What Will My Raise Actually Bring Home?

A $10,000 raise doesn't add $10,000 to your take-home. Federal, FICA, and state taxes all take a cut at your marginal rate — usually higher than your average. See exactly what you'll keep.

What you actually keep

Take-home gain (annual)

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Take-home gain (monthly)

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Take-home gain (biweekly)

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Lost to taxes

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Effective marginal rate

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Before raise (take-home)

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After raise (take-home)

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Why your raise looks smaller than expected

The $10k raise gets taxed at your marginal rate — the rate on each additional dollar — not your average rate. The marginal rate is always the higher number.

For most middle earners, the marginal rate stack looks like this:

  • Federal income tax: 22% (the most common bracket for $48k–$103k income)
  • Social Security: 6.2% (up to the $184,500 wage cap)
  • Medicare: 1.45% (no cap)
  • State income tax: 0% to 10%+ depending on state
  • State payroll taxes (SDI, FLI, PFML in some states): 0% to 1.5%

Total marginal rate for a $80k earner in California: ~32%. In Texas: ~30%. In New York: ~33%. So a $10k raise becomes ~$6,700–$7,000 in actual take-home.

The "I'd lose money in a higher bracket" myth

You will never lose money from a raise that pushes you into a higher bracket. The next bracket's rate only applies to the dollars above the bracket threshold — not your whole income. A $10k raise from $100k to $110k that crosses into the 24% bracket still leaves you with thousands more in take-home.

When a raise actually backfires (rare)

The only real "raise penalty" comes from benefit cliffs — tax credits or subsidies that phase out at certain income thresholds:

  • ACA premium tax credit (sharp reduction near 400% of Federal Poverty Level)
  • Student Loan Interest deduction (phases out $80k–$95k single)
  • Roth IRA contribution limit (phases out $146k–$161k single, 2024)
  • Childcare Tax Credit phase-out
  • State / local benefits with hard cliffs (SNAP, Medicaid, childcare subsidies)

These can occasionally make a small raise net-negative. But the bracket itself never causes that.

FAQ

Does this account for my 401(k) or HSA?

Not directly. If your raise comes with a 401(k) contribution increase, the additional 401(k) money skips federal income tax entirely (Traditional) — so your effective take-home gain is higher. Subtract any pre-tax retirement contribution from the raise amount to see the post-401(k) view.

Why does Social Security cut off at $184,500?

The Social Security tax has an annual wage base limit. Earnings above $184,500 (2026) aren't taxed for SS. So if your raise pushes you past that cap, the marginal rate drops by 6.2% on the dollars above it. Medicare keeps going.

What about bonus taxes?

The IRS lets employers withhold bonuses at a flat 22% federal rate (37% above $1M), which often looks high vs. your normal paycheck withholding. But this is just withholding — at year-end your bonus gets taxed at your actual marginal rate, and any over-withheld amount comes back as a refund.

How accurate is "effective marginal rate"?

Within about ±1% for most workers. The number rounds out the federal bracket transition (if your raise straddles two brackets), assumes the standard deduction, and applies your state's bracket math. For sharp edge cases (raises that cross multiple federal brackets, or trigger phase-outs), the answer is approximate; the calculator's individual line items are precise.

See also