Pennsylvania Paycheck Calculator (2026)

How to Use This Pennsylvania Calculator

Quick answer: Enter your gross pay per paycheck, select your pay frequency, choose your Philadelphia wage-tax status, and click Calculate. The tool applies 2026 federal single brackets with the $16,100 standard deduction, FICA (6.2% Social Security to $184,500 plus 1.45% Medicare), the flat 3.07% Pennsylvania tax on gross pay, and Philadelphia wage tax if selected. All calculations run entirely in your browser.

Follow these steps for the most accurate Pennsylvania estimate:

Step 1: Enter your gross pay amount. This is your total pay before any taxes or deductions. For salaried employees, enter the per-paycheck salary amount. For hourly workers, multiply your hourly rate by the hours worked per pay period. Pennsylvania taxes compensation from the very first dollar, so even a small paycheck shows state withholding.

Step 2: Select your pay frequency. Choose weekly (52 pay periods), bi-weekly (26), semi-monthly (24), monthly (12), or annual (1). The pay-periods field updates automatically, and you can override it if your employer uses a custom schedule.

Step 3: Set your Philadelphia wage-tax status. This toggle is the single most important setting on this page. Choose Outside Philadelphia if you neither live nor work in the city, Philadelphia resident if you live in the city (3.735% on all earnings regardless of where you work), or nonresident working in Philadelphia (3.425% on city earnings).

Step 4: Enter additional withholding and pre-tax deductions (optional). Extra federal withholding per paycheck goes in the first box. Pre-tax items such as 401(k) contributions reduce your federal taxable income and FICA wages. Note the Pennsylvania twist: your 401(k) contributions remain taxable as Pennsylvania compensation when made, so this calculator applies the 3.07% state rate to gross pay.

Step 5: Click Calculate Take-Home Pay. Results show gross pay, federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, Pennsylvania state tax, Philadelphia wage tax, total deductions, and net take-home pay, both per paycheck and annually.

$100,000 Salary Walk-Through (2026, Single Filer)

The fastest way to trust a calculator is to check its math by hand. Here is the exact computation this page performs for a $100,000 salary in Pennsylvania in 2026, with no pre-tax deductions:

• Federal taxable income: $100,000 minus the $16,100 single standard deduction = $83,900
• Federal income tax: $1,240 (10% to $12,400) + $4,560 (12% to $50,400) + $7,370 (22% on the rest) = $13,170
• FICA: $6,200 Social Security (6.2%) + $1,450 Medicare (1.45%) = $7,650
• PA state tax: $100,000 x 3.07% = $3,070
• Philadelphia resident wage tax (toggle): $100,000 x 3.735% = $3,735
• Take-home outside Philadelphia: $100,000 minus $13,170 minus $7,650 minus $3,070 = $76,110
• Take-home as a Philadelphia resident: $76,110 minus $3,735 = $72,375

This example ignores pre-tax 401(k) and health deductions, and the $52 Local Services Tax where levied. Try entering $3,846.15 as a bi-weekly gross amount (26 periods = $100,000 per year) in the calculator above and confirm you get the same annual figures.

The Flat-Tax Twist: 3.07% on Every Dollar

Pennsylvania taxes every dollar of wages at a flat 3.07%, and the 2026 payroll withholding rate remains 3.07% according to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. There are no tax brackets, no standard deduction, and no personal exemptions at the state level. Your employer simply withholds 3.07% from dollar one of your taxable compensation.

This simplicity is also why Pennsylvania has no W-4 equivalent. The federal Form W-4 exists to navigate progressive brackets, deductions, and credits. With a single flat rate, Pennsylvania needs none of that machinery: the default and only withholding rate for wages is 3.07%. The one exception is Form REV-419, the Employee's Nonwithholding Application Certificate, which you file only if you expect zero Pennsylvania tax through Tax Forgiveness, live in a reciprocal state, or qualify under military-spouse rules.

For paycheck planning, the flat rate makes mental math easy: a $1,000 gross paycheck loses exactly $30.70 to Pennsylvania tax, a $2,500 paycheck loses $76.75, and a $5,000 paycheck loses $153.50. There is no bracket threshold where your marginal state rate jumps, so overtime, bonuses, and raises are all taxed at the same predictable 3.07%.

