Paycheck Calculator

Estimates what actually lands in your account, starting from what you're paid on paper.

This is the calculator to run before you touch the Budget Builder, because the Builder wants your real take-home figure and most people only know their gross.

The Paycheck calculator uses US federal and state tax tables, so it only appears for accounts in the United States.

Inputs

Income

Income Name: what to call this paycheck, such as Main job. It labels the result and the income source if you add it to your budget. Left blank, it's called Paycheck.

Salary or Hourly: pick one.

›Salary asks for your annual salary.
›Hourly asks for your Rate, your Hours / week, and your Overtime / week. Hours are always per week, whatever your pay frequency. Overtime means hours past 40 in a week, and is paid at time and a half.

Pay frequency: how often you're paid.

Taxes

Country: fixed to the United States.

State: preselected from your profile when it can be.

Filing status: your federal filing status.

Local tax: only appears in states where a county or city taxes income too. Leave it blank and a typical rate for your state is used and filled into the field, so you can see the number that was assumed.

Pre-tax deductions

Medical, Dental, Vision, FSA, and HSA, each per pay period. Retirement is a percentage of gross pay.

These come out before tax, so they lower your tax as well as your paycheck.

Post-tax deductions

Tap Add a deduction for anything taken after tax. Pick a Type (union dues, a Roth IRA contribution, a garnishment, child support, and so on) and enter the Amount per pay period. Add as many as you need.

What you get

Net paycheck, your take-home per pay period, with Gross, Taxes, and Deductions beneath it.

Below that is the full breakdown: Federal tax, State tax, Local tax (where it applies), FICA tax, Pre-tax deductions, Post-tax deductions, and Take-home.

Add To Budget

Add To Budget adds the paycheck to your Budget Builder as an income source, with its name, take-home amount, and pay frequency. You'll see [name] added to budget. with a Go To Budget shortcut.

Check the next paycheck date when you get there. It starts as today. See Income & Current Savings.

Why run it

Before building your first budget. The Builder's income section wants what arrives, not what's promised. Guessing here skews every projection downstream.

Before accepting a job offer. A salary in one state and the same salary in another are different amounts of money. So are two offers with different benefits deductions.

Before moving. State and local tax differences can be worth more than the raise you're moving for.

When changing your withholding, filing status, or retirement contribution. See the effect before it shows up in a real paycheck.

Comparing two situations

The most valuable use is comparison. Run it twice and change one variable:

›Same salary, two different states
›Two different offers
›Hourly at one rate against salary at another
›Your retirement contribution at 4% against 8%

The absolute numbers are estimates. The difference between two runs is reliable, and that's usually the actual question.

Hourly and overtime

For hourly income, enter your standard weekly hours. If overtime is occasional, leave it out. The resulting figure is your dependable baseline, which is exactly what a budget should be built on.

If overtime is genuinely consistent, include a conservative amount. Better to plan low and have surplus than to build a plan on hours that dry up.

Accuracy

This is an estimate. Withholding follows the standard tables, and your employer may round differently or apply something the form doesn't ask about.

Check it against a real payslip once you have one. If it's consistently off in the same direction, use the real figure in your budget and treat the calculator as a comparison tool rather than a source of truth.

Take the result to Income & Current Savings in the Builder.