Take-Home Paycheck Calculator
Work out your actual paycheck after tax and payroll deductions, split into weekly, bi-weekly and monthly amounts.
How to use this calculator
- 1Select your country and tax year.
- 2Enter your gross salary and any deductions, split correctly between pre-tax and post-tax.
- 3Choose your pay frequency to see the per-paycheck figure.
How the calculation works
Take-home = Gross − Pre-tax deductions − Income tax − Payroll tax − Post-tax deductions- Pre-tax
- Deducted before tax is calculated, lowering your taxable income
- Post-tax
- Deducted after tax, from what is already your net pay
This draws on the same versioned tax tables as the Income Tax Calculator — see that page for the full bracket-by-bracket breakdown.
Pre-tax deductions are more valuable than post-tax ones of the same size, because they reduce the income tax is calculated on.
Worked example
$65,000 salary, $3,000 pre-tax 401(k), paid bi-weekly
- 1.Wages after the pre-tax deduction: $65,000 − $3,000 = $62,000 — this is both what payroll tax and income tax are calculated on, and the base your take-home is drawn from.
- 2.Subtracting the $15,000 standard deduction gives $47,000 of taxable income, which spans the 10% and 12% brackets: $1,192.50 + $4,209.00 = $5,401.50 income tax.
- 3.Payroll tax: 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare on $62,000 = $3,844.00 + $899.00 = $4,743.00.
- 4.Take-home: $62,000 − $5,401.50 − $4,743.00 = $51,855.50 a year.
- 5.Per bi-weekly paycheck: $51,855.50 ÷ 26 = $1,994.44.
Result: $1,994.44 per bi-weekly paycheck ($51,855.50 a year)
Why "salary" and "take-home pay" are different numbers
A salary is the figure quoted in an offer letter; take-home pay is what actually lands in a bank account after everything is withheld along the way. The gap between the two can be substantial — often a fifth to a third of gross pay, depending on where you live and how you are paid — which is why budgeting against the salary figure rather than the take-home figure is one of the more common ways household finances come up short.
What comes out of a paycheck
Several separate deductions stack up between gross salary and the amount actually paid out, each working slightly differently.
- Income tax withholding — an estimate of the income tax owed for the year, collected in instalments each pay period rather than as a single bill at year end.
- Payroll or social insurance contributions — separate from income tax, these fund programs like state pensions or public healthcare and are typically calculated on gross wages at their own rate.
- Pre-tax benefit deductions — retirement contributions, health insurance premiums or similar amounts taken out before tax is calculated, which lowers the income tax is assessed on.
- Post-tax deductions — anything subtracted after tax has already been calculated — union dues, wage garnishments, or after-tax benefit elections.
Why the order — pre-tax versus post-tax — matters
A pre-tax deduction is worth more than a post-tax deduction of the identical size, because it reduces the income tax is calculated on before the rate is applied. Contributing the same dollar amount to a pre-tax retirement account rather than a post-tax one leaves more spendable income in the very same paycheck, on top of whatever the retirement account itself is expected to grow into — the deduction and the saving are two separate benefits, not one.
Pay frequency and the "extra paycheck" effect
How often you are paid changes how a fixed annual salary is sliced up, and it can create a predictable surprise. Weekly pay produces 52 paychecks a year, bi-weekly produces 26, semi-monthly produces exactly 24 (always on set dates, like the 1st and the 15th), and monthly produces 12. Because 26 bi-weekly pay periods do not divide evenly into 12 calendar months, most years contain two months where a bi-weekly earner receives three paychecks instead of two — a genuinely extra paycheck relative to a typical month, not an error, and one worth planning around rather than spending as if it were routine.
Reading a pay stub
The same handful of lines appears on almost every pay stub, in roughly the same order this calculator follows.
- 1Gross pay — the full salary or wages earned for the period, before anything is subtracted.
- 2Pre-tax deductions — retirement and pre-tax benefit contributions, subtracted first.
- 3Taxable wages — gross pay minus pre-tax deductions — the figure tax is actually calculated on.
- 4Tax withheld — income tax and payroll/social insurance contributions, calculated on the taxable wages figure.
- 5Post-tax deductions — anything taken out after tax, from what is already net pay.
- 6Net pay — what is left — the amount actually deposited.
What this assumes, and where it stops
Assumptions
- Single filer, standard deduction, no additional credits.
- The full year is worked at the same salary and deduction rate.
Limitations
- US results are federal only — state and local income tax are not included and can add substantially to total deductions.
- Does not model tax credits, which can meaningfully increase actual take-home pay.
- Payroll taxes (Social Security/National Insurance style contributions) are calculated on income after pre-tax deductions here, as a modelling simplification — in the US specifically, Social Security and Medicare wages are usually unaffected by a traditional 401(k) deduction, so real payroll tax may be slightly higher than shown.
Common questions
Why is my real paycheck different from this estimate?
The most common reasons are state or local income tax (not modelled here), tax credits that reduce your bill further, or additional benefits deductions like health insurance premiums that vary by employer plan. This gives you the federal-level baseline to build from.
Should my 401(k) contribution be pre-tax or post-tax?
A traditional 401(k) is pre-tax — it reduces the income your tax is calculated on. A Roth 401(k) is post-tax — you pay tax on the full salary first, then contribute from what is left. Enter your contribution in the matching field depending on which type you have.
Formula and content last reviewed on .
Results are estimates for information only, not professional advice.
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