Your check arrives smaller than your pay rate promised, and the stub shows six deductions you never agreed to memorize. Type your pay below and watch where every dollar goes at 2026 rates: federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, and your state's cut, itemized per paycheck.
Free, no sign-up. Runs in your browser, nothing is stored.
| Line | Per paycheck | Per year |
|---|
Teachers, HR teams, and publishers: you're welcome to embed this calculator with a link to this page. Copy the snippet:
Four things come out of a paycheck before it reaches your bank. Social Security takes 6.2% of wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Medicare takes 1.45% with no cap, plus 0.9% on wages past $200,000. Together they're the 7.65% FICA share on every W-2 job. Federal income tax follows the 2026 IRS brackets after the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly). State income tax depends on where you work: nine states take nothing from wages, fifteen charge one flat rate, and the rest use graduated brackets.
This tool estimates. Your employer's actual withholding follows your W-4, your state's form, and your benefit elections, and a few places add local lines the estimate leaves out. When your real stub disagrees with the estimate, my guide on how to read a pay stub shows you which line to question.
Need the document and math done for you? The pay stub generator builds the full stub, calculates every line here automatically, and shows you a free preview before any payment.
Every W-2 worker pays 7.65% FICA (6.2% Social Security plus 1.45% Medicare), federal income tax based on your bracket, and state income tax in 42 states. For many workers the total runs 20-30% of gross pay.
Nine states take no tax from wages: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Washington taxes only capital gains, so ordinary paychecks are untouched.
Yes, with no sign-up and no limits. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Actual withholding follows your W-4 elections, state forms, and benefit elections, which this estimate cannot see. Local taxes and items like California SDI also apply in some places. Use it for planning, then check your real stub line by line.
The Real Check Stubs generator builds a complete stub from your pay details with all of these taxes calculated automatically. You preview every line free and pay only to download the PDF.
