About Takehome

Takehome answers one question as precisely as possible: what actually lands in your bank account, for a given salary, in a given US state, in 2026.

Who builds this

This is a one-person site, not a company or a media brand. It is built and maintained by Jose Manuel Gómez, a developer working independently.

Being straight about what I am not: I am not an accountant, a CPA, a tax adviser or a financial adviser, and nothing here is advice. What I can offer is not credentials, it is method: the arithmetic is transparent and unit-tested, the tax figures come from official primary sources and are cited, the limitations are stated openly rather than buried, and errors get fixed fast when someone reports them. Judge the site on that, and verify anything that matters with the IRS or a professional.

Why it exists

Most paycheck calculators give you one generic form and a single number. But tax is not generic; it depends on where you live. The difference between the same salary in a no-income-tax state and a high-tax one is thousands of dollars a year, and that difference is exactly what people need when they are weighing a job offer, negotiating a raise, or considering a move.

So instead of one form, this site builds a dedicated page for each state, and for each common salary within it, showing the breakdown, the effective and marginal rate, and how that state compares to the others at the same salary. That last comparison is the part a single generic form cannot answer.

How the calculation works

There is no magic and no black box. For a given gross salary and filing status, the calculator applies, in this order:

• Federal income tax: the standard deduction is subtracted, then the remaining taxable income is run through the federal brackets progressively, so each slice of income is taxed only at its own bracket's rate.
• State income tax: nothing for states with no income tax; a single percentage for flat-tax states; the state's own progressive brackets and standard deduction elsewhere.
• Social Security: a fixed rate, applied only up to the annual wage base, above which it stops.
• Medicare: a fixed rate on all earnings, plus the additional Medicare surtax on earnings above the threshold.

The engine that does this is a small, self-contained module covered by unit tests, including a check that net pay plus total tax always equals gross, so the breakdown can never quietly fail to add up.

The marginal rate, not just the effective rate

Most calculators show only the effective rate, total tax divided by gross. We also show the marginal rate: what your next dollar is taxed at, combining your federal bracket, your state, and FICA. It is the number that explains why a raise feels smaller than expected, and it is usually the more useful of the two.

Where the data comes from

Tax figures are taken from official primary sources and cross-checked against a reputable secondary source before publication:

• Federal brackets, standard deduction and Medicare thresholds, from the IRS
• Social Security wage base, from the Social Security Administration
• State brackets and deductions: each state's department of revenue

Tax rules change every year, and sometimes mid-year. Figures are reviewed annually for the new tax year, and corrected as soon as a change is confirmed. The tax year in use is shown on every page.

What we deliberately leave out

A calculator that tries to model everything ends up asking twenty questions and still guessing. This one is a fast, honest estimate of the four deductions that dominate almost every paycheck. It does not model tax credits, local or city taxes, pre-tax deductions like 401(k) and health premiums, itemised deductions, or multiple household incomes. Those exclusions are listed in full in the disclaimer, and they matter, which is why every page says "estimate", and why we point you to the IRS or a qualified professional before you act on a number.

Your data stays yours

The calculator runs entirely in your browser. The salary you type is never sent to us, never stored, and never shared: there is no server-side calculation and no database. Details in the privacy policy.

Found an error?

Accuracy is the whole point of this site, and a wrong bracket is a bug worth fixing quickly. If a figure looks wrong, especially if you have the official source to hand, please tell us. Corrections are welcome and get priority.

Currently covering 5 states, with more added as their 2026 figures are verified. Operated by Jose Manuel Gómez. Full legal and contact details on the privacy page.