Is the take-home figure my actual paycheck?

No. It is an estimate of 2026 federal income tax, employee Social Security, employee Medicare, Additional Medicare Tax, and state income tax on a wage, using the standard deduction and no dependents. It is not a tax return and it is not tax advice.

Which federal tax tables are used?

The 2026 rate schedules and standard deduction in IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. The standard deduction is $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, and $24,150 head of household. Social Security uses the 2026 wage base of $184,500.

Why might my state tax differ?

The estimate uses published state brackets for a filer with no dependents and does not include local income taxes, some high-income phaseouts and recapture rules, or a federal-tax subtraction. The result lists the specific limit when one applies to that state.

What is the estimated take-home pay on the national median wage for a single filer in California?

On a wage of $50,980, a single filer in 2026 is estimated to take home $42,034 after federal income tax of $3,938, Social Security of $3,161, Medicare of $739, and California income tax of $1,108. The estimate uses the standard deduction, no dependents, and no local tax. It is not a tax return.

Published by Salary by Metro · Updated October 12, 2026

How take-home pay is estimated

The figure is an estimate of wage income after federal tax, payroll tax, and state income tax. It is not a paycheck and it is not a return.

An electrician connecting a generator to a home electrical panel — An electrician at a home electrical panel. Photograph by editor B. Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Every take-home number on this site is an estimate for tax year 2026. It starts from a yearly wage, subtracts the federal standard deduction, applies the federal rate schedule, then subtracts employee Social Security, employee Medicare, Additional Medicare Tax when the wage is high enough, and state income tax. Each of those pieces is rounded to the nearest dollar.

Where the federal numbers come from

The brackets and the standard deduction are from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, also announced in IR-2025-102. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and for married filing separately, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for head of household. The rate schedules in the revenue procedure are the ones used here, including the tax already due at each bracket threshold.

Employee Social Security is 6.2 percent of wages up to the 2026 contribution and benefit base of $184,500, from the Social Security Administration and described in IRS Topic No. 751. Employee Medicare is 1.45 percent of wages, with no wage base. Additional Medicare Tax is 0.9 percent of wages above $200,000 for single filers and heads of household, above $250,000 for married filing jointly, and above $125,000 for married filing separately. That surtax is the employee share under section 3101(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, reported on Form 8959.

Where the state numbers come from

State brackets, standard deductions, and personal exemptions are the January 1, 2026 schedules compiled from state statutes, forms, and instructions by the Tax Foundation and published on February 17, 2026. Minnesota's single and joint brackets were checked against the Minnesota Department of Revenue's 2026 tables. States that do not tax wages, including Texas, Florida, and Washington, are estimated at zero state income tax on the wage. Washington's capital-gains tax is not a wage tax and is not applied. WA Cares withholding is not applied either.

For a few states the January compilation still carried 2025 inflation-adjusted bracket widths, because 2026 widths were not in that table. The estimate says so on the result. Those states are Arkansas, California, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and Vermont. Utah's credit phaseout uses the 2025 income thresholds, and the result says that too. Some states phase out deductions or recapture a tax benefit at high incomes in ways this estimate does not fully model. Alabama, Missouri, and Oregon allow a federal-tax subtraction that is not applied here. The note on the result is part of the estimate.

$50,980 · Single · California

Federal income tax: $3,938
Social Security: $3,161
Medicare: $739
State income tax: $1,108

Estimated take-home: $42,034 (17.5% of the wage goes to these taxes).

The national all-occupations median, single filer, California brackets.

$80,000 · Single · Texas

Federal income tax: $8,770
Social Security: $4,960
Medicare: $1,160
State income tax: $0

Estimated take-home: $65,110 (18.6% of the wage goes to these taxes).

A round wage used to show a state with no tax on wages.

Run your own wage on the take-home calculator.

What is left out on purpose

Itemized deductions, credits other than the state personal-exemption credit, and dependents.
Pre-tax retirement contributions, health premiums, and other cafeteria-plan amounts.
Local income taxes, including city taxes in New York and county taxes in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
State disability insurance and paid-family-leave payroll taxes.
Territorial income tax for Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Those wages can still be looked up. A take-home total is not produced for them.
The employer's share of payroll tax. The estimate is the employee side.

Head of household and married filing separately use the federal schedules for those statuses. State tax for those two statuses uses the state's single-filer schedule, and the result says so. A joint return is estimated as a couple with no dependents, not as two single filers added together.

On a job page, the take-home card uses the published annual median, single filing status, and the metro's primary state. Change any of those on the calculator. If BLS did not publish an annual wage, the card is not shown, because the calculator will not invent a yearly wage from an hourly rate.

Take-home calculator