Take-Home Wage Calculator (2026/27)

Your wage after tax, made clear

If you're paid an hourly or weekly wage rather than a fixed salary, working out what you actually take home can be confusing — your hours change, overtime comes and goes, and the deductions aren't obvious on a busy week. This take-home wage calculator turns your wage into a clear after-tax figure, showing income tax and National Insurance and leaving you with the amount that genuinely lands in your account. It uses the official 2026/27 rates for your nation.

Knowing your real take-home wage helps with everything from budgeting a weekly shop to deciding whether extra shifts are worth it. The headline hourly rate is rarely what you keep, and seeing the after-tax number puts you in control.

How wages are taxed

Whether you're paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly, the same rules apply: you keep your tax-free Personal Allowance, then pay income tax through the bands, plus employee National Insurance on earnings above the threshold. Because tax is worked out across the year, a big-overtime week isn't taxed in isolation — it's smoothed over your expected annual earnings through your tax code. This calculator annualises your wage to apply the rates correctly, then shows the result per week, month and year.

Hourly pay, overtime and extra shifts

For wage earners, the big questions are usually about hours. If you pick up overtime or an extra shift, only the portion of your overall income that falls into a higher band is taxed at the higher rate — so working more almost always leaves you better off, even if the extra is taxed. To dig into the specifics, our Hourly Rate Calculator converts between hourly and annual pay, the Overtime Calculator shows the tax on extra hours, and the Wage Calculator gives another quick after-tax view.

Part-time and variable hours

If your hours vary or you work part-time, your take-home wage will move from period to period, but your annual tax position evens out. If you're comparing a part-time role or a change in hours, the Pro-Rata Salary Calculator shows the proportional pay, and the Take-Home Pay Calculator gives the salaried view. For workers juggling more than one job, remember each employer applies your tax code differently — a second job is often taxed at basic rate from the first pound.

Deductions that can change your wage

Beyond tax and National Insurance, a workplace pension is usually deducted from your wage too, and if you have a student loan, repayments kick in above the plan threshold. Pension contributions reduce your taxable pay, so they're more tax-efficient than they first appear — see the Salary Sacrifice Calculator. For the official figures behind the calculation, GOV.UK publishes the current income tax rates and National Insurance rates.

Other ways to view your pay

If a wage framing doesn't fit, try the Take-Home Paycheck Calculator to see each pay packet, the Take-Home Income Calculator for your overall net income, or the Payroll Take-Home Calculator to focus on payroll deductions. They share the same accurate engine.

A worked wage example

Suppose you earn £13.50 an hour and work 37.5 hours a week. That's about £506 a week, or roughly £26,300 a year. The calculator annualises your wage, applies your Personal Allowance and the 20% basic rate to the taxable part, adds employee National Insurance, and shows your take-home wage per week, month and year. If you regularly work overtime — say five extra hours some weeks — those weeks show a higher gross and a higher deduction, but your annual position is smoothed through your tax code, so you keep the large majority of every extra hour.

This is the key reassurance for wage earners worried that "overtime gets taxed to death": it doesn't. Only the slice of your total annual income that crosses into a higher band is taxed at the higher rate, and most wage earners never reach it. Extra shifts almost always mean more money in your pocket.

Weekly budgeting on a variable wage

If your hours change week to week, budgeting on your take-home wage rather than your gross is essential. A practical approach is to budget around a typical, slightly conservative week, and treat busier weeks as a bonus to save or clear debt. Our Budget Planner helps you build a budget around your usual take-home wage, and the Cost of Living Calculator puts it in context. If you're paid weekly, the smaller, more frequent paychecks can actually make budgeting easier than a single monthly sum.

Hourly, salaried — which suits you?

Wage and salary roles are taxed identically; the difference is how the pay is structured and how predictable it is. If you're weighing an hourly role against a salaried one, convert between the two with the Hourly Rate Calculator and the Salary to Hourly Calculator, then compare the take-home figures. A higher hourly rate with fewer guaranteed hours isn't always better than a slightly lower salary with stable pay — seeing both take-home numbers side by side helps you decide.