Quick answer
- Net pay = gross pay − federal income tax − Social Security (6.2%) − Medicare (1.45%) − state tax − deductions.
- At $17.50 an hour for 80 hours biweekly, a single filer in a no-tax state takes home about $1,208.75 of a $1,400.00 check.
- Federal withholding depends on your W-4. This calculator uses the 2026 IRS Publication 15-T tables and is an estimate.
This hourly paycheck calculator estimates what lands in your bank account from one check. Type your hourly rate, the hours in the pay period, any overtime hours and how often you are paid. Pick your W-4 filing status, add pre-tax deductions if you have them, and enter your state income tax rate as a percentage if your state has one. The tool shows gross pay, estimated federal income tax using the 2026 IRS Publication 15-T percentage method, Social Security at 6.2%, Medicare at 1.45%, and your estimated take-home pay. Every figure is an estimate; your employer's payroll system, your full W-4 and your state's tables decide the real number.
Hourly paycheck calculator
$1,208.75
Estimated net pay for one biweekly check. Federal income tax uses the 2026 IRS Publication 15-T annual percentage method for a single filer with only Step 1 of Form W-4 completed; Social Security is 6.2% (2026 wage base $184,500) and Medicare 1.45%.
Defaults show Maya Torres, who works the front counter at Northfield Coffee in Austin, Texas, at $17.50 an hour. She is paid biweekly for 80 hours, files as single with no other W-4 entries, has no benefits deducted, and Texas has no state income tax. Her estimated check is $1,400.00 gross and $1,208.75 net. If you only know your weekly hours, add them up first with our time card calculator, which handles unpaid lunch breaks, then enter the two-week total here.
How a paycheck is calculated, step by step
Every payroll system, from a spreadsheet to a payroll service, runs the same sequence. Here it is with Maya's default numbers, so you can follow the calculator line by line.
- Gross pay. Regular hours × rate, plus overtime hours × rate × 1.5. Maya: 80 × $17.50 = $1,400.00, no overtime. If she had worked 4 overtime hours in one of the two weeks, those hours would pay $26.25 each and add $105.00, for $1,505.00 gross. Overtime is figured per workweek, not per pay period; our overtime calculator covers the federal rule.
- Pre-tax deductions. Health, dental and vision premiums through a Section 125 plan, HSA and FSA contributions come off before federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare are figured. Traditional 401(k) deferrals come off before federal income tax only. Maya has none, so her taxable wages equal her gross pay.
- Federal income tax. The IRS percentage method annualizes the check: $1,400.00 × 26 pay periods = $36,400.00. It subtracts the $8,600 Step 1 adjustment for a single filer (married filing jointly uses $12,900), giving an adjusted annual wage of $27,800.00. The 2026 single table says: $1,240.00 plus 12% of the amount over $19,900. That is $1,240.00 + 12% × $7,900.00 = $2,188.00 a year, or $84.15 per biweekly check.
- Social Security. 6.2% of $1,400.00 = $86.80. This stops for the year once wages pass the 2026 wage base of $184,500, which the Social Security Administration has set at $192,300 for 2027.
- Medicare. 1.45% of $1,400.00 = $20.30. There is no wage cap. Employers also withhold an extra 0.9% on wages over $200,000 in a calendar year.
- State and local income tax. Texas has none. In a state with a flat 4.25% rate, Maya would lose another $59.50; in a state with brackets, the employer uses that state's withholding tables.
- Net pay. $1,400.00 − $84.15 − $86.80 − $20.30 = $1,208.75. That is the direct deposit amount, and it is what this net pay calculator shows in large type.
Taxes are the biggest gap between gross and net for most hourly workers, but not the only one. If Maya signed up for a $60 health premium and a $70 401(k) contribution per check, and worked in a 4.25% flat-tax state, the same $1,400.00 check would net about $1,044.96. Every one of those lines appears on her stub, and the guide to how to read a pay stub walks through a Northfield Coffee stub line by line.
Gross pay vs net pay
Gross pay is everything you earned in the period before anything is taken out: regular wages, overtime, shift differentials, bonuses, commissions and paid time off. It is the number job offers quote and the number the hourly to salary calculator converts to an annual figure. Net pay, or take-home pay, is what is left after taxes and deductions. It is the number that matters for rent and groceries.
