Methodology
How every figure on this site is produced: the formula, the defaults you can change, the sources the data comes from, and what each calculator deliberately leaves out.
How every calculator is built
- Data from primary sources. Each calculator runs on a versioned dataset — tax tables, electricity prices, manufacturer specifications, breed standards, grading regulations — compiled from the organisation that publishes the figure, with the source kept alongside it.
- Two implementations that must agree. Every calculation exists once as a reference implementation that builds the pages and once as the code that runs in your browser. Both are run against a fixed set of test cases before publication; if they disagree, the site does not build.
- The answer before any script runs. The headline figure is written into the page itself. Changing an input recalculates with the same engine, on your device — nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
- Dated. Every calculator page shows the date its data was last verified, and the sections below give the same date for each dataset.
Salary after tax
Take-home pay is gross salary minus four amounts, each computed for the filing status you choose, for tax year 2026:
- Federal income tax — the progressive federal brackets applied to taxable income, after the federal standard deduction and any pre-tax contributions you enter.
- Social Security — 6.2% of wages up to the $184,500 wage base.
- Medicare — 1.45% of all wages, plus 0.9% above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).
- State and local tax — each jurisdiction's own system. 9 of the 51 levy no income tax on wages; the rest apply flat or progressive rates from their own starting point, with their own deductions, exemptions, credits and surtaxes. 9 states also have local income taxes that are modelled, and state payroll levies such as disability insurance are included where they apply.
Marginal rate. The share of the next dollar of salary that goes to those same amounts: federal income tax, Social Security until the $184,500 wage base, Medicare including the additional 0.9% above $200,000, state and local income tax, and state payroll levies until they reach their wage cap. It is measured by recalculating the whole breakdown one dollar higher, so deduction phase-outs, credits and caps are reflected; pre-tax contributions stay at the dollar amount entered. The effective rate is total tax divided by the whole salary.
Assumptions. Estimates for informational purposes only. Figures assume the standard deduction, W-2 wage income and full-year residency, and exclude credits, itemized deductions and employer benefits. Not tax advice.
Sources. Federal: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 for tax year 2026, and the SSA contribution and benefit base. Each state: its own department of revenue or comptroller, cited on that state's pages.
Official figures and estimates. Each state schedule, filing status by filing status, is recorded with one of four source types:
- Published — taken from the state's own published rate table, with the table's tax year recorded. An official figure.
- Statutory — set directly by statute rather than a published table, with the statute cited. An official figure.
- Derived — computed from another table because the state's own table has not been verified. An estimate, labeled "estimate" wherever it appears.
- Unverified — not yet checked against a primary source. Labeled "unverified" wherever it appears.
Estimates and unverified schedules are never used for the insights written into salary pages. The dataset build fails if a published schedule has no source link or tax year, a statutory one has no citation, a derived one has no method, or an estimate has no label. The source audit is in progress: schedules not listed below have not been through it yet.
California. California has not yet published its 2026 tax tables; these calculations use the latest published 2025 tables.
Maryland. Maryland's standard deduction here is the 2025 amount: $3,350 for single filers and $6,700 for married filing jointly and head of household. Maryland indexes later increases to the cost of living; the 2026 amounts have not been verified, so they are not used.
Checked against the state's published table for every filing status: California (2025 table) , Maryland (tax years beginning after December 31, 2024) and Montana (2026 table) .
Set by statute for every filing status, with the statute's own tax-year rule checked against 2026: Hawaii (HRS 235-51) and Oklahoma (68 O.S. 2355) .
- Nebraska, single (unverified). Nebraska's 2026 single-filer brackets have not been checked against a primary Nebraska Department of Revenue source.
- Nebraska, married filing jointly (unverified). Nebraska's 2026 married-filing-jointly brackets have not been checked against a primary Nebraska Department of Revenue source.
- Nebraska, head of household (unverified). Nebraska's 2026 head-of-household brackets have not been checked against a primary Nebraska Department of Revenue source.
