Frank Numbers
Every number,
shown in full.
Most calculators hand you a figure and expect you to take it on faith. These show the bracket table, the arithmetic and the government page the numbers came from, so you can check the answer instead of trusting it.
Two countries
Pick where you file
The tax rules, the contribution limits and the mortgage maths are genuinely different, so the two sides of the site are built separately rather than translated.
What “shown in full” means
Being in the 22% bracket does not mean paying 22%
Here is the whole federal calculation for a single filer on $85,000, using the 2026 tables. Every calculator on the site opens up like this.
$85,000 salary, less the $16,100 standard deduction
$68,900 taxable
| Slice of taxable income | Rate | Taxed here | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 to $12,400 | 10% | $12,400 | $1,240 |
| $12,400 to $50,400 | 12% | $38,000 | $4,560 |
| $50,400 to $105,700 | 22% | $18,500 | $4,070 |
| Federal income tax | $9,870 | ||
Top bracket reached
22%
Actually paid on the salary
11.6%
Brackets and standard deduction from Internal Revenue Service, Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments). Federal tax only. Your paycheck also carries Social Security, Medicare and state tax, which the full calculator adds.
Run this with your own salary and it fills in the rest.
Two systems
Who takes what, in each country
The same $85,000 salary run through both engines, each in its own currency, with no retirement contributions in the way. This is a comparison of how the deductions are built, not of which country is cheaper to live in.
United States
California, single, no dependants
Federal income tax
$9,870
7 brackets running 10% to 37%, charged only on income above the $16,100 standard deduction.
Social Security
$5,270
6.2% of pay, and it stops once earnings pass the $184,500 wage base.
Medicare
$1,233
1.45% of pay, with no ceiling at any income.
California income tax
$3,675
A separate set of state brackets on top. Some states charge nothing at all.
Taken off the top
$20,048
23.6% of gross
Lands in the account
$64,952
$2,498 every two weeks
Your employer withholds against the W-4 you filed, using the IRS wage-bracket tables. Whatever came out wrong across the year gets settled when you file a return.
Canada
Ontario, single, no dependants
Federal income tax
$10,227
5 brackets running 14% to 33%. The basic personal amount arrives as a credit against the tax rather than as a deduction from income.
Ontario income tax
$5,324
A second set of brackets entirely, plus Ontario's surtax and its health premium.
CPP and CPP2
$4,646
5.95% up to $74,600, then 4% on earnings up to $85,000.
Employment Insurance
$1,123
1.63% of insurable earnings, which are capped at $68,900.
Taken off the top
$21,321
25.1% of gross
Lands in the account
$63,679
$2,449 every two weeks
Your employer withholds using the CRA's per-period payroll tables. CPP and EI both stop once you reach their annual ceilings, so later paycheques in the year are larger than earlier ones.
The two figures are in different currencies and are not directly comparable. What is worth comparing is the shape: the US splits retirement funding into Social Security and Medicare on top of income tax, while Canada folds its equivalents into CPP and EI, both of which stop partway up the income scale.
The catalogue
Pick the question you have
6 calculators, each built twice so the US and Canadian rules stay honest.
PayWhat actually lands in your account after deductions.
Take-home pay
See exactly what lands in your account after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and your state's income tax, with every bracket shown.
HomeWhat a mortgage really costs over its whole life.
Mortgage
Monthly payment, total interest and a full amortization schedule, plus taxes, insurance and PMI, so the number matches your real closing costs.
AutoThe true price of financing a vehicle.
Auto loan
Monthly payment, total interest and how much of the sticker price turns into interest, including sales tax, trade-in and negative equity.
DebtHow long the balance takes to clear, and what it costs you.
Credit card payoff
How long your balance takes to clear and what the interest costs, comparing minimum payments against a fixed amount month by month.
SaveWhat your money becomes if you leave it alone.
Compound interest
What a starting balance plus regular contributions becomes over time, with the year-by-year table and how much of the total is growth.
401(k) & IRA
How much you can contribute this year, what the employer match is worth, the tax you save now and what the balance grows to.
Why these numbers
How this is built
Sourced and dated
No figure on this site is a bare number. Each one carries the agency that published it, the document it appears in, and the day we last checked it against them.
The whole calculation
Every calculator opens up into the bracket table and the arithmetic that produced the answer, so you can find the step you disagree with.
Flagged when unconfirmed
Where we could not read a figure at its primary source, the page says so and keeps saying so until someone confirms it.
Nothing leaves your browser
Salary, balances, contributions: it is all computed on your device. There is no form submission to intercept and no stored copy to leak.