What you actually take home.

Four deductions stand between a salary and a bank balance. Federal income tax is charged on a progressive schedule, so only the top slice of your pay meets the top rate you qualify for. State income tax follows its own rules — nine states charge nothing on wages, a dozen charge a single flat rate, and the rest run their own brackets. Then FICA takes its fixed share: 6.2% for Social Security up to the annual wage cap, and 1.45% for Medicare on every dollar with no cap at all.

The distinction that trips people up is marginal versus effective rate. Landing in the 22% bracket does not mean 22% of your salary goes to federal tax; it means the next dollar you earn is taxed at 22%. Your effective rate — total tax divided by total pay — is always lower, and it is the only figure that tells you what the year actually cost you.

This estimate applies the standard deduction and nothing else, which makes it deliberately conservative. Every pre-tax dollar you route into a 401(k), HSA or FSA reduces the income these brackets are applied to, so real take-home pay for someone contributing to a retirement plan is higher than the figure here suggests — and their tax bill is lower. Credits work differently again, subtracting from the tax itself rather than the income.

Two things this cannot know: local income tax, which applies in about a dozen states at city or county level, and how your employer has processed your W-4. Withholding is an estimate your payroll department makes on the government’s behalf, which is precisely why refunds and balances due exist at all.