California paycheck calculator

Your pay Annual gross salary

Paid every

Filing status

Before-tax money you set aside

401(k), % of salary

Health premiums, $/year

401(k) money skips income tax but still pays Social Security and Medicare. Health premiums through your employer skip both.

California per Form DE 4

2026 note: the FTB publishes its inflation-indexed 2026 schedules in late December; until then this page applies the latest published schedules - the same ones the EDD's official 2026 withholding tables reuse.

Click any line to see exactly how it is computed, straight from the official documents.

The auditor’s desk

Audit your actual pay stub

Type what your stub prints; every line is recomputed from the official 2026 formulas, in your browser only.

Gross pay on the stub

Pay period

Filing status on your W-4

Pre-tax on the stub (401k + health), $

Federal withholding printed

California withholding printed

Social Security (OASDI) printed

Medicare printed

Educational reconciliation, not tax advice. Withholding legitimately varies with your exact W-4 entries; your final bill is set by your return.

The audit report appears here, line by line, stamped.

1-13.3%

California state brackets on taxable wages in 2026

$5,706

standard deduction, single filer

local wage taxes anywhere in California

Form DE 4

the certificate that sets your California withholding

California withholding rates for 2026

Taxable wages (single filer)	Rate
$0 to $11,079	1%
$11,079 to $26,264	2%
$26,264 to $41,452	4%
$41,452 to $57,542	6%
$57,542 to $72,724	8%
$72,724 to $371,479	9.3%
$371,479 to $445,771	10.3%
$445,771 to $742,953	11.3%
$742,953 to $1,000,000	12.3%
over $1,000,000	13.3%

Single-filer standard deduction: $5,706.

Read from FTB 2025 California Tax Rate Schedules (PDF read directly; concordant with Tax News Oct 2025) on 2026-08-06. Every figure above is taken from that document; nothing here is our estimate.

The mechanics

The tax with no ceiling: California's SDI

Everyone talks about California's brackets - up to 13.3% all-in once the 1% Behavioral Health surtax kicks in above $1M - but the line that changed paychecks most in recent years is SDI. Since 2024 the State Disability Insurance premium applies to EVERY dollar of wages, no cap, and for 2026 the rate rose to 1.3%. On a $300,000 salary that is $3,900 a year - more than many states' entire income tax - and it is why high California salaries feel the pinch beyond the brackets.

Two softeners are easy to miss. First, the $153-per-allowance exemption credit comes off your computed tax - a credit most quick calculators skip. Second, earn under $18,896 (single) and California withholds no income tax at all under the 2026 low-income exemption.

One honesty note: the FTB publishes its inflation-indexed 2026 schedules in late December; until then this page applies the latest published schedules - the same ones the EDD's official 2026 withholding tables reuse. The update lands in the changelog the day it is out.

Questions people ask about California paychecks

Why is California SDI taken on my entire salary?

Since 2024, State Disability Insurance has no wage ceiling - the 2026 rate of 1.3% applies to every dollar earned. Unlike Social Security, which stops at $184,500, SDI never stops; on high salaries it outweighs many states' whole income tax.

Are these the final 2026 California brackets?

The brackets shown are the latest the FTB has published - the same schedules the EDD's official 2026 withholding tables use. The FTB releases its inflation-indexed 2026 amounts in late December; this page is re-verified and updated the day they land.

I earn under $19,000 in California - why is nothing withheld?

Because of the 2026 low-income exemption: below $18,896 of annual wages (single), California withholds no income tax. Your final liability still follows the schedules, but for most people at that level it rounds to little or nothing.

Do Los Angeles or San Francisco tax paychecks?

No California city or county taxes employee wages - San Francisco's payroll taxes are employer-side. The state lines (income tax plus SDI) are the whole story.

Dossier · Calceva / 2026 What gets verified, gets filed.

Where these numbers come from

We never copy another calculator. Each rate is read from the official document, dated, and re-checked when agencies publish changes. This page's paper trail:

Verified
2026-08-06

FTB 2025 California Tax Rate Schedules (PDF read directly; concordant with Tax News Oct 2025) — Income tax brackets 1%-12.3% by filing status - TY2025 schedules, the LAST published by FTB (TY2026 indexed amounts not yet released; FTB announces indexing ~Oct, full amounts late Dec). Single/MFS: 11,079/26,264/41,452/57,542/72,724/371,479/445,771/742,953 then 12.3%. MFJ: 22,158/52,528/82,904/115,084/145,448/742,958/891,542/1,485,906. HOH: 22,173/52,530/67,716/83,805/98,990/505,208/606,251/1,010,417.

Verified
2026-08-06

FTB Tax News October 2025, 2025 indexing announcement — Standard deduction (TY2025, last published): single/MFS $5,706; MFJ/QSS/HOH $11,412.

Verified
2026-08-06

FTB Tax News October 2025 — Personal exemption CREDIT (tax credit, not a deduction), TY2025: $153 single/MFS/HOH; $306 MFJ (2 x 153); $475 per dependent. Modeled as $153 per allowance claimed.

Verified
2026-08-06

FTB 2025 Form 540-ES instructions — Behavioral Health Services Tax (renamed from Mental Health Services Tax by Prop 1, 2024): additional 1% on taxable income above $1,000,000, all statuses, not indexed. Folded into the top brackets here (13.3% above $1M... band boundaries per status).

Verified
2026-08-06

EDD Contribution Rates and Benefit Amounts + EDD Rates and Withholding — SDI 2026: employee rate 1.3% (up from 1.2% in 2025), NO wage ceiling (SB 951 eliminated the taxable wage ceiling on 1/1/2024).

Verified
2026-08-06

EDD Form DE 4 (2026) — Withholding certificate: DE 4 Rev. 56 (1-26), 2026 edition. DE 4 status choice (not the federal W-4) drives CA withholding tables.

Verified
2026-08-06

EDD California Withholding Schedules for 2026, Method B — Low-income exemption (2026 withholding, Method B Table 1): no PIT withheld if annual wages <= $18,896 (single/dual-income married) or $37,791 (married 2+ allowances / unmarried HOH).

Verified
2026-08-06

EDD California Withholding Schedules for 2026, Method B — Withholding (Method B, Exact Calculation): Tables 1-28 of the 2026 schedules parsed from the official PDF - low income exemption, estimated deduction, standard deduction, exemption allowance credit and the 24 rate tables. Implementation reproduces worked Examples A-F (p.2-4) to the cent.

Federal
lines

Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare on this page follow IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, Publication 15 and Publication 15-T, verified 2026-08-07. Our federal engine reproduces 2,175 of 2,175 Publication 15-T cells on every build. The six federal sources, itemised.

Matches
the agency

Reproduces the agency’s own published figures. Our implementation of the California withholding formula reproduces all 6 worked examples of EDD California Withholding Schedules for 2026, Method B (Exact Calculation) exactly as the agency prints them, re-checked on every build. Check them in the official PDF.

Cite this page

Calceva, “California Paycheck Calculator (2026),” verified 2026-08-06, https://calceva.com/california-paycheck-calculator/

Nearby, same method

Check a paycheck in a neighboring state

OregonOregon taxes wages at 4.75% to 9.9%, but softens it with a deduction for up to $8,750 of… PortlandIncludes the Multnomah County and Metro local income taxes, which begin above $125,000. NevadaNevada withholds no state income tax - the constitution forbids one on wages ArizonaArizona has the lowest flat income tax of any flat-tax state: 2.5% All states and citiesEvery calculator we publish, on one page, same method.