Texas Paycheck Calculator

No. Texas has no personal state income tax and is prohibited from imposing one by Article 8, Section 24 of the Texas Constitution, which was strengthened by Proposition 4 approved by voters in 2019. Texas is one of nine US states with no state income tax. This means Texas employees only have federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare deducted from each paycheck — no state tax withholding at all.

For a single filer earning $75,000/year in Texas with no pre-tax deductions: federal taxable income = $75,000 − $15,000 = $60,000. Federal tax ≈ $8,206 ($1,192.50 at 10% + $4,386 at 12% + $2,527.50 at 22%). Social Security = $4,650. Medicare = $1,087.50. Total deductions ≈ $13,943. Net annual take-home ≈ $61,057 ($5,088/month). Texas state tax = $0.

Texas's minimum wage in 2026 is $7.25 per hour — the same as the federal minimum wage. Texas has not enacted a higher state minimum wage, so the federal floor applies. Many Texas employers, particularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio metro areas, pay significantly above this floor due to labor market competition. Texas tipped employees may be paid a base of $2.13/hour if tips bring total pay to at least $7.25/hour.

Texas workers keep significantly more of their paycheck than California workers at the same income level. On a $100,000 salary, a California single filer pays roughly $6,600–$7,200 in California state income tax (6% to 9.3% brackets after the $5,202 standard deduction), while a Texas worker pays $0 in state income tax. Over a career, this difference can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars — one of the key reasons Texas has seen large population inflows from California, New York, and other high-tax states.

Texas has no employee-side payroll taxes beyond federal withholding. However, Texas employers do pay state unemployment insurance (SUI/SUTA) tax on employee wages — this is an employer cost, not an employee deduction, so it does not appear on your paycheck. Texas also has no state disability insurance (SDI) tax. Your Texas paycheck deductions are limited to: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2%), Medicare (1.45%), and any voluntary pre-tax elections like 401(k) or health insurance.

Texas has no state income tax, so the state takes nothing from your overtime or bonus pay. Federal taxes are a different story. The IRS taxes overtime at your normal federal withholding rate, calculated alongside your regular wages. Bonuses are handled differently — if your employer pays your bonus as a separate check, they typically withhold federal tax at the flat 22% supplemental rate. If your bonus pushes your year-to-date income above $1 million, the rate jumps to 37% on the excess. Most workers earning under $89,075 as a single filer actually come out ahead with the flat 22% rate compared to their marginal bracket.

Divide your annual salary by 26 to get your biweekly gross pay — there are 26 biweekly pay periods in a year. From that gross amount, subtract your pre-tax deductions like 401(k) and health insurance premiums. Then subtract federal income tax withholding based on your W-4 and the IRS 2026 withholding tables. Finally, subtract Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45% of gross wages. The result is your biweekly Texas take-home pay. For example, a $70,000 annual salary works out to $2,692.31 biweekly gross. After roughly $285 in federal withholding (single, standard) and $206 in FICA, that's approximately $2,200 biweekly in hand — before any 401(k) or insurance deductions.

The 2026 Social Security wage base is $176,100. This means the 6.2% Social Security tax only applies to your first $176,100 in earnings during the calendar year. Once your year-to-date wages cross that threshold, Social Security deductions stop completely — and your paycheck gets a bit bigger for the rest of the year. High earners often notice this bump in fall paychecks. The Medicare tax at 1.45% has no wage cap at all, so it applies to every dollar you earn regardless of income level. Workers earning over $200,000 also owe an additional 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax, though employers only begin withholding that once your pay exceeds $200,000 with that employer.

Gross pay is your total earnings before any deductions — your salary divided by pay periods, or hours worked times your hourly rate. Net pay is what actually lands in your bank account after everything has been taken out. In Texas, the gap between gross and net comes entirely from federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and any voluntary deductions you've elected like 401(k) contributions or health insurance premiums. There's no state income tax line reducing that difference further, which is one reason Texas take-home pay tends to be higher than in most states at the same salary level. A $60,000 Texas worker taking the standard deduction typically sees a gross-to-net difference of about 20–23%.

Your W-4 tells your employer how much federal income tax to withhold from each paycheck. The 2020 redesigned W-4 no longer uses allowances — instead it has five steps where you report other income, deductions, and dependents. Getting your W-4 right is important: withhold too little and you'll owe taxes plus a potential penalty at filing time; withhold too much and you're giving the IRS an interest-free loan all year. Texas has no state W-4 equivalent because there's no state income tax to withhold. You can update your W-4 with your employer at any time during the year — changes typically take effect starting the next payroll run.

Texas is genuinely one of the better states for self-employed workers from a tax perspective. There's no state income tax, which matters a lot when you're already paying the full 15.3% self-employment tax (the combined employee and employer share of Social Security and Medicare). On a $100,000 net self-employment income, a Texas freelancer avoids the $3,000–$9,000+ in state income tax that counterparts in California, New York, or Illinois would owe. You still need to file and pay federal estimated taxes quarterly — April 15, June 16, September 15, and January 15. But the Texas piece of that equation is simply zero, which simplifies your quarterly tax planning considerably.

Austin leads Texas for median tech and professional salaries, driven by the concentration of companies like Tesla, Apple, Google, and hundreds of mid-size tech firms that relocated there during the 2020–2023 migration wave. Dallas-Fort Worth ranks second for overall median household income, anchored by finance, logistics, and healthcare. Houston remains the top market for energy sector compensation, with oil and gas engineers and executives commanding some of the highest salaries in the state. San Antonio and El Paso trail the big four but have lower costs of living that partially offset the wage difference. Because Texas has no state income tax, a $120,000 salary in Austin goes meaningfully further than the same number in Seattle or Denver once state taxes are factored in.