Calculate 2026 Pennsylvania paychecks with 3.07% state withholding, local-tax cautions, retirement treatment, overtime, and worked 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
Pennsylvania state withholding
$
Dollars per paycheck
$
Optional. State income-tax wages for this paycheck; blank uses the calculated amount.
Pennsylvania withholds 3.07% of PA-taxable wages. Traditional retirement deferrals generally remain state-taxable. Traditional retirement deferrals are included in the default PA wage base. Override wages if your employer reports a different taxable base.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
Pennsylvania withholds 3.07% of PA-taxable wages. Traditional retirement deferrals generally remain state-taxable. 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.
Pennsylvania’s 3.07% state income-tax withholding is relatively easy to recognize on a paystub. What makes a Pennsylvania estimate difficult is often the state taxable wage base or a separate local deduction, not the headline rate.
3.07% applies to PA-taxable compensation
Pennsylvania requires withholding at 3.07% of taxable compensation. Unlike many states, traditional employee retirement deferrals generally remain taxable for Pennsylvania income tax even when they reduce federal income-tax wages. A $100 traditional 401(k) contribution therefore does not automatically save $3.07 of Pennsylvania withholding.
Use the State taxable wages override only when you have a verified wage base from payroll. The model already adds traditional retirement deferrals back for Pennsylvania. Do not manually add them a second time, and do not assume a federal pre-tax label establishes the same Pennsylvania exclusion for every benefit.
Philadelphia Wage Tax is separate from Pennsylvania state income tax. Other local earned-income and service deductions may also appear. This page does not select a locality, residence/work allocation, or local rate. Use current employer-confirmed local amounts, because a statewide percentage cannot reproduce these location-specific deductions.
Pennsylvania’s reciprocity arrangements can change withholding for eligible residents of certain neighboring states. The official guide discusses the REV-419 certificate; eligibility and the form on file matter. The resident-wage calculator does not apply reciprocity automatically or decide which state should receive your withholding.
Pennsylvania overtime is still taxable compensation
Covered nonexempt workers generally receive time-and-a-half after 40 worked hours in a workweek under the federal FLSA. At $26 an hour, a week of 40 regular hours and six qualifying overtime hours is $1,274 gross. The six-hour premium should not be averaged away against a shorter following week.
Pennsylvania state withholding applies to taxable overtime wages; do not remove the whole overtime amount because a federal deduction may be available. The federal deduction has its own eligibility limits and does not make FICA disappear. Separate supplemental-pay processing can also differ from this regular-check estimate.
Pennsylvania worked examples
Both examples are hypothetical and calculated with this site's withholding engine for a single filer.
Two-week hourly check before local taxes
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Biweekly (26 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$26.00 per hour × 80 hours = $2,080.00
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 local taxes
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$2,080.00
Federal income tax withheld
$165.75
PA state income tax withheld
$63.86
Social Security
$128.96
Medicare
$30.16
Retirement contribution
$0.00
Health deduction
$0.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$1,691.27
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.
The $2,080 state wage base produces $63.86 of state withholding after cent rounding. Philadelphia/local income and service taxes are excluded and must be entered separately.
Salary showing the retirement add-back
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Biweekly (26 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$72,800.00 annual salary ÷ 26 pay periods = $2,800.00
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 showing the retirement add-back
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$2,800.00
Federal income tax withheld
$245.58
PA state income tax withheld
$85.96
Social Security
$173.60
Medicare
$40.60
Retirement contribution
$140.00
Health deduction
$0.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$2,114.26
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.
Gross is $2,800; a $140 traditional retirement contribution lowers federal wages but does not lower the default PA wage base. The state line is $85.96, before any separate local deductions.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my 401(k) contribution reduce federal tax but not PA tax?
Traditional employee retirement deferrals are generally included in PA-taxable compensation. This calculator models that difference rather than treating the federal wage base as the Pennsylvania wage base.
Can I use 3.07% as my total Pennsylvania paycheck tax?
No. That is the state withholding rate on state-taxable wages. Federal withholding, FICA, local taxes, benefits, and other deductions are additional.
Is a New Jersey resident working in Pennsylvania modeled correctly here?
Not automatically. Review reciprocity eligibility and REV-419 with payroll. These examples assume regular resident Pennsylvania wages and do not allocate cross-border withholding.
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 selectedPennsylvania
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.