Your effective rate is what you pay on everything. Your marginal rate is what you pay on the next pound — the one that decides whether a raise, a bonus or an extra shift is worth taking. They are not the same number, and the marginal one does not simply climb.
Gross is what you are paid before anything comes out; net is take-home after tax and deductions. Job ads quote gross. The gap is often 20–35%.
Your marginal rate is the tax on your next pound; your effective rate is total tax over total income. The effective rate is always lower, because the lower bands tax the first slice gently.
States and nations set their own income tax. Same gross salary, different take-home: no-tax states keep more; Scotland and California keep less.
Minimum wage is the legal least per hour. The UK sets it by age and raises it each April; the US federal rate has been $7.25 since 2009, though most states go higher.
Depending on where you are and what you earn. It is often the biggest lever after the headline number, which is why the same salary can feel very different in two places.
A pension contribution, if entered, is taken before income tax (and before National Insurance for UK salary sacrifice), so some of it is money that would have gone to tax. That is why it costs you less take-home than it adds to the pot.
The US federal rate has not moved since 2009, though most states set higher. The UK sets its rates by age and raises them each April.
It's a solid estimate for a single person on standard allowances with no other income. It uses headline tax bands and models a pension contribution if you enter one; it ignores student loans, benefits, credits, employer pension contributions and local quirks. Treat it as a ballpark, not a payslip.
Because it comes out before tax. In the UK, salary sacrifice also skips National Insurance; in the US, a 401(k) skips federal and state income tax but not Social Security or Medicare. Between £100,000 and £125,140 the effect is largest: a contribution there also restores personal allowance, so £10,000 into a pension from a £110,000 salary costs about £3,800 of take-home.
UK: income tax (England/Wales/NI or Scotland) plus employee National Insurance. US: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security + Medicare), and state income tax for the chosen state. Employer-side taxes aren't shown — they don't come out of your pay.
Because sub-national governments set their own income tax. Several US states levy none at all; others take up to double digits. Scotland runs different bands from the rest of the UK. Gross is identical; net isn't.
UK figures are the 2026/27 tax year; US figures are the 2026 federal schedule with representative state rates. Tax law changes and personal circumstances vary — always confirm with an official calculator or an accountant before relying on a number.
Releases in which this page changed, newest last. Derived from the archived copy of every release, not from notes written afterwards — so it reflects what actually shipped. Site-wide passes are left out; they are in the full changelog.