Estimate your 2026 Texas paycheck with hourly and salary examples, federal W-4 guidance, FICA, benefits, and overtime explanations.
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
Texas state withholding
Texas has no state wage income tax, so state withholding is zero. Local and other payroll amounts below still apply.
Texas has no state tax on wage income. 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)Published state wage-tax reference
Local and other payroll
Known actual dollar amounts per paycheck, not rates. Blank means 0.
$
Dollars per paycheck
$
Dollars per paycheck
Texas has no state tax on wage income. 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.
Texas has no personal income tax, but a Texas paycheck is not tax-free. Federal withholding, Social Security, Medicare, and benefit elections still determine the gap between a job offer’s gross pay and the money available for a household budget.
What the zero Texas income-tax line actually means
There is no Texas personal wage-income tax for the calculator to deduct. You do not need a state allowance count to make the state line zero. The result still uses your federal filing status and W-4 elections; entering a dependent credit or multiple-jobs election can change federal withholding without changing the Texas line.
A worker relocating to Texas should not assume all income earned during the move becomes state-tax-free. Other-state residency or work allocation can require a separate calculation or return. This page supports a regular Texas wage check, not part-year allocation or another state’s tax on remote work.
Weekly, every-two-weeks, and twice-monthly payrolls are different. Biweekly pay has 26 regular periods in this model; semimonthly pay has 24. Dividing an annual salary by 24 when payroll actually uses 26 overstates each routine check and can make rent or loan budgets unrealistic.
Traditional 401(k) deferrals lower federal income-tax wages but generally remain subject to Social Security and Medicare. Qualifying pre-tax health premiums reduce the modeled FICA wage base; Roth retirement contributions do not belong in the traditional pre-tax field. Employer taxes are not employee deductions to add to the worksheet.
Under the federal FLSA, covered nonexempt workers generally earn at least 1.5 times their regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek. A $24 worker with 40 regular hours and six qualifying overtime hours earns $1,176: $960 plus $216. Do not spread those extra hours across a two-week average.
The larger check may increase federal withholding, but it does not create a Texas income tax. A salary label alone does not establish an overtime exemption. The federal qualified-overtime deduction concerns eligible premium compensation and return/W-4 rules; it does not remove Social Security or Medicare from the paycheck.
Texas worked examples
Both examples are hypothetical and calculated with this site's withholding engine for a single filer.
Weekly hourly earnings without state income tax
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Weekly (52 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$24.00 per hour × 40 hours = $960.00
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 Weekly hourly earnings without state income tax
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$960.00
Federal income tax withheld
$73.28
TX state income tax withheld
$0.00
Social Security
$59.52
Medicare
$13.92
Retirement contribution
$0.00
Health deduction
$0.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$813.28
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 $960 each week. With no benefit deductions and no Texas income tax, the difference between gross and partial net is federal withholding and FICA.
Biweekly salary with insurance and retirement
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Biweekly (26 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$78,000.00 annual salary ÷ 26 pay periods = $3,000.00
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 Biweekly salary with insurance and retirement
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$3,000.00
Federal income tax withheld
$265.38
TX state income tax withheld
$0.00
Social Security
$179.80
Medicare
$42.05
Retirement contribution
$150.00
Health deduction
$100.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$2,262.77
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.
A $3,000 biweekly gross is reduced by a $150 traditional 401(k) contribution and $100 qualifying pre-tax health premium. These two benefits do not have identical FICA treatment.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my Texas employer still withhold federal tax?
The absence of Texas personal income tax does not change federal W-4 withholding or FICA obligations. Exempt federal withholding requires meeting IRS conditions, not simply living in Texas.
Does a Texas address settle taxes for an out-of-state remote job?
No. Where you work and other-state residency or sourcing rules can matter. This single-state calculator does not decide a multistate employer’s withholding obligations.
Will overtime be withheld at one fixed higher tax rate?
Not in every payroll method. Regular-check withholding responds to the total taxable check; separately paid supplemental wages can use different IRS methods that this regular-pay calculator does not model.
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 selectedTexas
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.