Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Components
For 2026, the employee Social Security tax rate is 6.2% and the employee Medicare tax rate is 1.45%. The employer generally pays matching amounts for these taxes. Social Security has a wage base; Medicare does not. The 2026 Social Security wage base is $184,500. turn0search1■ That difference explains a paycheck change many high earners eventually notice. Once an employee reaches the Social Security wage base, Social Security withholding stops for the remainder of the year on wages subject to that limit.
Medicare withholding continues because Medicare has no wage-base limit.
Taxes, Deductions, and Adjustments
There is also an Additional Medicare Tax. Employers must withhold an extra 0.9% from wages paid to an employee above $200,000 in the calendar year. The employer does not match this additional 0.9%.
FICA is not the same as federal income tax. You can have Social Security and Medicare withholding even when your federal income-tax withholding is relatively low. The taxes serve different purposes and use different calculation rules.
It is also useful to distinguish employee withholding from the employer's payroll-tax cost. The employer's matching FICA obligation is not an extra deduction from your paycheck. Your pay stub generally shows the employee amounts withheld from your wages.
Estimating and Verifying Your Paycheck
When checking a paycheck calculator, look for FICA as separate components rather than treating “payroll tax” as one vague percentage.
A simple example illustrates the structure. If a covered employee receives $5,000 in wages during a pay period and is still below the annual Social Security wage base, the employee-side Social Security withholding at 6.2% would be $310, while Medicare at 1.45% would be $72.50, before considering other payroll rules. Those figures describe the FICA components only; they are not the employee's total tax burden.
The important takeaway is simple: FICA is part of the reason gross pay and take-home pay are different. Social Security and Medicare should be analyzed separately from federal income-tax withholding when you are trying to understand a paycheck.