a 6% 401(k) contribution to the same salary and the picture changes in a way most people find surprising. The contribution is $173.08 per paycheck, but federal and state tax fall by $39.81, so take-home drops only $133.27. You put away $173 and it costs you $133.