Raise Net Take-Home Impact Calculator
See how much of a pay raise you actually keep after 2026 federal, state, and FICA taxes, and what it adds to each paycheck.
Raise Net Take-Home Impact Calculator
Your raise
Enter your current salary and the raise, then pick your filing status and state.
Prefilled from your state as a representative marginal rate. Edit it if you know your exact bracket.
Enter a raise greater than zero.
2026 estimate using the federal brackets and the $184,500 Social Security wage base. Tax on the raise uses a representative state marginal rate; the annual take-home lines use a representative state effective rate, since your whole salary never pays the marginal rate. Both vary with income in graduated states, so treat the state figures as approximations. Not filing-grade: it excludes pre-tax deductions, local taxes, credits, and state items like CA SDI or NY PFL.
How much of a raise do you actually keep?
The number on your raise letter is the gross raise. What reaches your bank account is the net raise, and the gap between them surprises most people. Of the extra dollars, only your keep rate lands in your pocket: net raise divided by gross raise, usually around 62 to 75 percent. A $3,500 raise on a $70,000 salary often nets closer to $2,300 after federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, and state tax.
This tool answers the "how much more do I keep" question, not the "what is my new salary" question. It computes your take-home twice, once on the old salary and once on the new salary, using the full 2026 progressive federal brackets, then reports the difference. Running both endpoints through the real bracket function is what catches a raise that straddles a bracket edge or the Social Security wage base, which a single flat marginal-rate estimate gets wrong.
Marginal vs. effective: why your raise is taxed more than your salary
Your raise sits on top of your existing income, so every raise dollar is taxed at your top marginal rate. Your salary as a whole pays a lower effective (average) rate, because it blends in the 10 and 12 percent brackets that fill up first. The raise gets none of that benefit. This is where most people trip up on raises: they compare the tax on the raise to their overall effective rate, decide something is broken, when the raise is just being taxed at the marginal rate it was always going to hit.
The same stacking logic applies to any income added on top of a salary. If you are weighing extra hours or side income instead of a raise, the Second Job Take-Home Calculator runs the same marginal math for a second W-2 job.
When a raise crosses a tax bracket or the Social Security cap
Crossing into a higher bracket does not cost you money. The US system is progressive, so only the raise dollars above the bracket threshold pay the higher rate; everything below stays at the lower rate. Your take-home still rises. The calculator flags when part of the raise lands in a higher 2026 bracket so you can see exactly how the split works.
The Social Security wage base runs the other way in your favor. Social Security tax is 6.2 percent only up to $184,500 in 2026. If your raise carries you past that cap, the dollars above it skip Social Security entirely, so your keep rate improves over that segment. If you already earn above the cap, the whole raise is Social Security free. To check whether a raise keeps pace with prices as well as taxes, pair this with the Raise Needed to Beat Inflation calculator.
From estimate to exact: model the raise in Salary Calculator
This web tool uses a representative state marginal rate and skips pre-tax deductions, the full W-4, local taxes, and state items like CA SDI or NY PFL. It is built for a fast, honest read on your keep rate. For exact per-state bracket math, 401(k) and HSA modeling, and saved profiles that compare the pre- and post-raise paycheck side by side, download the Stub44 Salary Calculator app. Once you know the new salary, you can also sanity-check it against the Is X a Good Salary tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about raise net take-home impact calculator
How much of my raise will I actually keep after taxes?
For most workers it comes out somewhere around 62 to 75 cents on the dollar, and a no-tax state pushes it higher. The raise sits on top of your current income, so every dollar is taxed at your top marginal rate plus 6.2 percent Social Security (up to the wage base), 1.45 percent Medicare, and any state income tax. This tool shows your exact keep rate for your salary, filing status, and state.
Does a raise put me in a higher tax bracket, and do I lose money?
No. The US system is progressive, so moving into a higher bracket only raises the rate on the dollars inside that bracket, never on the income you already earned. Your take-home always goes up with a raise. A higher bracket lowers your keep rate on the new dollars, but you are never worse off than before the raise.
Why is so much of my raise taxed compared to my salary?
Because the raise is taxed at your marginal rate, not the lower effective (average) rate that blends in your 10 and 12 percent brackets. Your salary as a whole gets the benefit of those low first brackets. The raise does not, since it stacks on top and pays the highest rate you reach. The Salary Calculator app breaks the two rates down line by line so you can see the gap on your full income.
How do I calculate the net take-home increase from a pay raise?
Compute your take-home twice: once on the old salary and once on the new salary, then subtract. Net raise equals new annual take-home minus old annual take-home. That two-point method is what this tool uses, because it catches a raise that straddles a bracket edge or the Social Security cap, which a single flat-rate estimate misses.
Will my whole raise be taxed at the higher rate if it crosses a bracket?
No, only the portion above the bracket threshold is taxed at the higher rate. The dollars below the edge stay at the lower rate. This calculator runs the full bracket loop on both the old and new salary, so it splits the raise correctly and shows a note when part of it lands in a higher bracket.
What happens to my raise if it goes past the Social Security wage cap?
Social Security is 6.2 percent only on wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. If your raise carries you past that cap, the dollars above it skip Social Security tax entirely, so your keep rate actually rises over that segment. If your current salary already clears the cap, the whole raise is Social Security free. The calculator differences the two Social Security amounts to handle all three cases.
How does my state affect how much of my raise I keep?
A lot. Nine states levy no wage income tax (AK, FL, NV, NH, SD, TN, TX, WA, WY), so your keep rate is highest there. Flat-tax states apply one statutory rate to the raise. Graduated states such as California and New York apply a marginal rate that depends on where your income falls in their brackets. This tool uses a representative state marginal rate you can edit; see the Net to Gross Salary Calculator to model a full state paycheck.
Can I lower the taxes on my raise?
Yes. Routing part of the raise into a pre-tax 401(k) or HSA lowers your taxable income, so fewer of those dollars are taxed at your marginal rate. FICA still applies to 401(k) contributions, but federal and state income tax do not. The Stub44 Salary Calculator app lets you compare the pre- and post-raise paycheck side by side so you can see what happens when the raise goes into pre-tax accounts.