ComputeHatch / United States
TAX YEAR 2026
2026 US paycheck calculator
Federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and a state choice. Built for wages, not for investment income or itemized deductions.
What is included
Federal tax uses the 2026 standard deduction and the seven ordinary brackets. Social Security is 6.2% of wages up to $184,500. Medicare is 1.45%, plus 0.9% above $200,000 (single or head of household), $250,000 (joint), or $125,000 (married filing separately).
Nine states do not tax wages: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. California is calculated from 2026 ordinary brackets before credits. Every other state is a rate you type, because a single flat percentage is not that state’s return.
See also the California paycheck page and the no-state-income-tax page.
Questions
Why is my employer’s withholding different?
Withholding uses a Form W-4 and pay-period tables. This page annualizes wages and applies the standard deduction. Bonuses, local tax, and credits change the result.
Does the 401(k) cap get enforced?
No. The 2026 employee deferral limit is $24,500, with a higher catch-up after 50. Enter only what you actually defer.
A $95,000 salary, single, no 401(k), no state tax
Taxable income is $95,000 minus the $16,100 standard deduction, which is $78,900. Federal income tax on that, walking the 10%, 12%, and 22% bands, is $12,070. Social Security is $5,890. Medicare is $1,378. Net is about $75,662 before health insurance. Divided by 26 paychecks, that is about $2,910 a check. The same salary with a state rate, or with California selected, is lower. The federal line does not move when you change only the state.
Married filing jointly on one $95,000 salary uses the $32,200 standard deduction and the wider joint brackets, so federal tax falls. The calculator does that when you change the filing-status box. It does not split two jobs. If both spouses work, the joint standard deduction is used once for the household, not once on each paycheck. Run the combined wages, or expect the page to overstate the deduction.
What people misread
The marginal rate is the rate on the next dollar of taxable income. On this $95,000 example the next dollar is taxed at 22% federally, but the effective rate on the whole salary is about 13%. Multiplying the salary by 22% and calling it the tax is the error this page is built to avoid. Bonuses are also not run through these brackets. A separate check is often withheld at a flat 22% under the supplemental method. That arithmetic is on the bonus withholding page.
Local tax, pre-tax health premiums, and the child tax credit are not inputs. A premium that comes out before tax should be removed from the wage you type. A credit does not belong in the 401(k) box. The bracket table, the wage base, and the 401(k) page are the three rules behind the lines.