Philadelphia Is a Mini-NYC: The Wage Tax Stack

Philadelphia's wage tax stacks directly on top of the 3.07% state tax, which is why Philly workers feel a much bigger bite than the flat rate suggests. Effective July 1, 2026, Philadelphia residents pay 3.735% on all earnings regardless of work location, while nonresidents working in the city pay 3.425%. City rates are scheduled to gradually decline over the coming years, so always confirm the current rate with the City of Philadelphia before making long-term plans.

Stack the two together and a Philadelphia resident loses about 6.8% of gross pay to state plus city tax before a single dollar of federal tax or FICA. On a $100,000 salary that is $3,070 to Harrisburg plus $3,735 to Philadelphia, or $6,805 combined. A nonresident commuting into the city pays $3,070 plus $3,425, or $6,495 combined. Someone living and working outside Philadelphia pays only the $3,070. That $3,735 swing is exactly why this page has a Philadelphia resident and nonresident toggle instead of burying the city tax in a footnote.

Withholding is handled by your employer alongside state withholding, so both taxes come out of each paycheck automatically. If you move into or out of Philadelphia mid-year, or split work between city and suburban locations as a nonresident, reconcile the city portion carefully at tax time because the resident rate follows where you live while the nonresident rate follows where you work.

Eight Income Classes With No Cross-Offset

Pennsylvania does not tax one big pool of income the way the federal system does. It taxes eight separate classes: compensation, interest, dividends, net profits from a business, profession, or farm, gains from property dispositions, rents, royalties, patents, and copyrights, estates and trusts, and gambling and lottery winnings. A loss in one class cannot offset income in another, so two taxpayers with identical federal returns can owe sharply different Pennsylvania tax.

The gambling class surprises many filers. Cash prizes from the Pennsylvania Lottery have been taxable since January 1, 2016 under Act 84 of 2016, while noncash Pennsylvania Lottery prizes remain exempt. If you win cash from the lottery or a casino, that income sits in its own class and cannot be reduced by, say, a rental loss or a business loss. Keep lottery and gambling documentation with your pay records so your withholding and estimated payments reflect the full picture.

For most employees reading this page, only the compensation class matters: your wages, salaries, bonuses, and commissions. But if you also freelance, collect rent, or sell investments, remember that Pennsylvania treats each stream independently, and a losing side venture will not shrink the 3.07% taken from your paycheck.

Retirement-Friendly: Exempt Later, Taxed Now

Pennsylvania is genuinely friendly to retirees. Commonly recognized pensions after qualifying retirement, Social Security benefits, Railroad Retirement benefits, military pensions, Civil Service annuities, and IRA and 401(k) distributions after retirement conditions are met are all exempt from Pennsylvania tax. Many workers planning a Pennsylvania retirement therefore model two phases: working years taxed at 3.07% on compensation, and retirement years with little or no Pennsylvania tax on the same savings.

The catch is timing. Employee 401(k) contributions remain taxable as Pennsylvania compensation when they are made. Unlike the federal system, where a traditional 401(k) contribution reduces this year's taxable income, Pennsylvania taxes the contribution going in and exempts the qualifying distribution coming out. Do not assume that raising your 401(k) deferral will shrink the state-tax line on your pay stub; it shrinks the federal and FICA lines instead. This page follows the same rule by applying 3.07% to gross pay.

Local Tax Alphabet Soup: Act 32, PSD Codes, and the $52 LST

Outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's local Earned Income Tax operates under Act 32. Your employer withholds the higher of your home municipality rate or your work municipality rate, and the tax is tracked through six-digit PSD codes that identify each municipality for distribution. When you are hired, you complete a Residency Certification Form listing your home and work PSD codes so payroll withholds correctly. If either code is wrong, your withholding can go to the wrong municipality, so verify the codes on your first pay stub.

