Salary & Paycheck Calculators
Salary and paycheck calculators: estimate take-home pay, gross vs net, and pay-frequency conversions.
A salary is quoted as one number and arrives as another. These calculators close that gap, converting between hourly, weekly, biweekly, monthly, and annual pay while applying federal income tax and FICA so you see what actually reaches your account. That matters most when you are comparing offers, because two jobs quoting similar figures can differ meaningfully once filing status, hours actually worked, and unpaid time off are accounted for. All three tools share the same tax and payroll engines, so their numbers agree.
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- CentCompass
- Last Updated
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- 1 min read
Calculators
When to use each calculator
- Paycheck Calculator
- Use it to see what a single paycheck looks like after withholding, and how pre-tax contributions such as a 401(k) change it.
- Salary Calculator
- Use it to translate an annual salary into monthly, biweekly, and hourly equivalents after tax — the figures you actually budget with.
- Hourly to Salary Calculator
- Use it when comparing an hourly role against a salaried one. It accounts for hours worked and unpaid weeks off, then shows your real hourly rate after tax.
Choosing between them
Paycheck or salary calculator?
The paycheck calculator focuses on one pay period and models pre-tax deductions, which makes it the right tool for questions about withholding. The salary calculator focuses on the annual figure and converts it across frequencies, which makes it better for comparing offers.
Hourly or salaried — which is worth more?
They are rarely equivalent at the same nominal rate. Salaried roles often include paid leave and benefits but may expect unpaid extra hours; hourly roles pay for every hour including overtime but may lack paid time off. Compare net pay against hours actually worked.
Why do these differ from my actual pay stub?
Because these are federal-only estimates. Most states levy income tax, some cities add local tax, and benefit premiums and retirement contributions come out before you see the money. Your stub also reflects your specific Form W-4 rather than the standard deduction.
Guides
- What Is FICA?The payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare, why it is charged on gross wages, and what the wage base and Additional Medicare Tax actually do.
- Gross vs Net Pay ExplainedWhy the salary you negotiated is not the money you receive, what each line on a pay stub actually is, and how to compare offers on the figure that matters.
Explore more
Browse every calculator on the site, read our financial guides, or see how CentCompass is built and reviewed.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my take-home so much lower than my salary?
Federal income tax and FICA are withheld before you are paid, and FICA alone is 7.65% of gross wages below the Social Security wage base. Most states add income tax, and benefit deductions reduce it further.
Do these include state taxes?
No — every calculator here is a federal-only estimate. Some states levy no income tax while others take several percentage points, so identical salaries can produce very different take-home pay by location.
How many work hours are in a year?
The standard convention is 2,080 hours, from 40 hours a week over 52 weeks. Paid holidays and vacation are normally counted inside that figure rather than added to it.
Does a raise ever reduce my take-home pay?
No. Because the tax system is progressive, only the income within the higher bracket is taxed at the higher rate, so more gross pay always means more net pay. The opposite claim is a misunderstanding of how brackets work.
How do 401(k) contributions affect my paycheck?
Traditional contributions come out before federal income tax is calculated, so they reduce your tax bill as well as your take-home. They do not reduce Social Security or Medicare, which apply to gross wages.
Sources
- IRS — Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates
- Social Security Administration — Contribution and Benefit Base
- U.S. Department of Labor — Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
How this page is produced
Editorial process. CentCompass is maintained independently, and this page is written and checked against the official publications listed above before it goes live. There is no separate editorial reviewer. This page was last checked on . See our editorial policy.
How the calculations work. Every result comes from a small, unit-tested calculation engine rather than a spreadsheet or a hardcoded table. Loans use the standard amortization formula, growth uses compound-interest math, income tax applies the federal progressive brackets, and payroll applies Social Security and Medicare rules. Our methodology sets out each one.
Where the figures come from. Tax brackets, standard deductions, FICA parameters, and contribution limits are stored once in a dated registry and read directly by the calculators — the same values appear in the text above, so the two can never drift apart. Each figure records its source, effective tax year, and review status on our data sources page.
Update policy. Regulatory figures are checked against their primary source when the IRS, SSA, or another authority publishes new values — typically each autumn for the following tax year — and again at the scheduled review date recorded for each dataset. Figures that have not been checked yet are marked as draft on the data sources page until that check is complete.
Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or investment advice (disclaimer).