Use this free take-home-paycheck calculator to estimate net pay from annual gross pay, pay frequency, pretax deductions, federal/state/local withholding estimates, and 2026 employee FICA.
$78,000 over 26 pay periods
Actual payroll can differ because of W-4 settings, IRS withholding tables, benefits, state and local rules, bonuses, overtime, garnishments, and employer systems.
Estimate take-home pay before accepting a salary or changing jobs.
Compare weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay schedules without changing annual salary.
Include simple pretax deductions and your own federal, state, and local withholding percentages.
See the employee Social Security and Medicare estimate separately so FICA is not hidden.
$2,189.70 estimated take-home
$5,548.00 estimated take-home
$741.30 estimated take-home
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Plain-language answers about when to use the estimate, what your numbers mean, what is left out, and how privacy works.
Use it when you want to test the exact inputs on this page: Estimate take-home pay before accepting a salary or changing jobs. Compare weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay schedules without changing annual salary. The result is a check against your assumptions, not proof that a lender, tax app, broker, platform, or provider will use the same number.
Annual gross pay means your yearly pay before paycheck deductions, income tax withholding, Social Security, and Medicare. Pay schedule means how many paychecks you get per year, such as 52 weekly, 26 biweekly, 24 semimonthly, or 12 monthly. Pretax deductions per paycheck means paycheck deductions you want to subtract before the simple tax percentages, such as a retirement or health-plan estimate. Federal withholding estimate means your rough federal income-tax withholding percent. This is not a W-4 table calculation. State and local withholding estimates means rough percentages for state or city/local withholding if they apply to you.
No. This version uses the percentages you enter. Real payroll uses your Form W-4, filing status, dependents, extra withholding, pay timing, benefits, and IRS withholding tables.
Yes, as a simplified 2026 employee FICA estimate. Social Security is estimated at 6.2% up to the 2026 wage base, and Medicare is estimated at 1.45% with extra Medicare tax above $200,000.
No. The calculator shows FICA separately. If you include Social Security or Medicare inside the federal percent field too, you will double count part of the paycheck deduction.
In plain language: The calculator annualizes pretax deductions, applies the federal, state, and local tax percentages you enter, applies employee Social Security and Medicare estimates, then divides annual take-home pay by the number of paychecks. For the default example: $78,000 salary / 26 paychecks = $3,000 gross per paycheck. $120 pretax per paycheck is $3,120 per year. With 12% federal, 4% state, 0% local, and 2026 employee FICA, estimated take-home is $56,932.20 per year, or $2,189.70 per paycheck.
The main answer is estimated take-home per paycheck. Gross per paycheck shows the before-deduction amount. Annual take-home shows the same estimate across the year. FICA estimate separates Social Security and Medicare from your entered income-tax percentages.
This is a rough paycheck estimate, not a payroll system or tax return. It does not read your Form W-4, use IRS Publication 15-T withholding tables, handle exact state/local rules, benefit plan rules, garnishments, bonus withholding, overtime, pre-tax limit rules, or employer payroll timing. Use an actual paystub, employer payroll tool, IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, or payroll professional for exact withholding. This page is for quick salary and paycheck planning only.
Check whether your federal percentage already includes FICA, whether your state or city has separate rules, whether benefits are actually pretax, and whether bonuses, overtime, garnishments, or extra W-4 withholding apply.
No. The calculator runs in your browser tab. Recent answers stay only on the page while you use it, and they are not sent to a server.