This California payroll calculator shows what an employee actually takes home in 2026 after California state income tax (graduated 1% to 13.3%), the 1.3% State Disability Insurance (SDI) payroll tax that now applies to every dollar of wages with no cap, plus 2026 federal income tax and the 7.65% FICA tax. Enter an annual salary or hourly rate below and the tool returns net pay per paycheck and per year with a line-by-line deduction breakdown. It is the running-payroll companion to our California paycheck calculator.
California employers must withhold four things from wages: 2026 federal income tax, FICA (6.2% Social Security on wages up to the $184,500 base plus 1.45% Medicare on all wages), California graduated income tax, and the 1.3% SDI payroll tax. The calculator annualizes your pay, applies the small California state standard deduction ($5,540 single / $11,080 joint), runs the bracket math, and divides back to your pay frequency. Because California SDI has had no wage cap since 2024, even six-figure earners pay 1.3% on every dollar — a detail older payroll tools routinely miss.
| Payroll item | 2026 rate / basis | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| CA state income tax | 1%–13.3% graduated | Employee (withheld) |
| CA SDI | 1.3% on all wages (no cap) | Employee |
| Social Security | 6.2% up to $184,500 | Employee + employer |
| Medicare | 1.45% (no cap) + 0.9% over $200k | Employee (+ employer 1.45%) |
| CA UI / ETT | Employer-only (not withheld) | Employer |
Note that California Unemployment Insurance (UI) and the Employment Training Tax (ETT) are employer-paid and are not deducted from the employee paycheck; see our FUTA/SUTA employer payroll tax calculator for the employer side.
A single Californian on $80,000 in 2026 pays about $8,770 federal income tax, $6,120 FICA, $3,363 CA income tax, and $1,040 SDI, leaving roughly $60,707 a year (about $2,335 per biweekly check). That is an effective rate near 24.1% — higher than most no-income-tax states because of California’s graduated brackets and the uncapped SDI.
Switch the pay type to “Hourly” to enter a rate and weekly hours; the calculator annualizes as rate × hours × 52. A $25/hour full-time worker ($52,000/year) nets about $41,658 a year in California after all four deductions. For the reverse conversion, see the hourly to salary calculator.
Both views use the same verified 2026 math. This payroll calculator focuses on the employer-running-payroll view of an employee’s net pay, while the paycheck calculator focuses on the worker’s take-home. They produce identical net figures for the same inputs.
The employee SDI withholding rate is 1.3% for 2026, up from 1.2% in 2025, and it applies to all wages with no cap since 2024. A $200,000 earner pays $2,600 in SDI.
For employees, generally no. California cities and counties do not levy a local wage income tax on workers. San Francisco taxes employers via a payroll/gross-receipts tax, but it is not withheld from employee paychecks.
Employers pay the matching 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare, federal FUTA, and California UI and ETT. These are separate from the amounts withheld from the employee and are not shown in this employee-side calculator.
It uses the verified 2026 federal brackets, the $16,100/$32,200 standard deductions, the $184,500 Social Security wage base, the 1.3% SDI rate, and the latest California FTB brackets. It is an estimate; pre-tax deductions and DE 4 elections will shift your exact figure.