For a single filer with no benefits in a no-tax state, net pay runs roughly 85 to 87 percent of gross in the $15 to $25 an hour range. Add a state income tax of 4 to 5 percent and health premiums, and it is common to see 75 to 80 percent. A few points to keep straight:
- Your W-2 at year end reports taxable wages, which are gross wages minus pre-tax deductions, not your gross pay and not your net pay.
- Expense reimbursements, like the $86 Emily Carter gets back for supplies on her Northfield stub, are not wages. They are added after taxes and do not appear in gross pay.
- Employer-paid costs, such as the employer's matching 6.2% and 1.45% FICA shares and unemployment taxes, never show as deductions from your pay.
FICA: Social Security and Medicare
FICA, the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, covers the two flat payroll taxes on your stub. They do not depend on your W-4, filing status or dependents, which is why they are the easiest lines to check by hand. Our guide to what FICA is covers the employer side and the exceptions.
| Tax | Employee rate | 2026 limit | On a $1,400.00 check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Security (OASDI) | 6.2% | Wages up to $184,500 ($192,300 in 2027) | $86.80 |
| Medicare | 1.45% | No limit | $20.30 |
| Additional Medicare Tax | 0.9% | Wages over $200,000 in the year | $0.00 |
Your employer pays a matching 6.2% and 1.45% on top of your wages. Section 125 benefits and HSA or FSA contributions reduce FICA wages; traditional 401(k) deferrals do not, which is why your Social Security wages and your federal taxable wages can be two different numbers on the same stub. The IRS publishes the rates in Topic 751 and the Social Security Administration sets the wage base each October.
W-4 settings that change your withholding
Federal income tax is the one line you control. The calculator assumes the simplest Form W-4: Step 1 filled in with a filing status, Step 5 signed, nothing else. Each extra step changes the result, and our guide to the W-4 form shows how to fill in each one.
- Step 1(c), filing status. Married filing jointly withholds far less at the same wage. Maya's $1,400.00 check would carry about $16.15 of federal tax as married filing jointly and $47.12 as head of household, against $84.15 as single. Switch the dropdown above to see it.
- Step 2, multiple jobs or spouse works. Checking the box makes the employer use the higher-withholding table and drops the $8,600 or $12,900 adjustment. The calculator does not model Step 2, so if you check that box your real withholding will be higher than the estimate.
- Step 3, dependents. $2,200 per qualifying child under 17 and $500 per other dependent in 2026, divided across your checks, is subtracted from the tentative withholding. One child on a biweekly schedule lowers withholding by about $84.62 a check, which for Maya would nearly zero out her federal income tax line.
- Step 4(a) and 4(b), other income and deductions. Other income raises withholding; itemized deductions above the standard deduction lower it.
- Step 4(c), extra withholding. A flat dollar amount added to every check. People who owed tax last April often add $20 to $50 here.
You can file a new W-4 with your employer at any time, and the change applies to the next payroll your employer processes after receiving it. Employers who want the detail on how the tables are applied can read our guide on how to process payroll.
Common paycheck deductions
Deductions come in two groups, and the order matters for your taxes.
| Deduction | Timing | Lowers federal income tax wages? | Lowers Social Security and Medicare wages? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health, dental, vision premiums (Section 125 plan) | Pre-tax | Yes | Yes |
| HSA and health FSA contributions | Pre-tax | Yes | Yes |
| Dependent care FSA | Pre-tax | Yes | Yes |
| Traditional 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA | Pre-tax | Yes | No |
| Roth 401(k) | After-tax | No | No |
| Wage garnishments, child support | After-tax | No | No |
| Union dues, uniforms, loan repayments | After-tax | No | No |
The calculator has two pre-tax fields for exactly this reason. Put Section 125 premiums, HSA and FSA amounts in the first; they shrink all three federal taxes. Put traditional 401(k) deferrals in the second; they shrink federal income tax only. After-tax deductions are not modeled, so subtract them from the result yourself. Premiums and 401(k) percentages are set once at enrollment and then repeat every check, which is why a raise never shows up in full on your next stub. The free pay stub templates on this site lay out each of these lines if you need to produce stubs by hand.
