Methodology and sources

Rules checked 12 November 2026 for tax year 2026. Calculations run in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Federal income tax

We follow IRS Publication 15-T Worksheet 1A for Forms W-4 from 2020 or later. Taxable wages per check (after pre-tax 401(k) and Section 125 deductions) are annualized, Step 4(a) other income is added, Step 4(b) deductions and the worksheet's adjustment ($12,900 married filing jointly, $8,600 otherwise, or $0 if the Step 2 box is checked) are subtracted, and the result is run through the 2026 Annual Percentage Method table. Step 3 credits are spread across the year's checks and Step 4(c) extra withholding is added. Our results match the IRS wage-bracket tables in the same publication (tested to the dollar for single, married and head-of-household filers).

Social Security and Medicare

6.2% Social Security on wages up to $184,500 and 1.45% Medicare, plus 0.9% additional Medicare on wages above $200,000. Pre-tax 401(k) contributions don't reduce these; Section 125 health, HSA and FSA deductions do. For simplicity we average the Social Security cap and the 0.9% across the year; a real employer applies them on the check where you cross the threshold.

States

No wage tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming. Washington also has none, but we include its Paid Family & Medical Leave (1.13% × 71.43% employee share) and WA Cares (0.58%) premiums.
Illinois: 4.95% after $2,925 per Line 1 allowance and $1,000 per Line 2 allowance.
Michigan: 4.25% after $5,900 per exemption, plus an optional city rate.
North Carolina: 4.09% withholding rate after the NC standard deduction ($12,750, or $19,125 for head of household) and $2,500 per allowance, rounded to the dollar.
Pennsylvania: 3.07% of wages with no allowances; 401(k) deferrals are taxable for PA. Optional local Earned Income Tax rate.
California: EDD Method B (annualized): low-income exemption, standard deduction, graduated rates 1.1%–14.63% by filing status, minus $168.30 per DE 4 allowance; SDI 1.3% (1.4% in 2027) on all wages. Matches the EDD's worked examples to the cent.
New York: NYS-50-T-NYS annual schedule (Method II) after the deduction allowance and $1,000 per allowance, Method III above $1,077,550 (single) or $2,155,350 (married); NYC from NYS-50-T-NYC. Within a few cents of the per-period tables. SDI 0.5% up to $0.60 a week; Paid Family Leave 0.432% up to $411.91.
Ohio: Optional Computer Formula effective August 1, 2026, $650 per exemption. Optional local rate for city and school district taxes.
New Jersey: percentage-method Rate A (single, married filing separately) or Rate B (married filing jointly, head of household), $1,000 per allowance; UI/WF 0.425% to $44,800, DI 0.19% and FLI 0.23% to $171,100.
Georgia: 4.99% after the $15,000/$30,000 standard deduction and $5,000 per dependent (rate in effect from May 11, 2026).
Virginia: the state's withholding formula ($8,750 deduction, $930 per exemption, 2%–5.75%), with the annual amount rounded to whole dollars as in the state's example.
Massachusetts: Circular M percentage method: 5% after up to $2,000 of Social Security and Medicare tax and M-4 exemptions ($4,400 plus $1,000 each), 4% surtax above $1,107,750; PFML up to 0.46%.

2027

The 2027 setting uses the official 2027 brackets and standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2026-35) and the $192,300 Social Security wage base. The IRS hasn't published the final 2027 Publication 15-T yet, so we build its percentage-method tables the way the IRS does (our builder reproduces every 2026 row). State rules stay at 2026 values until states publish 2027 tables, except the California SDI rate and New York PFL cap, which are already announced.

Pay by job

Job pages use statewide wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (May 2025, all industries), a public-domain federal dataset. BLS wages include tips and commissions but not overtime premiums. We run each figure through the same 2026 calculation as the calculator, for a single filer paid every two weeks with W-4 defaults and no pre-tax deductions. Wages are from May 2025 and taxes from 2026, so actual 2026 pay may be a little higher.

Bonuses

Federal withholding at the 22% optional flat rate for supplemental wages (under $1 million), and each state's supplemental rate where it has one.

Not included

State unemployment or disability withholding in a few states (for example Alaska and Pennsylvania), PA's Local Services Tax, garnishments, and employer-specific rounding. Federal withholding is an estimate of tax prepaid, not your final tax bill. This site gives estimates only and isn't tax advice.