Free California paycheck calculator for 2025

California paycheck calculation overview

Our paycheck calculator estimates employees’ California take-home pay based on their taxes and withholdings. It automatically calculates key information based on the state your employee resides in and allows you to input additional details necessary to calculate employees’ pay. 

The following paycheck details are included:

• Federal tax withholdings 
• State tax withholdings 
• Overtime 
• Commission 
• Bonuses 
• Additional withholdings

How to calculate your employee’s paycheck

Our free paycheck calculator makes it easy for you to calculate your employees’ pay in California—whether they’re hourly or salaried employees. Follow the steps below to learn how to use our California paycheck calculator. 

1. Input the employee’s details 

This includes the employee’s first and last name and the state they reside in. So in this case, choose California. 

2. Fill in their pay information 

From there, you should see fields titled: 

• Pay Type
• Pay Rate
• Hours Worked
• Pay Date 
• Pay Period 

Begin with Pay Type and select Hourly or Salary from the dropdown menu. If the employee is hourly, input their pay rate and the number of hours they worked for the pay period. If they worked more than 40 hours and accrued overtime, input the number of additional hours they worked during step three.  

If the employee is salaried, the Pay Rate and Hours Worked options will disappear, and you’ll input the amount they earn each pay period under the field labeled Amount. Then, select the pay date and the pay frequency. 

3. Add any additional pay the employee receives in their paychecks

Input any additional wages your employee received during the pay period. 

For hourly employees, the four fields you should see are:

• Overtime Worked
• Bonus
• Commission
• Salary

Add in any additional pay the employee received during this time. For overtime pay, input the number of hours the employee worked outside of their normal working hours. 

Note: This tool only calculates overtime pay using time and a half, so if the employee worked more than 12 hours in a single work day or more than eight hours on their seventh consecutive work day, you’ll need to provide them with double-time pay, as stated by California law. 

For salaried employees, you should see two fields:

• Bonus 
• Commission

If applicable, input any amount they received as a bonus or commission for the given pay period. 

4. Input their federal tax information

Next, you’ll input the following information which you can find on your employee’s W-4 form:

• Filing status
• Number of allowances
• Additional withholdings

If you don’t have the employee’s W-4, our calculator will fill in tax rates to create an estimated paycheck. 

5. Input their state tax information 

As with the federal tax information, this section also includes the employee’s:

• Filing status 
• Number of allowances
• Additional withholdings

6. Calculate the employee’s final pay  

Once you’ve inputted all of the needed information, select Finish to see an estimate of your employee’s earnings for the given pay period.

How much is taken out for taxes in California?

The amount taken out of an employee’s paycheck is dependent on their income, filing status, and tax bracket, so it will vary from employee to employee. California tax withholdings include both federal and state tax deductions, in addition to any pre-tax deductions. 

Here’s what you need to know about California state and federal tax withholdings.

California income tax rate

The income tax rate in California ranges from 1% to 13.3% and is dependent on the employee’s income tax bracket and filing status. The 10 tax brackets California tax brackets are: 1%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 9.3%, 10.3%, 11.3%, 12.3% and 13.3%.

Federal tax withholdings

Federal tax withholdings remain the same no matter what state your employees reside in. Money taken out for federal taxes goes towards: 

• Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes: Social Security and Medicare.
• Federal income tax: Federal Unemployment Tax Act taxes (FUTA) and additional Medicare tax if your employee makes over $200,000 in a calendar year. 

Additional deductions on California paychecks

In addition to federal and state tax deductions, other deductions may come out of an employee’s paycheck—also referred to as pre-tax deductions. 

Pre-tax deductions include any money taken from employees’ gross pay before withholding taxes, like health benefits and retirement contributions. Because these deductions are accounted for before tax withholdings, it decreases employees’ taxable income, which may put them in a lower tax bracket. 

Pre-tax deductions may include: 

• Health insurance 
• Health savings account (HSA) 
• Dental insurance 
• Vision benefits 
• Short- and long-term disability 
• 401(k) contributions 
• Commuter benefits
• Child care expenses 
• Life insurance 
• Parking permits 

Note: Our calculator only accounts for federal and state tax deductions. Pre-tax deductions don’t factor into the estimated paycheck details.

California payroll laws

Aside from making sure you’re staying on top of tax withholdings on employee paychecks, there are also numerous paycheck and payroll laws you want to keep in mind in California. Here are some important payroll rules to be aware of: 

• Employers in California must establish a regular payroll schedule and pay employees at least twice a month during each calendar month. You must pay wages earned between the first and the 15th of every month no later than the 26th day of the month in which the employees earned their wages. Additionally, the wages employees earned between the 16th and the last day of the month must be paid by the 10th of the following month. 
• At the time of termination, you must pay employees all of their wages, including accrued vacation time, immediately. 
• If an employee quits and gives at least a 72-hour notice, you must pay them all remaining wages immediately. If they did not give a 72-hour notice, employers have 72 hours to pay them their remaining wages. 
• You must pay overtime wages no later than the next scheduled pay period following the pay period the employee earned overtime pay. 
• On each paystub, California requires employers to include pay period dates, gross wages, net wages, total hours worked, itemized deductions, employees’ full name, address, and last four digits of their Social Security number, hourly rates if applicable, employer’s name and address, and accrued paid sick time.

Manage employee payroll with ease

Calculating and processing payroll and staying on top of the different state and federal tax withholdings can be tough and take several hours. However, an automated payroll service like QuickBooks Payroll can cut the time in half and help you manage your payroll to ensure you’re paying your employees accurately. 

QuickBooks Online Payroll & Contractor Payments: Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc., licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services, subject to eligibility criteria, credit and application approval. For more information about Intuit Payments Inc.’s money transmission licenses, please visit https://www.intuit.com/legal/licenses/payment-licenses/.