Pennsylvania Paycheck Calculator 2026

How this calculator works

Pennsylvania is the simplest state income tax in the country to describe and one of the easiest to get wrong. Simple, because it is one flat rate with no brackets, no standard deduction and no personal exemption: your compensation is multiplied by 3.07% and that is the tax. Easy to get wrong, because two of its rules run against what people assume from federal tax — a 401(k) contribution does not reduce it, and unemployment insurance comes out of your check as well as your employer’s.

The calculator applies five deductions, in this order:

• Federal income tax. Your gross pay minus the federal standard deduction for your filing status, run through the 2026 federal brackets. For 2026 that deduction is $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household.
• Social Security at 6.2% of gross wages, up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500.
• Medicare at 1.45% of all wages, with no cap, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000.
• Pennsylvania income tax at a flat 3.07% of your compensation, with nothing subtracted first.
• Pennsylvania unemployment contribution at 0.07% of gross wages, with no cap. Most states take nothing from the employee for unemployment; Pennsylvania does.

Rates come from the agencies that set them: the IRS for the federal brackets, the standard deduction and FICA, cross-checked against the Social Security Administration for the wage base; the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue for the income tax rate; and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry for the employee unemployment contribution. Every Pennsylvania figure was read on the agency’s own document on August 28, 2026. Our full sourcing is on the methodology page.

The one thing this calculator does not model, and it matters more in Pennsylvania than in most states: local Earned Income Tax. Pennsylvania municipalities and school districts levy their own tax on wages, commonly 1% split between the two, and in Philadelphia far more than that. The figures here are federal plus state only. If you live or work in Philadelphia, read the section on the city wage tax below before trusting any of these numbers.

What the calculator deliberately does not do: it does not itemize deductions, apply the Special Tax Forgiveness Credit, model multiple jobs, or account for health insurance premiums and other employer benefit deductions.

Pennsylvania hourly paycheck: what your rate is worth after tax

Why we ask your hours instead of assuming 2,080

Most hourly calculators multiply your rate by 2,080 and call it a year. That is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, which describes a full-time salaried schedule rather than most hourly work. If you are on 32 hours, or 45 with overtime, the assumed figure is wrong before any tax is applied. The calculator above asks for your hours and uses them.

What $20 an hour comes to in Pennsylvania

At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year gross. After federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, Pennsylvania’s 3.07% and the 0.07% unemployment contribution, that leaves about $34,299 a year, or $2,858.28 a month. Your real hourly rate — what an hour of work actually puts in your account — is $16.49.

What $25 and $30 an hour come to

$25 an hour is $52,000 gross and about $42,329 after tax, a real rate of $20.35. $30 an hour is $62,400 gross and about $50,359 after tax, a real rate of $24.21. Notice how little the state layer moves between them: Pennsylvania takes the same 3.07% of every extra hour, so the whole rise in your effective rate comes from the federal brackets.

Overtime, tips and shift differentials

Pennsylvania taxes overtime, tips and shift differentials at exactly the same 3.07% as your base pay, because there is only one rate. That is worth saying plainly, because the common complaint that “overtime is taxed more” is a federal effect: extra pay is withheld against a higher federal bracket, and nothing about the state layer changes. Enter your usual hours to see the base position, then add the overtime hours to see the difference.

Pennsylvania take-home pay by hourly rate

Single filer, 40 hours a week (2,080 hours a year), 2026 rates, local earned income tax excluded.

What this calculator does not cover

This tool models federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and the payroll programs your state actually runs — nothing more. It deliberately leaves out:

• Itemized deductions and federal tax credits — the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits. The engine always applies the standard deduction; there is no itemizing path.
• A second job, self-employment income or 1099 pay. Every dollar you enter is treated as one employer’s W-2 wages, taxed at the employee share of Social Security and Medicare — not the self-employment tax a 1099 worker actually owes.
• Pre-tax benefits other than the 401(k) field — health insurance premiums, an HSA or FSA, commuter benefits. The only amount taken out before tax is the percentage you enter for a 401(k).
• Local taxes — city income tax, county tax, or a school-district tax. Where a state levies one, our methodology page says so by name; this calculator does not add that line, with two exceptions: the Indiana and Maryland calculators add the local income tax for the county you choose.
• Overtime premiums. An hourly rate is multiplied by the hours you enter; it does not add a time-and-a-half rate for hours worked past 40 in a week.
• Wage garnishments or court-ordered deductions — child support, a wage levy. Your result assumes none exist.
• The Additional Medicare Tax, at the single-filer threshold. The 0.9% surtax above $200,000 is applied at that one figure for every filing status, the way an employer actually withholds it — not the higher threshold a married couple filing jointly may end up owing at tax return time.
• Married filing separately, or a qualifying surviving spouse. The calculator only offers single, married filing jointly, and head of household.

