# PayScale Pro
> Free Salary & Paycheck Calculators

Free online paycheck and salary calculators: salary-to-hourly converter, take-home pay estimator, overtime calculator, freelance rate planner, raise calculator, bonus tax estimator, cost-of-living comparison, and tip calculator. Real formulas, instant results.

## Paycheck & Salary Calculators
- [Salary Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/salary): Convert annual salary to hourly, weekly, biweekly, and monthly pay.
- [Hourly to Salary Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/hourly): Convert hourly wage to annual salary with custom hours and weeks.
- [Take-Home Pay Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/take-home): Estimate after-tax income with federal and state tax brackets for all 50 US states.
- [Overtime Pay Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/overtime): Calculate overtime earnings at 1.5x and 2x rates.
- [Freelance Rate Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/freelance): Find ideal hourly rate from desired annual income after expenses, taxes, and time off.
- [Salary Raise Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/raise): Calculate new salary after a percentage raise with dollar and percentage breakdowns.
- [Bonus Tax Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/bonus): Estimate taxes on bonuses using the federal 22% supplemental rate.
- [Cost of Living Comparison](https://pay.thicket.sh/cost-of-living): Compare cost of living between US cities using relative indexes.
- [Tip Calculator](https://pay.thicket.sh/tip): Calculate tips and split bills between multiple people.

## Articles
- [What Is the Difference Between Gross Pay and Net Pay?](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/gross-pay-vs-net-pay): Gross pay is total earnings before deductions; net pay is take-home after taxes and withholdings. The three layers between them (pre-tax deductions, federal/state/FICA taxes, post-tax deductions), the formula (Net = Gross - pre-tax - taxes - post-tax), a gross-to-net table from $40K (keep 85.9%) to $250K (keep 74.6%), and which figure lenders vs budgets should use.
- [How Is a PTO Payout Taxed?](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/how-is-pto-payout-taxed): A PTO payout is taxed as supplemental wages — flat 22% federal withholding plus FICA (7.65%) and state tax — not at a higher rate. Why the withholding looks steep and reverses at filing, a worked $3,250 payout example, and the state-by-state rules on whether unused PTO must be paid out at separation.
- [How Much Taxes Are Taken Out of My Paycheck?](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/how-much-taxes-are-taken-out-of-my-paycheck): A typical US worker keeps 70-85% of gross pay. What comes out of every paycheck — federal income tax (10-37%), Social Security (6.2% to the $184,500 wage base), Medicare (1.45%), and state tax — with 2026 rates and a take-home table by salary from $40K to $250K.
- [How Is Overtime Pay Calculated?](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/how-is-overtime-pay-calculated): Overtime is 1.5x the regular rate for hours over 40 a week under the FLSA. The formula, the regular-rate rules (bonuses count), salaried non-exempt overtime, state daily-overtime rules, and worked examples at every hourly rate from $15 to $50.
- [State-by-State Take-Home Pay on $100K](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/state-by-state-take-home-pay): Complete 50-state ranking of take-home pay on a $100K salary using 2026 federal and state tax brackets. Includes local tax analysis, income-level comparisons, and self-employment calculations.
- [California Take-Home Pay 2026](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/california-take-home-pay-2026): Line-by-line 2026 breakdown of California take-home pay on $100K, including federal tax, CA's nine brackets, FICA, and SDI.
- [Texas Take-Home Pay 2026](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/texas-take-home-pay-2026): Exact 2026 Texas paycheck math at every income level from $40K to $500K, with a realistic view of property and sales tax tradeoffs.
- [FICA vs Federal Income Tax](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/fica-vs-federal-income-tax): What FICA and federal income tax actually are, the 2026 rates, and how the two taxes differ at every income level from $40K to $250K.
- [W-2 vs 1099 Take-Home on $75K](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/w2-vs-1099-take-home-75k): Side-by-side comparison of a $75K W-2 employee vs. a $75K 1099 contractor, including self-employment tax, QBI deduction, and break-even on expenses.
- [How Biweekly Pay Works (27 Paychecks in 2026)](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/biweekly-pay-27-paychecks-2026): Why some employees get a 27th biweekly paycheck in 2026, how employers handle the extra check, tax implications, and biweekly vs. semi-monthly.
- [How to Read a W-2 in 2026](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/how-to-read-w2-2026): Every box on the 2026 W-2 explained with real examples, common Box 12 codes (D, DD, W, AA), why Box 1 differs from Box 3, and how to spot errors before filing.
- [Roth vs Traditional 401(k) in 2026](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/roth-vs-traditional-401k-2026): Complete 2026 comparison with $23,500 elective deferral limit, the new SECURE 2.0 age 60-63 super catch-up of $11,250, tax math at every bracket, and scenarios where each wins.
- [HSA vs FSA for Dual-Income Families](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/hsa-vs-fsa-dual-income-families): How dual-earner households should coordinate HSA and FSA contributions in 2026, including $4,400/$8,750 HSA limits, $3,350 FSA cap, and the dependent care FSA rules.
- [When to Update Your W-4 Withholding](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/when-to-update-w4-withholding): The life events, tax law changes, and paycheck signals that should trigger a W-4 update in 2026, plus a step-by-step walkthrough of the five-step form.
- [Side-Hustle Quarterly Estimated Taxes](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/side-hustle-quarterly-estimated-taxes): 2026 quarterly estimated tax guide with the four deadlines (April 15, June 15, September 15, January 15, 2027), 15.3% self-employment tax math, and safe harbor rules.
- [Bonus Tax 2026: Why Your Bonus Check Is Smaller](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/bonus-tax-2026-why-smaller): How the flat 22% IRS supplemental withholding works on bonuses, percentage vs aggregate method, and exact take-home math for $5K, $10K, and $25K bonuses.
- [Florida Take-Home Pay 2026](https://pay.thicket.sh/blog/florida-take-home-pay-2026): Line-by-line 2026 Florida paycheck math with zero state income tax — federal and FICA only, plus comparison vs CA and NY at every income level from $50K to $500K.

## Authors
- [Dr. Sarah Okafor](https://pay.thicket.sh/authors/sarah-okafor) — Fitness & Health Writer. Exercise physiologist (PhD, University of Texas) who translates peer-reviewed training and nutrition research into evidence-based protocols.
- [Jamie Reeves](https://pay.thicket.sh/authors/jamie-reeves) — Personal Finance Writer. Personal finance writer with 6+ years at NerdWallet and The Penny Hoarder. Paid off $78K in student loans on a $52K salary — writes about money the way real people experience it.
- [Marcus Chen](https://pay.thicket.sh/authors/marcus-chen) — Data Journalist. Former Bloomberg quantitative analyst with an MS in Applied Statistics from Columbia. Won't publish a claim without running the numbers himself.
- [Lena Park](https://pay.thicket.sh/authors/lena-park) — Lifestyle & Trends Writer. Former Vox senior reporter (7 years covering culture and tech). Spots patterns that connect seemingly unrelated trends — why a TikTok aesthetic is actually about economic anxiety.
- [Raj Malhotra](https://pay.thicket.sh/authors/raj-malhotra) — Tech & Crypto Analyst. Former systems architect at Stripe and Coinbase. Reads protocol whitepapers for fun. Called the 2022 crypto crash three months early from on-chain data.
- [Marcus Rivera](https://pay.thicket.sh/authors/marcus-rivera) — Senior Data Journalist. Senior data journalist with 10+ years covering markets, economics, and politics. Every claim grounded in primary-source citations.

## About
- Free, no sign-up required
- Real federal and state tax brackets
- Instant client-side calculations
- Mobile-friendly responsive design