What shapes your Illinois take-home pay
Federal income tax and FICA come out of every U.S. paycheck the same way; the state layer is what makes a Illinois paycheck specific. Illinois levies a flat 4.95% income tax and exempts most retirement income. There is no standard deduction, only personal exemption allowances.
Your take-home (net) pay is your gross minus federal tax, FICA, those Illinois taxes, and any pre-tax deductions. The calculator above applies them in order, so the figure you see reflects what actually reaches your account each payday.
The deductions, step by step
- Pre-tax deductions, traditional 401(k), HSA, and pre-tax health premiums come out first and lower your taxable income (your 401(k) still counts for Social Security and Medicare, though).
- Federal income tax, applied to income after the standard deduction using the 2026 progressive brackets for your filing status.
- FICA, Social Security at 6.2% (up to the annual wage base) plus Medicare at 1.45% on all wages, with an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000.
- Illinois tax, Illinois levies a flat 4.95% income tax and exempts most retirement income. There is no standard deduction, only personal exemption allowances.
Biweekly vs. monthly, does it change your taxes?
No. Your total annual tax depends on what you earn in a year, not how often you're paid. A biweekly schedule (26 checks) simply slices the same annual take-home into smaller, more frequent amounts than a monthly schedule (12 checks). Switch the pay-frequency selector above and you'll see the per-paycheck figure change while the annual totals stay put.
Make your estimate more accurate
- Set your real 401(k) percentage and HSA amount, pre-tax contributions can noticeably raise take-home-adjusted savings.
- Choose the filing status that matches your W-4; married filing jointly widens the brackets.
- Add your pre-tax health premium if your employer deducts it before taxes.
This is an estimate of annual tax liability, not exact per-paycheck withholding (which follows IRS Pub 15-T tables and your specific W-4). It uses 2026 federal and FICA figures and applies each state's latest published income-tax schedule (2025 for most states until 2026 rates are released); it doesn't model local city taxes, post-tax deductions, or tax credits. Treat the result as a close ballpark, and check your actual pay stub for the precise numbers.