StateTaxLab Calculate my paycheck

StateTaxLab · Updated for 2026 & 2027

Sources & method

Tax calculators are only useful if you can trust the numbers. Here is exactly where ours come from and how we check them.

What we are

StateTaxLab is an independent site that builds free paycheck and state tax calculators. We are not affiliated with the IRS, any state tax agency or any payroll company. Our calculators give estimates for planning — not tax, legal or financial advice.

How the calculators work

  1. Annual tax first. We compute a full year of each tax from the official rate schedules: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax and state payroll taxes such as California SDI.
  2. Then per paycheck. Annual amounts are divided by your number of pay periods. Employers use withholding tables built to approximate the same annual tax, so your actual paycheck is usually within a few dollars.
  3. Everything in your browser. The math runs on your device. We never receive what you type.
  4. Show the work. Every line in a result can be expanded to show the formula and the source it came from.

What is not included yet

  • Local income taxes other than the ones in the calculator’s “City tax” menu. Included so far: Missouri (Kansas City earnings tax, St. Louis earnings tax); New York (New York City income tax, Yonkers resident surcharge); Ohio (Columbus income tax, Cleveland income tax, Cincinnati income tax); Oregon (Metro SHS + Multnomah PFA tax, Metro SHS tax); Pennsylvania (Philadelphia Wage Tax, Pittsburgh EIT + Local Services Tax). Other cities, counties and school districts — for example the earned income taxes in the rest of Pennsylvania and Ohio — are not included yet.
  • Second jobs, self-employment tax, investment income, itemized deductions and most credits other than the Child Tax Credit and the credit for other dependents.
  • The phase-out of California exemption credits at very high incomes (worth at most a few hundred dollars).
  • Withholding quirks such as supplemental (bonus) rates — results show the tax you owe for the year, not a specific check.

Sources

Every rate, bracket and limit is stored in a data file together with the official source below. The site cannot be published if a number is missing its source. Data last checked November 11, 2026.

State maps are drawn from “Blank US Map (states only)” on Wikimedia Commons, dedicated to the public domain (CC0).

How we check accuracy

Before a state goes live, our test suite reproduces the official tax tables — for example, the base tax printed at the start of every bracket in the IRS and California rate schedules — and hand-worked examples for low, middle and high incomes. Results are also compared with official and widely used payroll calculators. A state is not published until every check passes.

When we update

  • October: Social Security wage base for the next year.
  • October–November: IRS inflation adjustments (brackets, standard deduction, credits).
  • November–January: state rate schedules and payroll tax rates.
  • Any time: new federal or state laws.

Until a state publishes next year’s figures, its calculator uses the latest published year and says so. Every change is recorded in the data changelog. Spotted something wrong? Please tell us.