California Paycheck Calculator

California has the most talked-about paycheck in the country, and the most misunderstood. The state's progressive income tax runs from about 1.1% up to a top bracket above 14% for the highest earners, and a separate State Disability Insurance deduction comes out on top of it. This calculator shows the income-tax piece of your California take-home pay.

Put your pay in below, hourly or salary, and you'll get your California take-home pay with federal tax, FICA, and state withholding worked out on 2026 brackets.

How California paycheck tax works

California has a progressive income tax; 2026 payroll withholding brackets run from 1.1% up to 14.63% at the very top (the top figure includes the 1% Mental Health Services surcharge on income over $1 million). Withholding subtracts a standard deduction ($5,706 single, $11,412 married with 2+ allowances) before applying the bracket. California is a tax-credit state: after the bracket tax it subtracts an exemption-allowance credit of $168.30 per DE-4 allowance. Low earners are fully exempt: with wages at or below $18,896 (single), nothing is withheld.

A few other items come out of the same check. California State Disability Insurance (SDI) is an employee-paid withholding of about 1.2% of wages with no wage cap (as of 2024). It is not income tax but is deducted from pay; confirm the exact 2026 SDI rate separately.

The calculator annualizes your pay, then runs California's 2026 graduated withholding alongside federal income tax and FICA. It's a close estimate rather than an exact match: your actual paycheck can differ from your employer's payroll, which may use exact per-period tables.