Guess the Take-Home: Seven Paychecks, Seven States, Can You Beat the Calculator?
From PaycheckZip · 8:09
Show by PaycheckZip
A paycheck quiz you can play by ear. Seven wages in seven places, from $15 an hour in Texas to $100,000 in Florida, and the same $75,000 salary in Texas and New York City that ends up about $240 a check apart. Guess each take-home before the reveal; within $50 scores a point. Run your own numbers free: https://paycheckzip.com/paycheck-calculator Every state's paycheck calculator: https://paycheckzip.com Chapters 0:00 Cold Open 0:15 Welcome 1:00 Round One: Fifteen in Texas 1:49 Round Two: Twenty-Five in Illinois 2:36 Round Three: Twenty in Washington 3:24 Round Four: Sixty Thousand in California 4:05 Round Five: Thirty in Philadelphia 4:48 Round Six: Same Pay, Two Cities 5:49 Round Seven: One Hundred Thousand in Florida 6:30 Your Score 7:15 Recap 7:48 Outro How these numbers were made: PaycheckZip's calculator with 2026 IRS Publication 15-T withholding and each state's 2026 rules. Every paycheck is a single filer paid every two weeks with a blank 2020 W-4, no benefits or 401(k), 2026 withholding; hourly wages assume 40 hours a week. New York City and Philadelphia rounds assume the worker lives in the city. Estimates from PaycheckZip's calculator, not tax advice. Estimates for education, not tax or legal advice. There's a video version of this episode on the PaycheckZip YouTube channel, with every pay stub line on screen. Narration is AI-generated (Kokoro TTS). Music "Friday Morning" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Reminiscing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Almost Bliss" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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