Hourly Paycheck Calculator — New York

How Hourly Pay, Federal Withholding, and Employer Payroll Costs Work

Gross pay starts with hourly rate multiplied by hours worked in the pay period, plus any overtime premium (covered in detail below). The federal minimum wage floor is $7.25/hour and has not changed since July 2009 — but the vast majority of US workers earn well above it, since most states and many cities set their own, higher minimum wage. This calculator adjusts the applicable minimum-wage warning automatically once you select your state.

From gross pay, the employee's share of FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) is withheld first. FICA has two parts: Social Security tax at 6.2% of wages up to the annual Social Security wage base — $184,500 for 2026, up from $176,100 in 2025 — above which no further Social Security tax is owed for the rest of the year; and Medicare tax at 1.45% of all wages with no wage cap at all. Combined, that is 7.65% withheld from the employee's paycheck, and the employer must pay a matching 7.65% out of its own pocket on top of gross wages (Social Security match capped at the same $184,500 wage base; Medicare match uncapped).

High earners owe more: wages above $200,000 in a calendar year (for a single filer; $250,000 married filing jointly, $125,000 married filing separately) are subject to an Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9%, withheld from the employee only — there is no employer match on this additional 0.9%, and it is not affected by filing status elections on Form W-4.

Federal income tax withholding works differently since the IRS redesigned Form W-4 starting in 2020: the old system of numbered 'allowances' was eliminated entirely. Today, withholding is driven by the filing status you select in Step 1, whether you hold multiple jobs (Step 2), a dollar amount for qualifying dependents (Step 3), and any other income, deductions, or extra withholding you enter directly in dollars (Steps 4a–4c). Your employer runs those entries through the IRS's published withholding tables (Publication 15-T) for the current tax year — 2026 — which already build in an amount equivalent to the standard deduction, so most single filers with no extra adjustments see federal tax withheld roughly consistent with the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100 (single) or $32,200 (married filing jointly) and the current 10%–37% bracket structure.

Finally, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) is entirely employer-paid — it never appears on an employee's pay stub and is never withheld from wages. The statutory FUTA rate is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages each calendar year, but employers that pay their state unemployment taxes on time and in full receive a standard credit of up to 5.4%, bringing the typical effective FUTA rate down to just 0.6% — a maximum of $42 per employee per year. Employers in a handful of 'credit reduction' states (states that still owe money on federal unemployment loans, including California for 2026) pay a higher effective FUTA rate.

• FICA: 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare = 7.65%, withheld from the employee AND matched by the employer
• 2026 Social Security wage base: $184,500 (up from $176,100 in 2025) — no Social Security tax above this amount
• Medicare has no wage cap; an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies above $200,000 (single), employee-only, no employer match
• Federal income tax withholding uses the 2020+ Form W-4 (no more allowances) plus current-year IRS Publication 15-T tables
• FUTA: 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages per employee per year, employer-paid only, typically reduced to an effective 0.6% (max $42/employee/year) via the standard credit

Step-by-Step Worked Example: From Hourly Rate to Net Pay and True Employer Cost

Take a realistic hourly worker earning $20.00/hour — well above the $7.25 federal floor and a common real-world market rate (your actual rate and state determine the exact figures the calculator shows; state income tax, SUI, and any state-specific daily overtime are layered on top of this federal baseline on your state's page). Assume a single filer with no dependents or other W-4 adjustments, paid weekly, who works 45 hours in the week: 40 regular hours plus 5 hours of federal overtime.

This example intentionally covers federal-only figures — no state income tax, no SUI, no state daily-overtime premium — so it applies identically whether this worker is in Texas, Florida, or any other state. Add your own state's rules on your state's calculator page for the full picture.

