Paycheck Calculator

What This Paycheck Calculator Does

This calculator breaks your annual salary down into what actually lands in your bank account each pay period, after federal income tax, an estimated state tax, Social Security, Medicare, and your own 401(k) contribution. It's built for checking whether your current paycheck looks right, planning a budget around your actual take-home amount, or seeing how changing your 401(k) contribution percentage changes your per-check amount.

Unlike an annual salary calculator, this tool focuses on the per-paycheck number — which is what you actually budget against every two weeks or every month, depending on your employer's pay schedule.

Understanding Your Results

Gross Per Check

Your annual salary divided by the number of pay periods you selected. This is your pay before any deductions — what shows at the top of your paystub.

Federal Tax Per Check

An estimate of the federal income tax withheld from this specific paycheck, based on 2026 IRS brackets applied to your annualized taxable income (after your 401(k) contribution and other pre-tax deductions reduce it), then divided back down to a per-check amount.

FICA (Social Security + Medicare)

A flat 7.65% of your gross pay (6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare) up to the Social Security wage base ($184,500 for 2026). Unlike income tax, FICA doesn't change based on filing status or deductions.

401(k) Contribution

Your chosen percentage of gross pay, deducted before federal (and most state) tax is calculated. This is why increasing your 401(k) percentage doesn't reduce your take-home pay by the full contribution amount — part of what you're "giving up" would have gone to taxes anyway.

Why Your Paycheck Might Not Match Your Expectations

• Pre-tax deductions lower your taxable wages — health insurance premiums, HSA/FSA contributions, and 401(k) contributions all reduce the income that federal and state tax get calculated on.
• Your W-4 affects withholding, not your actual tax bill — claiming more allowances or using the multiple-jobs adjustment changes how much is withheld per check, but your real tax liability is settled at filing time regardless.
• Bonuses are often withheld at a flat 22% federal rate — separate from your regular paycheck withholding — which is why a bonus check can look like it was taxed "extra," even though it usually evens out at filing time.
• Some deductions are post-tax — Roth 401(k) contributions and certain insurance products are deducted after tax is calculated, so they reduce your take-home pay by the full deducted amount.

Related Calculators You May Need

• Salary Calculator — for the full annual breakdown rather than a per-paycheck view.
• Overtime Pay Calculator — to see your time-and-a-half pay for any hours beyond 40.
• Tip Calculator — to split a bill or check your tip math.
• Tax Calculator — for a detailed federal tax estimate with itemized deduction support.
• 401(k) Calculator — to project how your current contribution rate grows over time.
• Budget Planner — to build a monthly budget around your actual net pay.
• Take-Home Pay Calculator — a simpler annual-salary-first version of this same take-home math.
• Net Pay Calculator — to check any single paycheck's net amount from its gross figure directly.
• Biweekly Pay Calculator — for a dedicated 26-paycheck-a-year breakdown.
• Payroll Tax Calculator — to see your Social Security and Medicare tax in more detail.

Frequently Asked Questions