None of these are in the estimate. Some of them change what you owe or get back when you file, and a calculator cannot ask for everything they depend on. See why your pay stub will differ for the details.

Key facts that affect your take-home pay in Pennsylvania

One rate, no brackets, for everyone

Pennsylvania applies a single rate of 3.07% to personal income. There is no bracket structure at all: a worker on $25,000 and a worker on $250,000 are taxed at the same percentage of their compensation, and no amount of extra earnings moves you into a higher state rate. That makes the state layer of your paycheck completely predictable — the only thing that changes as you earn more is the federal share.

There is no standard deduction and no personal exemption

This is the rule that most surprises people arriving from another state. Pennsylvania does not give you a slice of tax-free income before the rate starts. Line 1 of the state’s own 2026 estimating worksheet is “expected PA-taxable income” and Line 2 says to multiply it by 3.07%. There is nothing in between. A worker on $25,000 pays the same percentage as one on $250,000.

Your 401(k) contribution does not reduce your state tax

Pennsylvania treats an elective deferral as compensation at the moment it is made. The state’s Personal Income Tax Guide puts it directly: contributions made under a cash or deferred arrangement to a “401(k) Plan or 403(b) plan or other program on behalf of the employee” are not excludable from Pennsylvania income. So a 401(k) still cuts your federal tax, but the state takes 3.07% of the money either way.

On $75,000 with 6% going into a 401(k), that difference is $138.15 a year that a Pennsylvania saver does not get back. The comparison is stark against a state that follows the federal treatment: on the same salary and the same contribution, an Illinois worker’s state tax falls by $222.75, while a Pennsylvania worker’s does not move at all.

Health insurance premiums are treated differently from retirement

It would be wrong to conclude that Pennsylvania ignores every pre-tax deduction. Amounts taken from your salary under a federally qualified Section 125 cafeteria plan — health and accident premiums, for instance — are excluded from Pennsylvania compensation. The distinction is between insurance you are buying and retirement you are saving: the first reduces your state tax, the second does not. This calculator models neither, so if you have health premiums your real Pennsylvania tax is slightly lower than shown.

Unemployment insurance comes out of your check too

In most states unemployment insurance is an employer tax that never touches your pay stub. Pennsylvania is one of the few that also withholds an employee contribution: 0.07% of gross wages, or 70 cents per $1,000. The state’s own guidance is explicit that these contributions “are based on an individual’s total (gross) wages and are not limited to the taxable wage base in effect for employer contributions” — so unlike Social Security, it never stops. On $75,000 it is $52.50 a year; on $500,000 it is $350.00.

Local Earned Income Tax is real money, and it is not in these figures

Nearly every Pennsylvania municipality and school district levies an Earned Income Tax on wages, most commonly 1% in total. It is withheld by your employer alongside the state tax and it is genuinely additional. On a $60,000 salary, a 1% local tax is $600 a year — about a third again on top of the $1,842.00 the state takes. Your rate depends on where you live and where you work, so no statewide calculator can give it to you; your municipality’s website or your pay stub can.

Philadelphia is a different calculation altogether

Philadelphia does not levy the ordinary Earned Income Tax. It levies a Wage Tax, and it is large. Per the city’s own rate table, effective July 1, 2026 the rate is 3.735% for residents and 3.425% for non-residents who work in the city, down slightly from 3.74% and 3.43% the year before.

Read that against the state rate and the scale becomes clear: on a $60,000 salary the city takes $2,241.00 while the state takes $1,842.00. In Philadelphia, the city takes $399.00 more than Pennsylvania does. A Philadelphia paycheck is not a Pennsylvania paycheck, and nothing on this page models the difference.

Social Security stops, Medicare does not

Social Security is withheld at 6.2% until your wages reach $184,500 in 2026, then stops for the rest of the year. Medicare has no ceiling at all: 1.45% on every dollar, plus an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000. This is why take-home pay rises unevenly through the year for high earners — the paycheck after you cross the Social Security wage base is visibly larger.

Your effective Pennsylvania rate is exactly 3.07%, which is unusual

In almost every other state your effective state rate is lower than the headline rate, because a deduction shelters your first few thousand dollars. Not here. With no deduction and no exemption, the share of your pay that goes to Pennsylvania is 3.07% at every income — the headline rate and the real rate are the same number. It is one of the very few places where the advertised rate tells you the truth without arithmetic.

Common mistakes people make

Assuming a 401(k) cuts your state tax the way it cuts your federal tax

It is the single most expensive misunderstanding on this page. Payroll software gets it right, but budgeting by hand does not: people subtract their contribution from gross, apply 3.07%, and come out short every month. The state applies its rate to the money before it goes in.

Looking for a Pennsylvania standard deduction

There is not one. People search for it, find the federal figure, and subtract that instead, which understates their state tax by $494.27 on a single filer’s $16,100 federal deduction. The state rate applies to your whole compensation.