1. Regular pay: 40 hours × $20.00/hour = $800.00
2. Overtime pay (FLSA 1.5x after 40 hrs/week): 5 hours × $20.00 × 1.5 = $150.00
3. Gross weekly pay: $800.00 + $150.00 = $950.00 (annualized over 52 weeks: $49,400.00)
4. Federal income tax withholding (Single, 2026 standard deduction of $16,100 applied, current 10%/12% brackets): approximately $72.08/week (about $3,748/year) — an illustrative estimate; actual employer withholding uses IRS Publication 15-T tables which may differ slightly from full-year bracket math
5. Employee FICA: Social Security 6.2% × $950.00 = $58.90, plus Medicare 1.45% × $950.00 = $13.78, total $72.68/week
6. Net (take-home) pay: $950.00 − $72.08 (federal tax) − $72.68 (FICA) = $805.24/week
7. Employer's matching FICA: another $72.68/week (6.2% + 1.45% on the same $950.00, since this worker is far under the $184,500 Social Security wage base)
8. Employer's FUTA: 6.0% on the first $7,000 of annual wages, reduced to an effective 0.6% via the standard credit — a maximum of $42/year, or roughly $0.81/week averaged across the year (in practice, FUTA wages max out after about the first 7–8 weeks of the year for this worker, since $7,000 ÷ $950/week ≈ 7.4 weeks)
9. Total employer cost: $950.00 (gross) + $72.68 (FICA match) + $0.81 (average FUTA) ≈ $1,023.49/week
10. Employer's true cost per hour worked: $1,023.49 ÷ 45 hours ≈ $22.74/hour — about 13.7% above the $20.00/hour rate the employee sees, using federal-level costs alone (state SUI and any workers' compensation would push this higher still; see your state page)

Federal Overtime Law (FLSA) — and the Four States With Daily Overtime

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), non-exempt hourly employees must be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. This is a weekly threshold only — the FLSA itself does not require any overtime premium based on hours worked in a single day, and it applies identically in every state as a floor beneath which no employer may pay less.

A small number of states add a daily overtime requirement on top of the federal weekly rule, and getting this exactly right matters: some other paycheck-calculator providers have published the factually incorrect claim that California has no daily overtime law and that only the federal 40-hour/week rule applies there. That is wrong. California's daily overtime rule is one of the best-known payroll rules in the country, and this calculator applies it correctly.

Exactly four states currently require daily overtime in addition to the federal weekly rule:

• California: 1.5x regular rate after 8 hours worked in a single day (in addition to the standard 40-hour/week rule), 2x (double-time) after 12 hours in a single day, and 1.5x for the first 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day worked in a workweek (2x after 8 hours on that 7th day)
• Alaska: 1.5x after 8 hours worked in a single day, in addition to the 40-hour/week rule
• Nevada: 1.5x after 8 hours in a single day for employees paid less than 1.5x Nevada's minimum wage (higher-paid employees may be subject only to the weekly rule); the daily rule does not apply where the employer and employee have agreed to an alternative 4-day, 10-hour schedule
• Colorado: 1.5x after 12 hours worked in a single day (a higher daily threshold than CA/AK/NV), in addition to the standard 40-hour/week rule and a separate 12-consecutive-hour rule
• All other states and DC follow the federal 40-hour/week FLSA rule only, with no daily overtime requirement of their own

What an Hourly Employee Really Costs an Employer at the Federal Level

The hourly rate on offer is never the full cost of employing someone. At the federal level alone, two mandatory employer-paid costs sit on top of gross wages, before any state-level costs (SUI, workers' compensation premiums, state-mandated paid leave funds, etc.) are even considered:

Most competing hourly paycheck calculators show only the employee's take-home pay and leave employer cost as a separate, disconnected tool (or omit it entirely) — this calculator's core differentiator is showing both the employee's take-home pay and the employer's true all-in cost side-by-side in one result, so a business owner can see immediately what a given hourly rate really costs to run through payroll, and an employee can see how much value they represent beyond their paycheck.

