A U.S. paycheck is a sequence, and the order matters because each step is computed on the result of the one before. This is the sequence the tax engine behind every audit follows, with the 2026 figures at each step and the places where the order produces results people do not expect.
Step 1: Gross pay
The salary in the offer letter, divided by pay periods — 26 for bi-weekly, 24 for semi-monthly, 12 for monthly. $100,000 bi-weekly is $3,846.15 per check. Overtime, bonuses and commissions are added here when they occur.
Step 2: Pre-tax deductions
Two kinds, treated differently. Section 125 deductions — the employee share of health, dental and vision premiums, FSA and HSA contributions, commuter benefits — are removed before everything: income tax and FICA alike. Traditional 401(k) and 403(b) deferrals are removed before income tax but not before FICA. The distinction is why a $300 health premium and a $300 401(k) contribution do not reduce take-home by the same amount: the premium also saves 7.65% of FICA.
Roth 401(k) contributions are post-tax and belong in step 6.
Step 3: Federal income tax
Taxable income is gross, less 401(k) and Section 125 deductions, less the standard deduction — $16,100 for a single filer in 2026. It then runs through seven brackets: 10% to $12,400, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, 24% to $201,775, 32% to $256,225, 35% to $640,600, 37% above. Each slice is taxed at its own rate; the marginal rate applies to the top slice only. On $100,000 with no deductions, taxable income is $83,900 and the bill is $13,170.
Your employer estimates this per check from your W-4 and the IRS tables; the estimate and the liability can differ, which has its own guide.
Step 4: FICA
Social Security at 6.2% on wages up to $184,500, and Medicare at 1.45% on all wages, computed on gross less Section 125 deductions (401(k) deferrals do not reduce it). Above $200,000 the Additional Medicare tax adds 0.9% on the excess. On $100,000 with no deductions FICA is $7,650. Above the wage base the Social Security portion stops, which is why a $200,000 earner’s effective FICA rate is 7.17% rather than 7.65%.
Your employer pays a matching 7.65% that never appears on your stub.
Step 5: State and local income tax
Here the sequence forks by location. Nine states levy nothing on wages. Flat-rate states apply one rate after a deduction or exemption: Illinois 4.95% after $2,850, Pennsylvania 3.07% with no deduction. Progressive states run their own brackets after their own standard deduction: New York’s $8,000, California’s $5,540, Oregon’s $2,835. Most states honor the 401(k) deferral; Pennsylvania taxes it.
Mandatory employee payroll programs are computed alongside: California SDI 1.2%, New York Paid Family Leave 0.388% to a cap of $354.53, Washington PFML and WA Cares, Colorado FAMLI, Massachusetts PFML, Minnesota Paid Leave, Paid Leave Oregon.
Local income tax, where it exists, is computed on the base the city specifies — gross wages in Philadelphia and Columbus, state taxable income in New York City and Baltimore, a percentage of state tax in Yonkers, a fixed amount in Denver.
Step 6: Post-tax deductions
Roth 401(k) contributions, after-tax life or disability insurance, union dues, wage garnishments, and anything else that comes out of pay after tax has been computed. These reduce the deposit but not the tax.
Step 7: Net pay
What is left is the deposit. On $100,000 with no deductions of any kind it is $79,180 a year in Texas ($3,045 bi-weekly), $72,653 in California, $70,525 in New York City. Every audit on this site shows the same seven steps for one salary in one place, with each line’s basis and rate, and a slider for steps 2 and 6.
The assumptions the audits make
Single filer. Standard deduction. No dependents, credits (other than Utah’s statutory taxpayer credit), itemized deductions, bonus, equity or second income. Local tax assumes you live and work in the city. Figures are the annual liability, not the employer’s per-check withholding estimate. Each of those assumptions can be relaxed, and each changes the answer; the audit gives you the reproducible floor to relax them from.
Audits cited in this guide
Open the full paycheck breakdowns
About the figures in this guide
Every dollar amount above is produced by the same deterministic tax engine that generates the audit pages, using the published 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction, the 2026 Social Security wage base, each state's published schedule and each city's local tax rules. Assumptions: single filer, standard deduction, no dependents, no itemized deductions. Rent figures are median 1-bedroom asking rents refreshed quarterly. Read the methodology, or send a correction with a primary source.