Free Paycheck &
Salary Calculators
for US Workers

All calculators are built directly from official IRS and state revenue agency withholding tables — the same source your employer uses. Results match official pay stubs within a few dollars for most workers. Small differences can occur due to employer-specific pre-tax deductions (health insurance, FSA contributions) or W-4 additional withholding elections that aren't entered into the calculator. For the closest match, enter your exact gross pay and your actual W-4 filing status.

Yes — completely free. There are no premium features, no usage limits, no email required, no free trial that expires, and no paywall after a certain number of calculations. Every calculator on USA Pay Calculator — all 50 state paycheck calculators, the 401(k) calculator, salary calculator, overtime calculator — is 100% free with no conditions, forever.

Nine states charge no state income tax on wages in 2026: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Residents of these states still pay federal income tax and FICA (Social Security and Medicare), but keep significantly more of each paycheck compared to workers in high-tax states like California (up to 13.3%) or New York (up to 10.9%). Compare any two states using our Paycheck Calculator by State.

Your take-home pay is your gross pay minus all mandatory deductions: federal income tax (based on your W-4 and filing status), Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026), Medicare (1.45% with no cap), state income tax (varies by state — zero in 9 states, up to 13.3% in California), and any state-specific deductions like SDI or Paid Family Leave. Use our Paycheck Calculator to get your exact net pay in seconds.

The Social Security (OASDI) taxable wage base for 2026 is $184,500. Social Security tax is withheld at 6.2% on wages up to this limit — once you earn $184,500 in a calendar year, no further Social Security tax is withheld for the rest of that year. Medicare (1.45%) has no wage cap, and an additional 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies on wages above $200,000 (single filers) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).

Gross pay is your total earnings before any deductions — your salary or hourly rate times hours worked, before taxes or any other withholding. Net pay (take-home pay) is what actually hits your bank account after federal tax, state tax, Social Security, Medicare, and any other deductions. The difference between gross and net is often surprising — for a $75,000 salary in California, the difference can exceed $20,000 per year. Our Paycheck Calculator shows both clearly.

Our Overtime Calculator computes your time-and-a-half (1.5×) and double-time (2×) pay based on your regular hourly rate, regular weekly hours, and overtime hours worked. Under federal FLSA rules, non-exempt employees must receive at least 1.5× their regular rate for every hour worked beyond 40 in a workweek. Some states like California apply daily overtime after 8 hours per day — the calculator includes state-specific notes for those rules.

Traditional 401(k) contributions are pre-tax — they reduce your taxable income before federal (and most state) taxes are calculated. This means your paycheck doesn't drop by the full contribution amount. If you contribute $200 per paycheck and you're in the 22% federal bracket, your take-home pay only drops by about $156 — the other $44 is offset by tax savings. Use our 401(k) Calculator to see the full impact of different contribution rates on your projected retirement balance.

The W-4 (Employee's Withholding Certificate) tells your employer how much federal income tax to withhold from your paycheck. You should update your W-4 whenever you have a major life change: marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, starting or stopping a second job, or a significant income change. The IRS recommends checking your withholding annually. An outdated W-4 can lead to under-withholding (unexpected tax bill in April) or over-withholding (giving the IRS an interest-free loan all year). Our calculators use your W-4 filing status to estimate withholding accurately.

FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contributions Act — the law that funds Social Security and Medicare. Employees pay 6.2% for Social Security (up to $184,500 in 2026) and 1.45% for Medicare on all wages. Employers match these amounts dollar for dollar. Self-employed workers pay the full 15.3% as self-employment tax (though they can deduct half of it). FICA applies in every state — no state can exempt residents from federal FICA taxes.

We update all calculators every January for the new tax year — incorporating updated federal brackets, revised standard deductions, the new Social Security wage base, and any state-level withholding table changes. When states release mid-year revisions (as some states do after legislative sessions), we update those calculators when the changes take effect. Every calculator displays the tax year it's built for so you always know the data is current.

Yes — every paycheck calculator on this site supports both annual salary and hourly wage inputs. Switch to "Hourly" mode, enter your hourly rate and hours per week, and the calculator annualizes your income for accurate bracket calculation before dividing the result back into your chosen pay frequency. Our Salary Calculator also converts any hourly rate to annual, monthly, biweekly, and weekly equivalents for quick reference.

The standard paycheck calculators use gross salary and W-4 elections to estimate withholding — they don't include employer-specific pre-tax deductions like health insurance premiums, FSA contributions, or HSA contributions. These deductions reduce your federal (and sometimes state) taxable income, meaning workers with significant pre-tax benefits will see slightly higher take-home pay than the calculator estimates. The calculators are designed to give an accurate baseline — your actual paycheck may be slightly higher if you have substantial pre-tax benefits.

Use our Paycheck Calculator by State to access calculators for all 50 states. Open two calculators side by side in separate browser tabs, enter the same salary and filing status in each, and compare the net annual figures. The difference is purely the state tax and any state-specific deductions (like California's SDI at 1.3% or New York's PFL at 0.388%). Some of our state calculators — like Florida and Texas — also include a built-in comparison dropdown to show your exact savings vs. high-tax states.