What gross salary do you actually need?
Most calculators go salary → take-home. This one runs the other way: tell us your monthly expenses and savings goal, and we solve for the gross salary that gets you there after federal, NY State, and NYC tax, FICA, and your 401(k)/HSA/health insurance elections.
We add these together and multiply by 12 to get the annual take-home you need. That's the number every tax and contribution calculation below solves backwards from.
This calculator is built for NYC residents: federal, NY State, and the NYC resident local surcharge are always applied.
Not tax advice. Whether itemizing actually helps you depends on your full tax picture, including things this tool doesn't fully model, like your mortgage's acquisition-debt limit or unusual income situations. Talk to a tax professional before changing your W-4 or your tax strategy based on this estimate.
Itemizing doesn't add a new payroll line item; it replaces the standard deduction in the tax math, on both your federal and NY returns (independently; it's normal to itemize on one and take the standard deduction on the other). Leave everything below at $0 if none of it applies to you; renters usually do.
Cash and non-cash charitable giving combined. Only the amount above 7.5% of your income counts for medical expenses; we do that math for you. Mortgage interest is deductible on acquisition debt up to $750,000 (or $1M if the loan originated before 12/16/2017).
If you own a co-op, your mortgage interest and property tax figures come from your share of the building's underlying mortgage and taxes. Check your co-op's annual shareholder tax letter or ask your managing agent.
Married Filing Jointly: if either spouse itemizes, both must; you can't have one spouse itemize and the other take the standard deduction.
401(k)/403(b)/457(b) share the same contribution cap here (real 457(b) limits are technically independent and could stack, which isn't modeled). Pension (NYCERS/TRS/BERS) isn't an elective deferral, so no cap applies at all.
The match is money on top of your paycheck; it does not reduce the salary you need.
Other paycheck deductionsclick to expand
Most people only need health insurance and maybe a commuter benefit; the rest are here if they apply to you. Anything left at $0 is ignored.
Pre-tax (Section 125) for most employer plans. Reduces income tax and FICA, same as an HSA.
up to $340/mo
up to $340/mo
up to $3,400/yr
up to $7,500/yr · independent of HSA/Healthcare FSA
You can't have both a Healthcare FSA and an HSA. Since HSA enrollment is set above, Healthcare FSA is disabled.
Disability insurance is deliberately post-tax here: pre-tax premiums would make any paid-out benefit taxable, so most people pay these post-tax on purpose.
Since you're set up to itemize federally, enter this amount on Step 4(b) of your W-4 with your employer. Without it, your employer withholds as if you're taking the standard deduction. Your annual numbers above are still right, but your actual paychecks will run smaller than this tool predicts, with the difference coming back as a refund the following spring instead of showing up in your take-home pay.
Not tax advice, and not a guarantee of accuracy; this figure is a simplified planning estimate, not a substitute for a tax professional. Confirm it (and the rest of your W-4) with one before you submit anything to your employer. See our Terms of Service for the full no-warranty and liability terms.
| Line item | Annual | Monthly |
|---|
NY State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave are mandatory payroll deductions for every NY W-2 employee; self-employed/1099 filers don't have this line.
| Savings goal | Monthly savings | Required annual salary |
|---|
This shows how much more gross salary you'd need if you pushed your monthly savings goal up (or down) by 5% and 10%, with everything else about your tax situation and contributions held constant.
Assumptions used (click to expand)
We take your monthly expenses plus savings goal, multiply by 12, and binary-search for the gross salary whose net take-home lands on that number, after federal, NY State, and NYC resident tax brackets, the Social Security wage base cap, the Additional Medicare surtax, and your 401(k)/HSA elections. Traditional 401(k) contributions reduce taxable income; Roth contributions don't. HSA contributions are exempt from both income tax and FICA, regardless of 401(k) type.
This is a planning estimate, not a paycheck. Health insurance, commuter benefits, FSAs, life/disability insurance, union dues, and NY's mandatory SDI/PFL are all modeled in "Other paycheck deductions" above if you enter them; leave them at $0 if they don't apply. It otherwise assumes a single job with no other income.