• Employer FICA match: 7.65% of gross wages (6.2% Social Security, capped at the $184,500 2026 wage base per employee, + 1.45% uncapped Medicare) — identical in dollar terms to what is withheld from the employee, but paid entirely by the employer out of its own funds
• FUTA: 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages per year, typically reduced to an effective 0.6% (max $42/employee/year) via the standard credit for employers current on state unemployment tax payments
• Combined, federal-level employer costs alone typically add a little under 1 percentage point to roughly 8% on top of gross wages for a full-time worker earning above the Social Security wage base threshold in FICA terms plus the flat FUTA cap — before any state unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, or benefits load is added
• State-level employer costs (SUI, which varies by state and by employer experience rating, plus programs like CA ETT or Washington's paid family and medical leave employer share) can add substantially more — see your state's calculator page for the specific rates that apply there

What Makes This Calculator Different

This tool was built specifically to fix the gaps found in the most widely used hourly paycheck calculators on the market today:

• Always-current figures with a visible 'Updated for 2026' badge — competing tools have been found still publishing 2023 minimum-wage figures, a 2023 FUTA rate, and even a Social Security wage base off by two orders of magnitude, with no year shown anywhere in the page title or heading
• A combined employee-and-employer view in a single result, instead of splitting take-home pay and employer cost across two separate, disconnected tools (or omitting employer cost from the payroll calculator entirely)
• Instant results as soon as you enter an hourly rate and hours — no requirement to enter a pay date, home address, or work address, and no need to fill out a full Form W-4 replica just to see a first ballpark estimate
• Full structured data (JSON-LD: FAQPage, SoftwareApplication, and breadcrumb schema) on every page, so search engines and AI answer engines can read and cite the FAQs and calculator details directly — several major competing calculators ship zero structured data despite having on-page FAQ content
• Correct, verified federal and state overtime logic, including the four states with daily overtime rules (California, Alaska, Nevada, Colorado) applied automatically rather than left for the user to calculate by hand or described incorrectly

Common Paycheck Deductions Beyond Taxes

Federal tax and FICA are not the only things that can come out of an hourly paycheck — voluntary benefit deductions are one of the most common reasons a paycheck looks smaller than the simple hourly-rate-times-hours math would suggest.

Health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored plans are frequently deducted pre-tax under a Section 125 'cafeteria plan,' which reduces both taxable wages for federal income tax purposes and, in most cases, FICA wages too — lowering the FICA and federal tax shown on the paycheck along with the premium itself.

Traditional 401(k) or 403(b) retirement contributions are deducted pre-tax for federal income tax purposes (they reduce the wages reported in Box 1 of Form W-2) but are NOT exempt from FICA — Social Security and Medicare tax are still owed on those contributions. Roth 401(k)/403(b) contributions, by contrast, are deducted after both federal income tax and FICA have already been withheld.

Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions made through payroll and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) contributions are typically deducted pre-tax for both federal income tax and FICA purposes when run through a cafeteria plan — among the most tax-advantaged payroll deductions available, since they reduce taxable wages for every payroll tax at once.

• Health insurance premiums (Section 125 cafeteria plan): usually pre-tax for both federal income tax and FICA
• Traditional 401(k)/403(b): pre-tax for federal income tax only — FICA still applies
• Roth 401(k)/403(b): after-tax, no reduction to either federal income tax or FICA wages
• HSA and FSA contributions via payroll: usually pre-tax for both federal income tax and FICA
• Any of these can make net pay noticeably lower than a simple gross-minus-taxes estimate — always check your own pay stub's deduction lines

State Income Tax, SUI, Local Taxes, and Daily Overtime: See Your State's Page

Everything above is federal-only, and federal figures are never the whole picture for an actual paycheck. Nine states currently levy no state income tax at all (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming), while others — California most notably — levy progressive state income tax up to 13.3% on top of the federal figures shown here. Many states and cities also layer on local income tax: New York City and Yonkers surcharges, Pennsylvania's local Earned Income Tax (levied by nearly every municipality), Ohio municipal income tax, and Maryland county income tax, among others.

