# How much of your salary do you actually see? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923 "2010-03-26T19:17:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/41 "2010-03-29T18:22:54Z")
I take home roughly 56% of my salary. I’m sure I will be grateful for the mandatory retirement they take out of my check in 30 years, but now? It’s frustrating as hell. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/42 "2010-03-29T21:21:07Z")
Wow. I ALSO take home about 56% of my actual salary. Some of that is forced savings, but it’s a bummer. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/43 "2010-03-29T21:38:23Z")
74.3% after tax, pension and private health insurance. Would have been 75.3% but we all were hit with a 1% gov levy a few months ago. Still though not so bad considering it all socialist over here 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/44 "2010-03-29T22:15:18Z")
I net out 62% according to my latest paycheck. Of course I’m also getting a pretty good refund this year and probably will again next year. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/45 "2010-03-29T22:35:45Z")
97.9% right now. The only deduction I have is federal WH (I claim 2). This is for paychecks August-May. I don’t get paid in June-July unless I pick up a teaching job. Then I have to pay Medicare and Social Security alternative (voluntary 457). A lot of my pay is unavailable to me in medical benefits and tuition waivers, but I can’t see any of this. Don’t worry, I’m sure I get paid way less than you. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/46 "2010-03-30T17:54:27Z")
I’m also at 56%. That includes 10% for TSP (401K). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/47 "2010-03-30T18:00:45Z")
68.5%, but that’s after a voluntary sharesave contribution, so it could be 70.7%. However, after I’ve paid for my annual rail that gets me to work, I actually get 61.1% ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/48 "2010-03-30T19:31:50Z")
If I multiply my bi-weekly paycheck by 26 and then divide that by my salary (rounding to the nearest hundred for both), it comes out to about a **66.4%** take-home. American working in America. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/49 "2010-03-30T19:45:38Z")
68% after tax, National Insurance and pension fund contributions. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923/50 "2010-03-31T05:27:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I see 100% of my paycheck. As a US expat working in Panama, I am in the fortunate position of not having to pay taxes anywhere. As a foreign resident, I can take the Foreign Income Exclusion on my Federal Income Tax, which happens to be greater than my salary. And because I have semi-diplomatic status in Panama, they don’t charge me income tax either. > > Sweet. 🙂 Very. I loved working overseas. I’ve been unemployed for the last 14 months so I’m seeing 100% of zip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-your-salary-do-you-actually-see/533923.md?page=2)