US Salary Tax Calculator: Take-Home Pay After Federal, FICA, and State

How to Use This Calculator

Follow these steps to estimate your take-home pay.

1. Enter your annual gross salary before any deductions.
2. Choose your filing status: single, married filing jointly, or head of household. This sets your standard deduction and bracket thresholds.
3. Enter your annual 401(k) contribution. Traditional pre-tax dollars lower your taxable income, so this directly cuts federal tax.
4. Add any HSA contribution. HSA money escapes federal income tax and, through a Section 125 plan, payroll tax too.
5. Enter your state income tax rate as a flat percent. Use 0 for no-income-tax states like Texas, Florida, and Washington.
6. Read the results: annual, monthly, and biweekly take-home pay, plus your effective tax rate.

Rerun it with different inputs to compare scenarios, such as a higher 401(k) rate or a move to another state.

A Real-World Example

Consider a single filer earning $95,000 a year who contributes $8,000 to a traditional 401(k) and lives in a state with a flat 5 percent income tax. They make no HSA contribution.

Start with the 401(k): $95,000 minus $8,000 leaves $87,000 in wages subject to federal income tax before the standard deduction. Subtract the 2025 single standard deduction of $15,000, and taxable income is $72,000. Running that through the 2025 brackets, federal income tax comes to roughly $10,900. FICA is calculated on the full $95,000 wage (401(k) does not escape payroll tax): Social Security at 6.2 percent is $5,890 and Medicare at 1.45 percent is $1,378, totaling $7,268. State tax at 5 percent on the $87,000 of state taxable wages is about $4,350.

Add it up: roughly $10,900 federal, $7,268 FICA, and $4,350 state equals about $22,518 in total tax. Subtract that and the $8,000 going into the 401(k) from the $95,000 gross, and take-home pay is around $64,482 a year, or about $5,373 a month. The effective tax rate on gross is near 24 percent. Notice the 401(k) contribution shrank the tax bill by about $1,760 (22 percent federal plus 5 percent state on $8,000), so the full $8,000 landed in retirement savings while take-home fell by only about $6,240.

Tips & Best Practices

• Compare offers in net, not gross. A $10,000 raise often nets only $6,500 to $7,500 after taxes.
• Increase your 401(k) gradually. The drop in take-home is smaller than the contribution because of tax savings.
• When weighing a move, compare net pay across states alongside cost of living, not headline salaries.
• Enter your effective state rate, not the top marginal rate, in graduated states for a closer estimate.
• Revisit the numbers after any bonus, raise, or benefits change so your budget stays accurate.

How US Federal Tax Brackets Actually Work

Brackets are marginal, which trips up many people. Being in the 24 percent bracket does not mean you pay 24 percent on every dollar. The first slice of taxable income is taxed at 10 percent, the next at 12 percent, and so on, with your top rate applying only to dollars above its threshold. A single filer with $100,000 of taxable income in 2025 pays 10 percent on the first $11,925, 12 percent up to $48,475, 22 percent up to $103,350, and would only reach 24 percent on dollars above that. Their top bracket is 22 percent but their effective rate is near 17 percent. This is why a bonus can nudge you into a higher bracket without sharply raising your overall burden, since only the dollars above the threshold pay the higher rate.

What This Calculator Does Not Capture

Local city or county taxes, the additional Medicare surcharge on high incomes, the Net Investment Income Tax, itemized deductions beyond the standard deduction, and credits like the child tax credit or earned income credit are all outside this tool. Self employment tax is also excluded; freelancers owe both halves of FICA, totaling 15.3 percent. For complex situations, file with a CPA or full software. This calculator gives paycheck level estimates, not a finished return.