On the employer side, State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) is a mandatory cost that varies by state, by industry, and by each employer's own experience rating — there is no single national SUI rate, unlike FUTA. Several states also run their own employee- and/or employer-funded disability or paid-family-leave programs on top of FICA (California SDI, New York SDI and Paid Family Leave, Washington's PFML, and others).

State minimum wage also varies independently of state income tax — nine states have no state minimum wage of their own and default to the $7.25 federal floor, while California ($16.90+), Washington ($16.66), and others set rates well above $16/hour. And as covered above, four states (California, Alaska, Nevada, Colorado) require daily overtime on top of the federal 40-hour/week FLSA rule.

For all of these state-specific figures — state income tax brackets, SUI rates and wage base, local taxes, state minimum wage, and daily overtime where it applies — select your state from this tool, where every one of the 50 states plus DC has its own dedicated, fully worked page.

New York State Income Tax and Minimum Wage in 2026

New York taxes wage income using graduated brackets that top out at 10.90% for 2026. As with the federal system described in the national guide, only the portion of income that falls within the top bracket is taxed at 10.90% — lower portions of income are taxed at New York's lower bracket rates, so a worker's effective (blended) state tax rate is always below the headline top rate unless their entire income falls in the top bracket.

Among the 25 states covered in this batch, New York's rate is the highest. New York's own minimum wage is $16.00/hour (rest-of-state); $17.00/hour in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester.

• State income tax: graduated brackets, top marginal rate 10.90% for 2026
• State minimum wage: $16.00/hour (rest-of-state); $17.00/hour in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester
• Federal income tax withholding and FICA (7.65%) apply on top, exactly as described in the national guide

Worked Example: $20.00/Hour, 45-Hour Week, in New York

Because New York taxes income in graduated brackets rather than at one flat rate, this worked example gives a realistic range rather than one fixed number: net pay lands somewhere between $701.69/week (a conservative estimate using the 10.90% top rate on the whole paycheck) and $805.24/week (the federal-only figure, if none of this income were taxed at all) — the calculator itself applies New York's exact bracket cutoffs to land on the precise figure.

1. Start from the national guide's federal-only baseline: $20.00/hour, 40 regular hours + 5 overtime hours (FLSA 1.5x) = $950.00 gross pay for the week
2. Federal income tax withholding (Single, no dependents, 2026 W-4): approximately $72.08/week
3. Employee FICA (7.65%): $72.68/week
4. New York state income tax: graduated, so the exact weekly amount depends on New York's bracket cutoffs and standard deduction (which this calculator applies automatically) — as a conservative upper bound, taxing the full $950.00 at the 10.90% top rate would be 10.90% × $950.00 ≈ $103.55/week, but the actual figure will be somewhat lower since only income above the top bracket threshold is taxed at 10.90%
5. Net (take-home) pay in New York: no lower than $701.69/week (using the top-rate upper bound above) and no higher than $805.24/week (the federal-only figure) — the calculator computes the exact figure using New York's actual bracket structure

New York City and Yonkers: The Extra Local Income Tax

New York is one of only a few states in this batch where a local government also levies its own income tax on top of the state rate. New York City residents pay an additional city income tax — graduated, running roughly from 3.078% up to 3.876% depending on income — on top of New York State's own tax, which already tops out at 10.90% for 2026. Yonkers residents pay a separate local surcharge rather than the full NYC city tax. Outside of New York City and Yonkers, the rest of New York State has no local income tax at all — so two workers earning an identical wage, one in Manhattan and one 90 minutes north in rural New York, can have meaningfully different total (state + local) tax withheld purely based on where they live.

Minimum wage also splits geographically in New York: the rest-of-state rate is $16.00/hour, while New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County are set higher, at $17.00/hour, both effective January 1, 2026 — a separate geographic distinction from the city income tax boundary (Yonkers, for example, is in Westchester County and gets the higher $17.00 minimum wage, but only a local surcharge rather than the full NYC city income tax).