Salary Raise Take-Home Impact Calculator
Calculate how much extra money you take home after a pay raise, accounting for income taxes and potential bracket changes.
Why Your Raise Feels Smaller Than Expected A 10% raise does not mean 10% more in your pocket. Federal tax, state tax, and FICA (Social Security + Medicare) all take a share of your raise before it reaches your bank account.
Taxes Applied to Your Raise
- Federal income tax: applied at your marginal rate (the rate on the top dollar you earn)
- State income tax: varies widely — 0% in states like Texas and Florida, up to 13% in California
- FICA (employee share): 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare = 7.65% total
Example Current salary: $65,000 Raise: 8% = $5,200 gross raise Marginal federal rate: 22% State rate: 5% FICA: 7.65% Total tax rate on raise: 34.65% Tax on raise: $5,200 × 34.65% = $1,802 Net annual raise: $5,200 - $1,802 = $3,398 Per biweekly paycheck: $3,398 ÷ 26 = $130.69
Note on Marginal vs. Effective Rate Only the portion of your raise that crosses into a higher bracket gets taxed at the higher rate. This calculator uses a simplified flat marginal rate — actual taxes may differ slightly.
FICA Note Social Security tax phases out above $168,600 (2024). If your salary is already above that threshold, FICA on the raise may be lower. This calculator applies the full 7.65% for simplicity.