Calculate your 2026 California paycheck. Understand DE 4 withholding, SDI, daily overtime, and worked hourly and salary examples.
Your pay details
Change any field to update the gross estimate.
01 / INPUT
Regular resident wages, 2020+ federal W-4, latest supported 2026 state tables. Not for historical paychecks, bonuses, nonresident allocation, or multistate payroll.
Pay amount
Tax context
Deductions
Enter deductions for one pay period. Other pre-tax reduces income-tax wages but not FICA; use only qualifying deductions. Dollar elections below specify annual or per-paycheck amounts separately.
Federal W-4 elections
Planning inputs only. This does not submit an electronic W-4; your employer uses the form you file with them. Leave blank anything you did not enter on your W-4.
$
Annual dollars
$
Annual dollars
$
Annual dollars
$
Dollars per paycheck
Year-to-date taxable wages
Taxable wages earned before this paycheck from the same employer—not tax already withheld. Blank means 0.
$
Wages before this paycheck
$
Wages before this paycheck
California state withholding
Blank follows your federal filing status. Use single for a working-spouse election where instructed.
Enter the count on your state certificate. Blank means zero.
Line 2: additional deduction allowances, not the annual dollar amount.
$
Dollars per paycheck
$
Optional. State income-tax wages for this paycheck; blank uses the calculated amount.
California Method B uses DE 4 allowances, deduction allowances, the low-income exemption, and employer percentage schedules. Resident regular wages only. Use the wage override for a known state-taxable base. Enter county/local taxes, disability, paid leave, and other payroll charges as actual dollar amounts below.Effective current 2026 payroll tables (not historical paychecks)Official employer withholding source
Local and other payroll
Known actual dollar amounts per paycheck, not rates. Blank means 0.
$
Dollars per paycheck
$
Dollars per paycheck
California Method B uses DE 4 allowances, deduction allowances, the low-income exemption, and employer percentage schedules. Effective current 2026 payroll tables (not historical paychecks).
ESTIMATED TAKE-HOME PAY
Complete the inputs
Enter pay, state, and filing status to calculate.
Paycheck breakdownBIWEEKLY
Gross pay · every 2 weeks gross$0.00
Federal income tax · estimate—
State income tax · estimate—
Social Security · estimate—
Medicare, including any additional tax—
Pre-tax deductions—
Post-tax deductions—
Local tax · entered amount—
Other payroll · entered amount—
Estimated net pay—
Choose your tax contextSelect a U.S. state and filing status. Tax lines stay blank until these are selected.
Withholding estimates use current employer tables and the elections entered. Annual totals repeat this paycheck—not future wage-cap changes. Local taxes, disability, and paid leave require actual entered amounts. Historical or special payroll methods are not supported.
Paycheck & Tax Guides
Understand the numbers behind your paycheck.
Practical 2026 explanations with IRS and state sources. Learn what an estimate can—and cannot—tell you.
A California paystub has two state deductions that should not be confused: personal income tax withholding and State Disability Insurance. The calculator estimates the first using EDD Method B. SDI must be entered separately, so comparing only the state income-tax line will not reproduce a covered employee’s full deposit.
2026 income withholding: use DE 4, not a flat percentage
EDD’s 2026 exact calculation method first checks the low-income exemption, then applies deduction allowances, a payroll-period standard deduction, the appropriate tax-rate table, and regular allowance credits. Your marginal bracket is not the percentage taken from every dollar of gross pay. DE 4 regular allowances and additional deduction allowances do different jobs.
Start with the DE 4 on file with payroll. A married worker with an employed spouse can otherwise underwithhold; EDD discusses using the single schedule or extra withholding. Federal W-4 Step 3 credits do not substitute for California allowances. This page uses the current employer schedule, not a complete California return calculation.
For 2026 the SDI withholding rate is 1.3%, and California has had no SDI taxable wage limit since 2024. On $2,240 of SDI-subject wages, that alone is $29.12. An exemption or voluntary plan can change the deduction; check which program covers you before copying this illustration.
Enter your actual SDI dollars in Other payroll, not in State additional withholding. The examples below deliberately exclude SDI and mark their net as partial. Traditional 401(k) contributions and qualifying cafeteria-plan premiums also have different FICA treatment; select the correct deduction field instead of subtracting every benefit from every tax base.
For covered nonexempt workers, California generally requires time-and-a-half beyond eight hours in a workday or 40 in a workweek, and double time beyond 12 daily hours. Seventh-consecutive-day rules also apply. Alternative workweeks and occupation-specific exceptions mean a weekly hours total alone is not sufficient.
