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Take-home pay is what actually lands in your bank account after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and (if applicable) state tax are withheld from your gross salary.
This calculator estimates your net pay per paycheck using the 2025 federal tax brackets and standard deduction, plus current Social Security and Medicare rates.
How it works
Enter your annual gross salary, how often you're paid, your filing status, any annual pre-tax deductions (like 401k or HSA contributions), and an approximate state tax rate. The calculator applies the 2025 standard deduction and progressive federal tax brackets to find your federal tax, adds Social Security (6.2% up to the annual wage base) and Medicare (1.45%), and divides what's left by your number of pay periods.
- Enter annual gross salary.
- Enter pay frequency.
- Enter filing status.
- Enter annual pre-tax deductions (401k, HSA, etc.).
- Enter state income tax rate (%, approximate — 0 if none).
- Click Calculate to see your results.
Examples
A single filer at $75,000/year
A $75,000 salary with no pre-tax deductions and a 0% state tax results in about $8,114 in federal tax, $4,650 in Social Security, and $1,087.50 in Medicare — roughly $2,352 take-home per biweekly paycheck.
Who should use it
- Estimating take-home pay before accepting a new job offer or salary change.
- Planning a budget around actual net pay rather than gross salary.
Industry applications
- Personal finance and budgeting
- Human resources and compensation planning
Advantages
- Shows a full bracket-by-bracket breakdown of exactly how the federal tax was calculated.
- Accounts for pre-tax deductions, filing status, and pay frequency.
Limitations
- Uses a single flat rate for state tax rather than modeling every state's actual tax brackets.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting that Social Security tax stops once your wages exceed the annual wage base, so very high earners pay a smaller effective Social Security rate.
- Assuming pre-tax deductions reduce Social Security and Medicare tax the same way they reduce income tax — they don't.
Best practices
- Use your actual state's effective income tax rate (not just its top marginal rate) for the most realistic estimate.
Tips
- Increasing pre-tax 401k contributions lowers your federal taxable income, which can meaningfully reduce your federal tax bill even though it also lowers your immediate take-home pay.