What Is FICA? Social Security and Medicare Tax Explained (2026)

The three pieces

For an employee in 2026, FICA has three parts:

• Social Security (OASDI): 6.2% of wages, but only on wages up to the annual wage base, which is $184,500 in 2026. Earnings above that are not subject to the Social Security tax.
• Medicare: 1.45% of all wages, with no cap.
• Additional Medicare Tax: an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000 for single filers and heads of household, or $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Together, the first two make 7.65% of pay for most people, which is why a salary under the wage base has a flat FICA rate. Above the wage base the Social Security part stops, so the percentage of your pay taken by FICA falls, until the Additional Medicare Tax pushes it up a little again.

What it looks like at different salaries

FICA for a single filer, calculated with the same rules as our calculator:

Look at the row for $184,500: that is the wage base, the point where Social Security tax stops growing. At $500,000 the total FICA is a much smaller share of pay than at $50,000, because the 6.2% is capped while income keeps rising.

Your employer pays a matching share

As an employee you pay 6.2% and 1.45%, and your employer separately pays an equal 6.2% and 1.45% on your wages. The employer's half is not deducted from your pay and does not show up in your take-home figure. The Additional Medicare Tax is different: it is paid by the employee only, with no employer match.

If you are self-employed there is no employer, so you pay both halves yourself (about 15.3% of net earnings). Our calculator assumes your income is employee wages and does not model self-employment tax.

Why deductions don't lower it

FICA is charged on your gross wages, so the deductions that reduce your income tax mostly do nothing to it. A traditional 401(k) contribution lowers your federal and state income tax, but the wages you contributed are still subject to Social Security and Medicare tax. Some other pre-tax payroll benefits, such as certain health insurance premiums, can reduce FICA wages, which is one reason your paycheck may differ from a simple estimate.

This is also why FICA is shown separately from income tax in our results. Folding them together would make a 401(k) contribution look as though it saves more than it does.

Where you see it on a pay stub

Pay stubs label FICA in different ways. Look for lines called Social Security, OASDI or FICA-SS for the 6.2% part, and Medicare or FICA-Med for the 1.45% part. If you earn above the threshold, an Additional Medicare line may appear once your year-to-date wages pass $200,000.

Common questions

A few situations come up often:

• If you work for more than one employer and your combined wages pass the Social Security wage base, each employer may withhold the tax up to the base, so you can end up over-withheld; the excess can usually be claimed back on your tax return.
• Additional Medicare Tax is based on your filing status, so the amount withheld during the year can differ from the amount you owe; it is settled when you file.
• The wage base is adjusted each year, so the $184,500 figure applies to 2026 only.

Why we show it, and what we leave out

A take-home estimate that ignores FICA is too high by thousands of dollars, so the US result in Taxolase always shows it. Other countries have their own social contribution systems, which our income-tax calculators do not include, and that is why the country comparison pages compare income tax only. For your own numbers, choose the US in the calculator and pick your state.