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
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
Create salary input (annual, monthly, or hourly)
- 2
Add location selector for state taxes
- 3
Implement FICA calculations with wage limits
- 4
Add common pre-tax deductions (401k, insurance)
- 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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