Take-home pay, computed in the open.

Your salary, minus any 401(k) deferral and the 2026 federal standard deduction ($16,100 for a single filer), walks through the seven federal brackets. Each slice of income is taxed at its own rate — only the last dollar sees your top rate.

FICA is computed on gross wages: Social Security takes 6.2% of the first $184,500, Medicare takes 1.45% with no ceiling plus an extra 0.9% past the additional-tax threshold. A traditional 401(k) lowers your income tax, not your FICA.

State tax follows the same shape with each state's own deductions, credits, and brackets — and where a state runs employee-paid programs (California SDI, New York PFL, Washington PFML), each appears as its own line on the stub, the way it does on a real one.

What this deliberately leaves out:

• W-4 extra withholding, dependents, and multiple-job adjustments
• Health, dental, and other benefit premiums
• City and county income taxes — flagged on the stub where they exist
• The 2025–2028 tips and overtime deductions — coming as inputs

The result is a planning estimate, not your employer's exact withholding. It answers the question people actually ask: what does this salary really pay?

The other question every offer letter raises. Each page converts the number both ways on the standard 2,080-hour year — then shows what it actually keeps after 2026 taxes, state by state. Or use the converter for any amount.