Gross pay vs net pay
Gross pay is the wage this period. Net pay is what reaches the bank after taxes and deductions. On a $2,500 Texas check, $2,092.60 is the deposit.
The offer is one number. The bank receives another.
A job offer is a gross number. Rent is paid with net pay. Gross is what you earned this period, before anyone took a share. Net is what remains after taxes and the deductions you agreed to. People say “take-home” for the amount that hits the account. A reimbursement can ride along in the same deposit and was never part of the wage.
Take a single person in Texas, paid $2,500 every two weeks in 2026, with a blank 2020 W-4 and no benefits. Gross is $2,500. Federal income tax is $216.15. Social Security is $155.00. Medicare is $36.25. Net is $2,092.60. Just under 84 cents of each dollar stayed. Texas does not tax the wage. The same gross pay in a state that taxes wages keeps less, because a state line joins the three federal lines.
The gap is wider than the income-tax line
It is easy to subtract “taxes” and mean only federal income tax. On this check that line is $216.15. FICA is still there, at $191.25, which is 7.65%. Health insurance, a traditional 401(k), and a Roth contribution widen the gap again, and they do it differently. The 401(k) lowers the wages income tax is computed on. The Roth leaves those wages alone. Both leave the paycheck. Pre-tax health insurance usually lowers income tax and FICA together. The FICA article separates that 7.65% from the income-tax line.
A raise is a raise in gross pay. The deposit rises by less than the raise, because the new dollars are withheld too. Scaling last month’s net by the size of the raise overstates the new deposit. Type the new salary into the calculator. The salary table shows the same idea at $50,000, $75,000, $100,000, and $150,000.
Which number to say out loud
Use gross pay when you compare offers, because benefits and state tax are not inside that number yet. Use net pay when you plan the rent, the car, and the week. A biweekly calendar has 26 deposits. A monthly budget has about two of them, and two months a year it has three. Budgeting every month as if it held two deposits is the version that survives those three-paycheck months.
The calculator above starts from the Texas example. Change the state and the wage. Reading the stub names each line you will see when the deposit arrives.
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Questions
Is take-home pay the same as net pay?
Usually. Direct deposit of the net check is take-home pay. Reimbursements can sit outside that.
Why did a raise shrink after taxes?
Each extra dollar can be taxed at the next withholding rate, and FICA applies until the Social Security cap.
Do pre-tax benefits raise net pay?
They lower taxable wages, so they can raise net pay compared with paying the same bill after tax. They still leave your paycheck.
Which number should I budget?
Net pay, after the deductions you intend to keep. Gross pay is the number offers use.