GuideCalculatorDetailed Guide

How to Build a Take Home Calculator

A take-home pay calculator shows your actual paycheck after taxes, deductions, and withholdings. Essential for budgeting and comparing job offers with different salary structures.

What is a Take Home Calculator?

Take-home pay (net pay) is gross salary minus federal tax, state tax, FICA (Social Security + Medicare), and any pre-tax deductions like 401k or health insurance. It's what actually hits your bank account.

The Formula

Take-Home = Gross Pay - Federal Tax - State Tax - FICA - Pre-tax Deductions
FICA = Social Security (6.2% up to $168,600) + Medicare (1.45%)
Annual Take-Home = (Gross Salary - All Deductions) / Pay Periods

Code Example

JavaScript
function calculateTakeHome(grossAnnual, federalTax, stateTax, deductions = {}) {
  const socialSecurity = Math.min(grossAnnual, 168600) * 0.062;
  const medicare = grossAnnual * 0.0145;
  const fica = socialSecurity + medicare;

  const preTaxDeductions = (deductions.retirement || 0) +
                          (deductions.health || 0) +
                          (deductions.hsa || 0);

  const netAnnual = grossAnnual - federalTax - stateTax - fica - preTaxDeductions;

  return {
    gross: grossAnnual,
    federal: federalTax,
    state: stateTax,
    fica: fica,
    deductions: preTaxDeductions,
    net: netAnnual,
    monthly: netAnnual / 12,
    biweekly: netAnnual / 26
  };
}

How to Build It

  1. 1

    Create salary input (annual, monthly, or hourly)

  2. 2

    Add location selector for state taxes

  3. 3

    Implement FICA calculations with wage limits

  4. 4

    Add common pre-tax deductions (401k, insurance)

  5. 5

    Show breakdown per pay period

Key Features to Include

Support hourly, salary, and contract rates

All 50 states + major cities

Pre-tax vs post-tax deduction handling

Pay period breakdown (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)

Job offer comparison mode

Monetization Strategies

Freemium: basic free, detailed breakdown paid

Job board partnerships for offer comparison

Affiliate links to payroll services

White-label for HR platforms

Recommended Tech Stack

Frontend

Next.js with comparison view for job offers

Backend

Tax rate API with annual updates

Hosting

Vercel with edge caching

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