Paycheck calculators · Washington · Tax year 2026
Washington Paycheck Calculator: 2026 Take-Home Pay, Estimated
Washington has no state income tax, so nothing is withheld for one. Two state premiums do come out of a Washington paycheck: the Paid Family and Medical Leave premium, where the standard employee share works out to 0.807159 percent of wages, and the WA Cares Fund premium at 0.58 percent. Enter your pay below and this calculator estimates your 2026 take-home pay with both premiums, federal tax, and FICA, plus an optional view of the new 2026 tips and overtime deductions.
Last reviewed: November 4, 2026.
The 2026 Washington numbers
| State income tax | None. Washington does not tax wage income and has no state income tax withholding |
|---|---|
| Paid Family and Medical Leave premium | Total premium 1.13 percent of gross wages for 2026, on wages up to the Social Security cap of $184,500. Tips are excluded from the premium wage base. The employee share is up to 71.43 percent of the premium, an effective 0.807159 percent; the employer share is 28.57 percent (Washington State Employment Security Department) |
| WA Cares Fund premium | 0.58 percent of gross wages, with no wage cap, paid by the employee (Washington State Employment Security Department) |
| Federal withholding | IRS Publication 15-T for 2026, Worksheet 1A percentage method |
| Social Security and Medicare | 6.2 percent up to $184,500 of wages; 1.45 percent on all wages; an extra 0.9 percent Medicare withholding over $200,000 (IRS Topic No. 751; Social Security Administration) |
Checked against IRS sources · Reviewed November 4, 2026
The paycheck calculator
How this estimate is calculated
Federal income tax follows Worksheet 1A of IRS Publication 15-T for 2026, the worksheet employer payroll systems use for the automated percentage method. Your pay is annualized, your Form W-4 entries are applied, including the adjustment that applies when the Step 2 box is not checked ($12,900 on a joint return, $8,600 otherwise), and the 2026 percentage method table for your filing status gives the withholding. This calculator assumes a current Form W-4, the version in use since 2020.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA) are withheld at 6.2 percent of wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, and 1.45 percent of all wages for Medicare, with an extra 0.9 percent Medicare withholding on wages over $200,000 in the year, as IRS Topic No. 751 sets out. Tips count as wages for FICA.
The Washington premiums are figured the way the Employment Security Department describes them. For Paid Leave, the 2026 premium is 1.13 percent of gross wages up to the Social Security cap, tips are excluded from the wage base, and the employee share of up to 71.43 percent is what employers withhold unless they pay it for you; this estimate uses that standard share, 0.807159 percent of the wage base. WA Cares takes 0.58 percent of all gross wages with no cap. One forward note: the Department has announced a 2027 Paid Leave rate of 1.2 percent, with a different split; this page is for 2026 and will be updated when the 2027 figures take effect.
the saving lands on the return, not the paycheck
Tips and overtime: the 2026 difference
Most paycheck calculators stop at withholding. This one also shows the new 2026 deduction context, because tax year 2026 is the first year tips and the overtime premium carry deductions of their own: tips up to $25,000 per return, and the overtime premium up to $12,500, or $25,000 on a joint return, claimed on the new Schedule 1-A. Both phase out from $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $300,000 on a joint return.
Two cautions belong with that panel. First, the deductions are worked out on your tax return, not in your paycheck: the saving normally arrives at filing time, unless you adjust your Form W-4 so withholding reflects the deductions during the year, which the 2026 Form W-4 allows. Second, for 2026 the IRS states in Fact Sheet FS-2026-13 that the deductions are generally limited to the amounts your employer separately reports on your W-2, in Box 12 with code TP for tips and code TT for the overtime premium. The tips deduction calculator and the overtime deduction calculator work through those rules in full.
no 401(k) assumed here, on purpose
What this estimate does not include
- Pre-tax deductions from your pay, such as 401(k) or 403(b) contributions and health insurance premiums. Those reduce the wages most taxes are figured on, and they depend on elections only you and your employer know, so no honest estimate can assume them.
- Bonuses, commissions, and irregular pay. Payroll annualizes each check as if it repeated all year, so a one-off payment is usually withheld at a higher effective rate than this estimate shows for steady pay.
- Credits and return-level items. Withholding is an advance payment. Your actual tax is settled on your return, where credits, other income, and deductions all enter.
- Any local tax other than the one you select or enter on this page.
PlainStub also runs paycheck calculators for Pennsylvania, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, South Carolina, and Virginia, each built on that state's own published 2026 figures.
Comparing a salary with hourly work?
If you are weighing a salaried offer against hourly work, or the other way round, the Washington salary to hourly calculator converts either figure into the other at your hours per week, and estimates the take-home pay on the converted pay using the same figures as this page.
Sources
- Washington State Employment Security Department, paidleave.wa.gov: employer roles and premium pages. The 2026 Paid Leave premium of 1.13 percent, the 71.43 percent employee share, the Social Security wage cap, the exclusion of tips from the premium wage base, and the WA Cares premium of 0.58 percent of gross wages with no cap. Checked November 4, 2026.
- IRS, Publication 15-T, Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods, 2026 edition. Worksheet 1A and the 2026 percentage method tables. Checked November 4, 2026.
- IRS, Topic No. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates; Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base for 2026 ($184,500). Checked November 4, 2026.
Last reviewed: November 4, 2026.