At a $28 regular rate, two qualifying time-and-a-half hours add $84 of gross pay. Enter regular and overtime hours separately; use a separate calculation for double-time hours. Overtime remains wage income for withholding. A federal qualified-overtime deduction is not an automatic exemption and does not necessarily cover state-law-only daily premiums.
Both examples are hypothetical and calculated with this site's withholding engine for a single filer.
Two-week hourly check before SDI
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Biweekly (26 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$28.00 per hour × 80 hours = $2,240.00
Filer
Single, 2020+ W-4, Step 2 off, Steps 3 and 4 zero, year-to-date wages zero
State elections
Zero or default
Per-paycheck breakdown for Two-week hourly check before SDI
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$2,240.00
Federal income tax withheld
$184.95
CA state income tax withheld
$71.37
Social Security
$138.88
Medicare
$32.48
Retirement contribution
$0.00
Health deduction
$0.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$1,812.32
Excluded: local tax ($0.00) and other payroll deductions ($0.00) are assumed zero unless shown above. No benefits are included unless listed. This is a partial net under assumptions, not an actual deposit.
80 straight-time hours assume no daily or weekly overtime trigger. DE 4 regular and deduction allowances are zero. SDI is not included: $29.12 would be an additional deduction if all $2,240 is subject to the standard 2026 program.
Salary with a traditional 401(k)
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Semimonthly (24 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$93,600.00 annual salary ÷ 24 pay periods = $3,900.00
Filer
Single, 2020+ W-4, Step 2 off, Steps 3 and 4 zero, year-to-date wages zero
State elections
Zero or default
Per-paycheck breakdown for Salary with a traditional 401(k)
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$3,900.00
Federal income tax withheld
$447.18
CA state income tax withheld
$191.47
Social Security
$241.80
Medicare
$56.55
Retirement contribution
$195.00
Health deduction
$0.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$2,768.00
Excluded: local tax ($0.00) and other payroll deductions ($0.00) are assumed zero unless shown above. No benefits are included unless listed. This is a partial net under assumptions, not an actual deposit.
Twice-monthly gross is $3,900, with a $195 traditional contribution each check. FICA still applies to the contribution. California SDI is excluded; do not mistake the partial net for a deposited paycheck.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my California deduction larger than the state tax result?
Your stub may include SDI, benefits, extra DE 4 withholding, or a different taxable wage base. Compare PIT and SDI separately before adjusting allowances.
Can I calculate California overtime from 80 hours in two weeks?
Not reliably. Two weeks of 40 hours and a 48-hour/32-hour split can create different overtime obligations, and daily hours also matter. Use workday and workweek records.
Does a zero state-tax result mean no California deductions?
No. A low-income PIT exemption can eliminate income withholding while SDI still applies. The two programs use different rules.
Default mode follows IRS Publication 15-T Worksheet 1A for a 2020-or-later W-4 and each supported state’s current employer formula. W-4 credits and annual adjustments affect federal withholding; state elections follow the state certificate independently.
Social Security withholds 6.2% on this check’s remaining wages under the $184,500 employer wage cap. Medicare withholds 1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages crossing the employer’s $200,000 threshold, regardless of filing status. Enter taxable wages before this paycheck in the YTD controls. Traditional retirement deferrals remain subject to FICA; qualifying cafeteria-plan health premiums are assumed FICA-exempt.
Annual projections repeat this check. The separate annual tax estimate mode retains a limited legacy liability model and uses filing-status Medicare liability thresholds; it does not represent paycheck withholding. Overtime is not automatically exempt from withholding or FICA. Use W-4 Step 4(b) for an elected overtime-related withholding deduction.
TAX YEAR 2026
Sources & assumptions
Federal filing statusNot selected
State selectedCalifornia
Rule set and update2026 · current 2026 payroll tables (not historical paychecks)
Regular resident wage withholding only. Not for 2019-or-earlier W-4 forms, historical pay dates, supplemental/bonus methods, multistate allocation, reciprocity, pensions, or special employer methods. State wage overrides and entered local/other payroll dollars are used as supplied, not independently verified. Each state section identifies its table and effective period. DC withholding is not verified and is unavailable rather than silently using annual brackets. Legacy annual mode omits many state adjustments and later amendments. This is a planning estimate, not tax advice or a guarantee of your employer’s exact result.