Confusing the Special Tax Forgiveness Credit with a deduction

Pennsylvania does relieve low earners, through the Special Tax Forgiveness Credit claimed on the return. It is a credit against tax, not an amount subtracted from wages, and it depends on eligibility income and dependants rather than on your salary alone. That is why it cannot appear in a withholding calculator: it changes what you get back in April, not what comes out in March.

Using a state figure while living in Philadelphia

A Philadelphia resident who budgets on the state rate alone is out by more than the state tax itself. If the city applies to you, add its rate to everything on this page.

Forgetting the local Earned Income Tax outside Philadelphia

One percent sounds small next to a federal bracket. On a $60,000 salary it is $600 a year, which is roughly a month of groceries. It is withheld quietly and rarely looked at.

Expecting the calculator to match the paystub to the dollar

It will not, and no calculator can. Your employer withholds from the W-4 you filed, which may assume credits or a second job; health premiums and benefit deductions come out first; and local tax varies by municipality. Treat this as an accurate model of the federal and state layers, and read why your pay stub will differ for the rest.

Example calculation

A single filer earning $75,000 in Pennsylvania in 2026, with no retirement contribution and outside Philadelphia:

• Federal taxable income: $75,000 − $16,100 = $58,900
• Federal income tax: $7,670.00
• Social Security: $75,000 × 6.2% = $4,650.00
• Medicare: $75,000 × 1.45% = $1,087.50
• Pennsylvania income tax: $75,000 × 3.07% = $2,302.50 — note that nothing is subtracted first
• Pennsylvania unemployment: $75,000 × 0.07% = $52.50
• Total withheld: $15,762.50
• Take-home pay: $59,237.50 a year, or $4,936.46 a month
• Effective tax rate: 21.0%

Add a 1% local earned income tax and the same worker pays $750 more, taking the effective rate to about 22.0%.

Frequently asked questions

Compare with neighboring states

The same $75,000 salary, single filer, 2026 rates, state layer only:

• Texas — $61,593 take-home, an effective rate of 17.9%. A Texas worker keeps $2,355.00 more than a Pennsylvanian on the same salary.
• Washington — $60,552 take-home, an effective rate of 19.3%. A Washington worker keeps $1,314.63 more than a Pennsylvanian on the same salary.
• Georgia — $58,599 take-home, an effective rate of 21.9%. A Georgia worker keeps $639.00 less than a Pennsylvanian on the same salary.
• Illinois — $58,025 take-home, an effective rate of 22.6%. A Illinois worker keeps $1,212.71 less than a Pennsylvanian on the same salary.

Pennsylvania sits where you would expect from its rate: better than Illinois or Georgia, behind the states that levy nothing. What the table cannot show is the 401(k) rule, which widens the gap for anyone saving for retirement, and local tax, which widens it again.

Sources

Every figure on this page is read from an official document and dated, not taken from another calculator — the federal ones from the IRS and the Social Security Administration, the Pennsylvania ones from the state’s own documents below. Each one carries the date we last checked that it still answers. If one of our numbers disagrees with one of theirs, they are right and we have a defect to fix — tell us.

The documents these figures are read from

• Pennsylvania — REV-413 (I), Instructions for Estimating PA Personal Income Tax, 2026 (PDF) — the flat rate, in the state’s own words: multiply by 3.07 percent (0.0307).
• Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry — UC Employee Withholding — the 0.07% employee unemployment contribution, and the fact that it has no wage cap — the line that makes a Pennsylvania pay stub unusual.
• IRS — 2026 inflation adjustments (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) — the federal brackets and the $16,100 standard deduction.
• IRS — Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates — the 6.2% and 1.45% rates and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax.
• SSA — Contribution and benefit base — the $184,500 Social Security wage base.

The agencies that set them

These are the offices that set the figures. We link them so you can start from the source yourself, but an agency’s own summary page is not always current, and we do not claim that these pages carry the 2026 number — several of them do not. Where a rate was read somewhere else, in a statute, a withholding guide or an estimated-tax form, the exact document and the date we read it are on our methodology page.

• Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.

All links checked September 30, 2026.

Related reading

• Paycheck calculators by state — the full index, including which states have no income tax at all.
• Delaware paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the southeast, with rates from 2.2% to 6.6% after a $3,250 standard deduction and a $110 credit for each exemption.
• West Virginia paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the south, with five rates from 2.11% to 4.58% after a $2,000 exemption for each person you claim.
• Pennsylvania salary to hourly — what an annual salary is worth per hour in Pennsylvania, after tax and not just before.
• Methodology — the exact formula, every 2026 figure with its official source, and what these calculators deliberately do not model.
• Why your pay stub will differ — pre-tax deductions, credits and W-4 settings, and how much difference is normal.