- Wisconsin, married filing jointly (derived). Wisconsin's married-filing-jointly brackets are estimated from the single-filer brackets, not taken from a published 2026 Department of Revenue schedule. Method: Each threshold is about four-thirds of the single-filer threshold ($20,154, $69,249 and $443,634 against exact four-thirds of $20,147, $69,267 and $443,627); none was copied from a published married-filing-jointly table.
Hawaii: HRS §235-51 (Act 46, SLH 2024)
- Single (HRS §235-51(c), as amended by Act 46, SLH 2024): 1.4% up to $9,600, 3.2% up to $14,400, 5.5% up to $19,200, 6.4% up to $24,000, 6.8% up to $36,000, 7.2% up to $48,000, 7.6% up to $125,000, 7.9% up to $175,000, 8.25% up to $225,000, 9% up to $275,000, 10% up to $325,000, 11% above $325,000. HRS §235-51(c) applies this schedule to unmarried individuals and married individuals filing separately for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2024. The next schedule starts with taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026, so this one covers 2026.
- Married filing jointly (HRS §235-51(a), as amended by Act 46, SLH 2024): 1.4% up to $19,200, 3.2% up to $28,800, 5.5% up to $38,400, 6.4% up to $48,000, 6.8% up to $72,000, 7.2% up to $96,000, 7.6% up to $250,000, 7.9% up to $350,000, 8.25% up to $450,000, 9% up to $550,000, 10% up to $650,000, 11% above $650,000. HRS §235-51(a) applies this schedule to joint returns and surviving spouses for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2024. The next schedule starts with taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026, so this one covers 2026.
- Head of household (HRS §235-51(b), as amended by Act 46, SLH 2024): 1.4% up to $14,400, 3.2% up to $21,600, 5.5% up to $28,800, 6.4% up to $36,000, 6.8% up to $54,000, 7.2% up to $72,000, 7.6% up to $187,500, 7.9% up to $262,500, 8.25% up to $337,500, 9% up to $412,500, 10% up to $487,500, 11% above $487,500. HRS §235-51(b) applies this schedule to heads of household for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2024. The next schedule starts with taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026, so this one covers 2026.
The Hawaii figures start from wages less pre-tax contributions, subtract the standard deduction ($8,000 single, $16,000 married filing jointly, $12,000 head of household), set by HRS §235-2.4(a)(2)(F), as amended by Act 46, SLH 2024, then $1,144 for each personal exemption (two on a joint return), and tax what is left on the table for the filing status chosen. Each rate applies only to the income inside its band; filing statuses listed together share one table and pay the same tax on the same taxable income.
Sources: HRS §235-51 , HRS §235-2.4 , tax.hawaii.gov (rate schedules) , tax.hawaii.gov (standard deduction) .
Oklahoma: 68 O.S. §2355 (HB 2764, 2025)
- Single (68 O.S. §2355, HB 2764, 2025): 0% up to $3,750, 2.5% up to $4,900, 3.5% up to $7,200, 4.5% above $7,200. 68 O.S. §2355, as amended by HB 2764, taxes single filers and married individuals filing separately on this schedule for tax year 2026 and later.
- Married filing jointly and head of household (68 O.S. §2355, HB 2764, 2025): 0% up to $7,500, 2.5% up to $9,800, 3.5% up to $14,400, 4.5% above $14,400. 68 O.S. §2355, as amended by HB 2764, taxes married couples filing jointly, surviving spouses and heads of household on this schedule for tax year 2026 and later.
The Oklahoma figures start from wages less pre-tax contributions, subtract the standard deduction ($6,350 single, $12,700 married filing jointly, $9,350 head of household), whose 2026 amounts have not yet been checked against a primary source, then $1,000 for each personal exemption (two on a joint return), and tax what is left on the table for the filing status chosen. Each rate applies only to the income inside its band; filing statuses listed together share one table and pay the same tax on the same taxable income.
Sources: oklahoma.gov (rate schedules) .
