Start from the take-home pay you want — the engine solves for the gross salary that gets you there, bracket-exact for 2026.
Enter the take-home pay you want, and this tool solves for the gross salary that produces it — using the same bracket-exact 2026 engine as the main calculator.
Method: bracket-exact 2026 annual-liability estimate (standard deduction, no pre-tax deductions, no credits, no local taxes). Solved iteratively to the nearest dollar.
Salary negotiations happen in gross dollars, but life happens in net dollars. If your budget needs $4,500 a month after taxes, the salary you must negotiate differs by thousands of dollars between, say, Oregon and Texas. This tool answers the question in the direction people actually think.