Where a US Paycheck Actually Goes
The gap between the salary on an offer letter and the money that lands in an account catches people out every time they change jobs or states. Three separate systems take a share, each with its own rules, and only one of them uses the brackets everybody talks about.
The clearest way to understand it is to follow one salary all the way down. Take $75,000 a year, filing single, and work through the deductions in the order the payroll system applies them.
Step 1: The standard deduction comes off first
Federal income tax is not charged on your whole salary. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 filing single and $32,200 filing jointly, and that amount is subtracted before any bracket applies. On $75,000, taxable income is therefore $58,900 rather than $75,000, a distinction that changes the answer by thousands.
Step 2: Federal brackets apply to what is left, in slices
This is where the most persistent misunderstanding lives. Brackets are marginal: each rate applies only to the portion of income inside that band, never to the whole salary. Moving into a higher bracket cannot reduce your take-home pay.
| Rate | Single, taxable income | Tax on $58,900 of taxable income |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | Up to $12,400 | $1,240 |
| 12% | $12,400 โ $50,400 | $4,560 |
| 22% | $50,400 โ $105,700 | $1,870 |
| 24% | $105,700 โ $201,775 | โ |
| 32% | $201,775 โ $256,225 | โ |
| 35% | $256,225 โ $640,600 | โ |
| 37% | Above $640,600 | โ |
The total is about $7,670. That is a 22% marginal rate but an effective federal rate of roughly 10% on the original $75,000, and the two numbers being so far apart is exactly why the marginal rate is a poor guide to what you actually pay.
Step 3: FICA is charged on gross pay, not taxable income
Social Security takes 6.2% and Medicare 1.45%, and both apply to your gross salary with no standard deduction in front of them. Social Security stops at a wage base, $184,500 for 2026, so it disappears from paychecks late in the year for high earners. Medicare has no cap, and adds a further 0.9% above $200,000 filing single or $250,000 filing jointly.
On $75,000 that is $4,650 plus $1,088, or $5,738 in total. Your employer pays the same again, which is money spent on your employment that never appears on your payslip.
Step 4: State tax varies more than anything else
Nine states levy no income tax at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Elsewhere the rate is the single largest source of variation between two identical salaries, and this calculator applies a simplified flat approximation rather than each state's own brackets and deductions. That approximation is the one figure on this page with no authority behind it, and the calculator says so where it is used.
The practical consequence is worth spelling out: at $75,000, moving from California to Texas is worth roughly $6,000 a year in tax alone, before any difference in housing costs. That is why a relocation offer at the same nominal salary is not the same offer.
What the Estimate Leaves Out
Pre-tax deductions are the significant omission. Contributions to a 401(k), traditional IRA, health insurance premiums, an HSA or an FSA come out before federal tax is calculated, so they reduce your taxable income and your tax bill at the same time. Someone putting $10,000 into a 401(k) on a $75,000 salary is taxed as though they earned $65,000. The federal figures used above come from the IRS, and the calculator shows the date they were last checked against it.
Nor does it cover itemised deductions, tax credits, local or city income taxes, or the many state-specific rules that replace the flat approximation used here. This is an estimate for orientation, comparing offers, sanity-checking a payslip, planning a move, rather than a payroll calculation. Anything with consequences deserves the IRS's own withholding estimator or a tax professional.