Take-home pay at $15, $18, $20 and $25 an hour
This biweekly paycheck calculator table uses the same formula as the tool above: 80 regular hours, no overtime, single filer with only Step 1 of the W-4 completed, no state income tax and no deductions. Figures are estimates using 2026 federal rates and are rounded to the cent per check.
| Hourly rate | Gross (80 hrs) | Federal income tax | Social Security | Medicare | Net pay | Net as % of gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15.00 | $1,200.00 | $60.15 | $74.40 | $17.40 | $1,048.05 | 87.3% |
| $17.50 | $1,400.00 | $84.15 | $86.80 | $20.30 | $1,208.75 | 86.3% |
| $18.00 | $1,440.00 | $88.95 | $89.28 | $20.88 | $1,240.89 | 86.2% |
| $20.00 | $1,600.00 | $108.15 | $99.20 | $23.20 | $1,369.45 | 85.6% |
| $25.00 | $2,000.00 | $156.15 | $124.00 | $29.00 | $1,690.85 | 84.5% |
Two patterns stand out. FICA is a flat 7.65% at every rate, so it grows in a straight line. Federal income tax grows faster than the rate does, because the first $7,500 of adjusted annual wages is withheld at 0% and the next $12,400 at 10%, so each extra dollar at these wage levels is withheld at 12%. Going from $15 to $25 an hour raises gross pay by 66.7% and take-home by 61.3%. To see these checks as annual figures, the salary to hourly calculator converts in the other direction.
Weekly and semimonthly checks for the same annual pay come out slightly different per check but nearly identical over the year. At $17.50 an hour, a 40-hour weekly check nets about $604.37 and a monthly check for 173.33 hours nets about $2,618.91 on the same assumptions.
State income tax: enter your own rate
The calculator takes a single percentage for state income tax and applies it to your wages after pre-tax deductions. It does not include state tables, because 41 states and the District of Columbia each publish their own withholding rules and many have brackets, allowances or a state W-4 of their own. Here is how to pick a number:
- No wage income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Leave the field at 0. Maya in Texas is in this group; see the Texas minimum wage guide for the rest of the state's pay rules.
- Flat-rate states such as Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan publish one rate for all wages. Enter that rate.
- Bracketed states such as California and New York use tables much like the federal ones. Look at your last pay stub, divide the state tax withheld by your taxable wages, and enter that percentage. It will track your real withholding closely as long as your hours stay similar.
Some cities and counties add their own wage taxes, including New York City, Philadelphia and many Ohio and Pennsylvania municipalities, and a few states take small payroll deductions for disability or paid leave programs. None of those are in the calculator. Your state revenue department's employer withholding guide is the authoritative source, and your stub is the quickest check.
Frequently asked questions
How much is $17.50 an hour biweekly after taxes?
At $17.50 an hour for 80 hours, gross pay is $1,400.00 per biweekly check. For a single filer with no state income tax and no pre-tax deductions, the 2026 estimate is $84.15 federal income tax, $86.80 Social Security and $20.30 Medicare, leaving about $1,208.75 in take-home pay. State tax and benefits lower that figure.
How accurate is this hourly paycheck calculator?
It is an estimate, not a payroll run. Federal withholding follows the 2026 IRS Publication 15-T annual percentage method for a W-4 with only Step 1 completed, and Social Security and Medicare use the 2026 rates. It does not model W-4 Steps 2 through 4, local taxes, wage garnishments or the Additional Medicare Tax, so your real stub can differ.
Why is my actual paycheck different from the estimate?
The usual causes are W-4 entries the calculator does not see (dependents, extra withholding, a second job), state and city taxes that differ from the percentage you entered, after-tax deductions such as Roth 401(k) or garnishments, and rounding differences in your employer's payroll software. Compare the estimate with your stub line by line to find the gap.
Is overtime taxed at a higher rate?
No. Overtime is taxed the same way as regular wages. A check with overtime looks more heavily taxed because the withholding method annualizes the larger amount, which can push part of it into a higher bracket for that one check. Any over-withholding comes back as a refund when you file your return.
How do I calculate my hourly paycheck by hand?
Multiply your rate by regular hours, add overtime hours at 1.5 times your rate, and subtract pre-tax deductions to get taxable wages. Take 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare, estimate federal income tax from the IRS Publication 15-T tables for your pay frequency, subtract state tax, and the remainder is your net pay.
What hours should I enter for semimonthly or monthly pay?
Semimonthly pay has 24 periods a year, so a 40-hour week averages 86.67 hours per check (2,080 divided by 24). Monthly pay has 12 periods and averages 173.33 hours. Biweekly pay is a flat 80 hours for two 40-hour weeks. Enter the hours you actually worked if you know them; averages are fine for a quick estimate.