💵 Income Tax & Take-Home Pay Calculator
Comprehensive after-tax income analysis for compensation professionals. Calculate federal, state, and FICA deductions with current tax tables to determine net pay across multiple scenarios and jurisdictions.
Your Information
📊 Your Tax Breakdown
📖 Usage Examples
👤 Single Filer in Texas
Sarah earns $85,000/year as a software developer in Austin, TX (no state income tax). She contributes $5,000 to her 401(k).
👫 Married Couple in California
Mike and Lisa file jointly with $160,000 combined income. They max out two 401(k)s ($46,000 total pre-tax).
💼 Freelancer with Side Income
Tom earns $55,000 W-2 salary plus $20,000 freelance income. He contributes $3,000 to a traditional IRA.
❔ Frequently Asked Questions
The US uses a progressive tax system with marginal brackets. Only income within each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate. For example, a single filer pays 10% on the first $11,600, 12% on the next $35,550, 22% on the next $53,375, and so on. This means your effective rate is always lower than your top marginal rate.
FICA stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. It comprises two parts: Social Security (6.2%) on income up to $168,600 (2024 cap), and Medicare (1.45%) on all wages. An additional 0.9% Medicare surtax applies to income above $200,000. These fund retirement, disability, and healthcare programs.
Your marginal tax rate is the rate you pay on your last dollar of income — the bracket your highest earnings fall into. Your effective tax rate is the actual percentage of your total income that goes to taxes. Because of the progressive brackets, your effective rate is always lower than your marginal rate.
Nine states (AK, FL, NV, NH, SD, TN, TX, WA, WY) have no state income tax. Others use flat rates (e.g., CO at 4.4%, IL at 4.95%) or progressive brackets (e.g., CA up to 13.3%, NY up to 10.9%). This tool uses estimated effective rates for progressive states to provide a reasonable approximation.
Pre-tax deductions reduce your taxable income, which lowers both your federal and state tax bills. For example, contributing $10,000 to a 401(k) could save ~$2,200 in federal tax (at 22% bracket) plus state tax savings, while building your retirement savings simultaneously.
This calculator uses 2024 IRS tax brackets, standard deductions, and state-level tax data. It provides a close estimate for most W-2 employees. It does not account for itemized deductions, tax credits (EITC, child tax credit, etc.), capital gains, or other specialized situations. For exact figures, consult a tax professional or use IRS Form 1040-ES.
💵 About the Income Tax & Take-Home Pay Calculator
This calculator provides a detailed, line-by-line breakdown of how salary and other income translate into net after-tax earnings. Unlike simplified estimators that apply a flat percentage or single rule-of-thumb deduction, our tool models the full progressive tax structure using current 2024 IRS brackets: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37% thresholds, applied to the appropriate taxable income after standard deductions and pre-tax adjustments.
The calculator accounts for all major payroll tax components: federal income tax (progressive bracket computation), state income tax (differentiated by state-specific rates across all 50 states plus DC, including zero-rate states), Social Security at 6.2% up to the $168,600 wage base, Medicare at 1.45% with the additional 0.9% surtax on high earners above $200,000, and pre-tax deduction adjustments for 401(k), traditional IRA, HSA, and other qualified benefit contributions that reduce adjusted gross income.
For state tax estimation, we categorize each jurisdiction into one of four models: no-income-tax (nine states), flat-rate (states like Colorado, Illinois, Indiana), top-marginal approximation (states where we apply the top bracket rate conservatively), and progressive-with-average-effective-rate (states like California, New York, Oregon where we use a calibrated mid-range effective rate). This approach provides materially accurate estimates without requiring users to navigate complex multi-bracket state systems.
Key use cases for this tool include: compensation benchmarking across different state jurisdictions, modelling the tax impact of retirement contribution changes, comparing job offers with different salary structures, evaluating the after-tax effect of bonuses and side income, and conducting rapid scenario analysis for financial planning decisions. The results are estimates for analytical purposes and should be verified with qualified tax professionals for filing decisions.