Separate from the percentage-based EIT is the Local Services Tax, a flat $52 per year levied by most municipalities including Pittsburgh. It is withheld pro-rata across your pay periods, and the combined municipal and school district total is capped at $52 per worker per year across all employers combined. Workers earning under $12,000 in local earnings can claim an exemption or a refund. Because the LST depends on your specific municipality and employer setup, this calculator flags it as a note rather than baking it into the headline result.

REV-419, Not a W-4: Reciprocity and Tax Forgiveness

Because Pennsylvania has no W-4 equivalent, workers who should have no state withholding file Form REV-419, the Employee's Nonwithholding Application Certificate. File it if you expect zero Pennsylvania tax through Tax Forgiveness, if you live in a reciprocal state such as New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, or Indiana, or if you qualify under military-spouse rules. File a new certificate each year your situation changes rather than assuming last year's form carries forward.

Reciprocal agreements are the most common reason commuters encounter this form. If you live in New Jersey but work in Pennsylvania, for example, the agreement lets you avoid Pennsylvania withholding on your compensation so you are not double-withheld across the two states. Tax Forgiveness, meanwhile, helps low-income filers reduce or eliminate their Pennsylvania liability; if you qualify, REV-419 stops withholding you would otherwise have to wait until filing season to reclaim.

The Federal Side: 2026 Brackets, $16,100 Deduction, $184,500 Wage Base

Your federal withholding still uses the progressive system, and for 2026 the single brackets used by this calculator are 10% to $12,400, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, 24% to $201,775, 32% to $256,225, 35% to $640,600, and 37% above that. The 2026 single standard deduction is $16,100, which is subtracted from your wages before the brackets apply. Your federal Form W-4 settings control this layer of withholding even though Pennsylvania itself needs no W-4.

FICA is straightforward: Social Security takes 6.2% of wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, so the maximum Social Security bite is $11,439. Medicare takes 1.45% of all wages with no cap, and high earners pay an additional 0.9% on wages over $200,000 for single filers. Your employer matches the Social Security and base Medicare amounts, but the match never appears on your pay stub.

Pay Frequency Comparison ($100,000 Salary, Outside Philadelphia)

How often you are paid changes each paycheck's size but not your annual totals. Using the $76,110 take-home figure from the walk-through above:

Philadelphia residents can scale these down by the wage-tax bite: a resident earning $100,000 loses an extra $3,735 per year, or about $143.65 per bi-weekly paycheck. Bi-weekly workers also get two three-paycheck months each year, which is a convenient window for extra savings or debt payments since the annual tax math already accounts for all 26 periods.

Tips to Increase Your Pennsylvania Take-Home Pay

Pennsylvania's flat rate leaves less room for state-level maneuvering than a bracketed state, but several levers still work. First, review your federal W-4 once a year with our paycheck calculator and our tax refund calculator. A large refund means you over-withheld federal tax all year; adjusting your W-4 raises each paycheck without changing your total liability.

Second, use pre-tax benefits for their federal and FICA savings even though Pennsylvania still taxes most of them going in. Every $1,000 in a traditional 401(k) saves a single filer in the 22% bracket about $220 in federal tax plus $76.50 in FICA, and HSA and FSA contributions similarly cut the federal base. Just remember the state line on your stub will barely move, which is expected behavior rather than a payroll error.

Third, get your locality right. Confirm your home and work PSD codes on your Residency Certification Form, claim the LST exemption promptly if you earn under $12,000 locally, and if you hold two jobs, verify that the combined $52 LST cap is being honored across employers. Finally, if you qualify for Tax Forgiveness or live in a reciprocal state, filing REV-419 early in the year stops unneeded withholding instead of letting it sit with the state until you file.

How Pennsylvania Compares to Other States

Pennsylvania's 3.07% flat rate sits well below the top marginal rates of states like California, New York, and Illinois, while Texas and Florida charge no state income tax at all. The comparison flips for some workers once local taxes enter: Philadelphia's combined state-plus-city load exceeds what many suburban workers pay in higher-rate states, while workers outside Philadelphia and its EIT municipalities enjoy one of the simplest, lowest state bites in the country. See our state tax rates hub for the full 50-state picture.