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Payroll Tax Calculator

See exactly how FICA payroll tax is split. Enter your annual wages and press Calculate to break Social Security and Medicare into the employee share, the matching employer share and the combined cost.

Written by TopicDrill Editorial Team·Updated June 2026

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Your inputs

Enter gross annual wages, then press Calculate.

$

Social Security applies up to a $168,600 wage base. An extra 0.9% Medicare surtax applies to your wages above $200,000.

Your payroll tax (employee)

$6,885

Combined effective rate 15.30%

Employer share$6,885
Combined FICA$13,770

Who pays what

Employee Employer
$0$1.4k$2.8k$4.2k$5.6kSocial SecurityMedicare

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How the payroll tax calculator works

The tool takes your gross annual wages and runs them through the two FICA components. Social Security charges 6.2% on each side, but only on wages up to the annual wage base, so once you cross that ceiling the Social Security portion stops growing. Medicare charges 1.45% on each side with no ceiling at all.

Above the high-earner threshold the tool adds the 0.9% additional Medicare surtax to the employee column only, because the employer never matches that piece. The bar chart places the employee and employer amounts side by side for each component so the matching, and the gap created by the surtax, are easy to see.

A worked example

On $90,000 of wages, Social Security is 6.2% on the full amount, giving $5,580 from you and another $5,580 from your employer. Medicare adds 1.45%, or $1,305, from each side. Your share comes to $6,885, your employer matches it, and the combined FICA bill is $13,770, about 15.3% of wages.

Things to keep in mind

Wage bases and thresholds are updated each year, so confirm the current figures with the Social Security Administration wage base page before relying on a number. To see what lands in your account after income tax as well, use our paycheck calculator.

Frequently asked questions

What is payroll tax?

Payroll tax in the United States usually means FICA, the combination of Social Security and Medicare taxes funded from wages. It is split evenly between the worker and the employer, with each side paying a matching amount that is sent to the government every pay period.

What are the FICA tax rates?

Social Security is 6.2 percent from the employee and 6.2 percent from the employer, charged on wages up to an annual wage base of 168,600 dollars. Medicare is 1.45 percent from each side on all wages, with no cap. The standard combined rate is therefore 15.3 percent of wages within the Social Security base.

What is the additional Medicare tax?

High earners pay an extra 0.9 percent Medicare surtax on wages above 200,000 dollars for a single filer. Only the employee pays this surtax, the employer does not match it, which is why the employee Medicare figure can exceed the employer figure at higher incomes.

Do employers really pay the same payroll tax as workers?

Yes, for Social Security and the base Medicare rate the employer matches the employee dollar for dollar. Economists often argue that workers ultimately bear part of the employer share through lower wages, but on paper the company writes its own matching check on top of what it withholds from you.

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