Pre-tax retirement savings shrink your taxable income, so each dollar saved costs you less than a dollar of take-home pay.
401(k) rate
Saved per year
Federal tax
Take-home
0%
$0
$8,770
$65,110
5%
$4,000
$7,890
$61,990
10%
$8,000
$7,010
$58,870
15%
$12,000
$6,130
$55,750
With state income tax
State tax depends on where you live. These rows show the effect of a flat rate on top of federal taxes; plug your own state's rate into the paycheck calculator.
About $65,110 for a single filer in a state with no income tax, based on 2026 federal brackets, Social Security and Medicare. That is $5,425.83 a month or $2,504.23 every two weeks.
What tax bracket is $80,000 in?
For a single filer, after the standard deduction the top dollars are taxed at 22%. The average federal income tax rate is much lower, 11.0%, because lower brackets apply first.
How much does a 401(k) save in tax?
Putting 10% ($8,000) into a traditional 401(k) lowers federal income tax by about $1,760 a year for a single filer, so take-home pay drops by less than the amount you save.