About Take-HomePay
Last updated: April 21, 2026
Why we built this
Existing online take-home pay calculators often require an email sign-up before showing a number, or silently use outdated tax tables. Take-HomePay calculates your net pay deterministically, using published IRS, SSA, and state tax tables for the current tax year. No guessing, no AI estimates, just honest math.
How it works
We apply federal income tax brackets, FICA (Social Security up to the annual wage base, Medicare, and Additional Medicare for high earners), and state income tax — plus local tax where applicable — in the order the IRS applies them. The calculation is deterministic: the same inputs always produce the same output, to the cent.
Every calculator page on this site shows the full line-by-line breakdown: federal income tax, FICA components, state tax, and local taxes. Nothing is hidden behind an expand toggle or paywall.
What we don't model yet
We'd rather be honest about what we don't cover than silently give wrong numbers. The current calculator does not model:
- Commuter benefits (§132(f) transit/parking) and other §125 cafeteria plan benefits beyond HSA/FSA
- Self-employment income and self-employment tax
- Multi-state allocation for taxpayers earning income in more than one state
- State disability insurance for states other than California
- Catch-up contributions for 401(k) age-50+, HSA age-55+, and SECURE 2.0 super-catch-up age-60-63
- Post-tax deductions (garnishments, Roth contributions from payroll)
- Local EIT taxes outside the cities we've explicitly verified
- Alternative minimum tax (AMT)
- Tax credits specific to your situation
Some of these may come in future updates; others are intentionally out of scope to keep the calculator focused on standard W-2 wage scenarios. If your situation includes any of the above, treat our result as an upper bound on your tax and a lower bound on your net.
Sources we use
We cite our sources because accuracy starts with knowing where numbers come from. The core references:
- IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 — 2026 federal income tax brackets and standard deduction
- Social Security Administration — 2026 Contribution and Benefit Base (FICA wage base)
- Each state's Department of Revenue — linked on the individual state pages
Who built this
Built by an independent creator in Accra, Ghana. No venture capital, no data-harvesting business model. If you find a mistake or want to suggest a state or city we haven't added yet, reach out via the contact page.
Something we believe
Calculators shouldn't hide the math. Every page on this site shows you the line-by-line breakdown of federal, FICA, state, and (where applicable) local tax. If you can't explain how the answer was reached, you can't trust it.