Self-employed and 1099 tax
A sole proprietor pays both halves of payroll tax, then gets part of it back through two deductions. The calculation, for net profit from Schedule C:
- Self-employment tax — 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit: 12.4% Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base and 2.9% Medicare, plus the additional 0.9% Medicare above the threshold.
- Half of that tax is deducted before income tax is worked out.
- The qualified business income deduction (Section 199A) — 20% of business income, in full below taxable income of $201,750 (single) or $403,500 (married filing jointly), phasing out over the next $75,000 or $150,000. It assumes a business with no employees and no qualified property, which is the freelancer case; a business that pays wages keeps more than shown. A minimum deduction of $400 applies when qualified income is at least $1,000.
- State income tax — the same state engine as the salary calculator, and the result is set against a W-2 salary of the same amount to find the contract rate that matches it.
Not modelled. An estimate for a sole proprietor filing Schedule C, not tax advice. It assumes no employees, no qualified property, and no income other than what you enter. Quarterly estimated payments, state and local business taxes, and the choice to elect S-corporation treatment can all change the answer materially. Talk to a CPA before making a decision on these numbers.
Sources. IRC 1401-1402 and Schedule SE; SSA 2026 contribution and benefit base; Rev. Proc. 2025-32; One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted 4 July 2025 — Section 199A made permanent, phase-in range widened, and a minimum deduction added under 199A(i) for tax years beginning after 2025.
Payment processing fees
The fee on a payment is amount × percentage rate + fixed fee. Surcharges
— an international card, a currency conversion — add their own percentage on the
same amount, and they stack. The effective rate is the fee divided by the amount,
which is why it always sits above the headline percentage: the fixed fee weighs most
on small payments. To receive a set amount after fees on a domestic payment, the
charge is (target + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − percentage rate).
The standard online card rate used for each market:
- PayPal, USD — 3.49% + $0.49. Source: paypal.com/us/business/paypal-business-fees, verified 26 August 2026.
- Stripe, AUD — 1.7% + A$0.30. Source: stripe.com/au/pricing, verified 26 August 2026.
- Stripe, CAD — 2.9% + C$0.30. Source: stripe.com/en-ca/pricing, verified 26 August 2026.
- Stripe, GBP — 1.5% + £0.20. Source: stripe.com/gb/pricing, verified 26 August 2026.
- Stripe, USD — 2.9% + $0.30. Source: stripe.com/pricing, verified 26 August 2026.
Not modelled. Fee estimates for informational purposes only. Processor pricing changes without notice and varies by account, country, product and negotiated rate. Always confirm against your processor's own pricing page and your account dashboard before relying on a figure.
EV charging cost
- Energy for a full charge — the EPA range multiplied by the EPA consumption in kWh per 100 miles. EPA measures consumption at the wall socket, so it already includes charging losses; no extra efficiency factor is added, which would count the loss twice.
- Price — the average residential electricity price in each of 51 jurisdictions (national average 19.42¢/kWh). A typical public fast-charging price of 48¢/kWh is offered as an alternative input.
- A year of driving — 12,000 miles, compared with a 30 mpg petrol car at $4.08 a gallon.
Sources. Vehicles (50): EPA fueleconomy.gov, model years 2025-2027. Electricity: EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, residential, June 2026. Petrol: EIA weekly retail gasoline price, 24 August 2026.
Not modelled. Estimates for informational purposes only. Real charging cost depends on your tariff, time of use, charger efficiency, temperature, driving style and state of charge. EPA figures are a standardised test result, not a promise about your car.
GPU power and running cost
- Gaming draw — the card's rated power multiplied by a 85% load factor, plus 120 W for the processor, board, drives, fans and power-supply losses. Rated power is a limit a real game rarely holds, so multiplying the headline figure by the hours would overstate the bill.
- Idle draw — 15 W for the card and 55 W for the rest of the machine, whatever card is installed.
- A default day — 4 hours of gaming and 6 idle, priced at the state's average residential rate (national average 19.42¢/kWh). The card's own share of the bill is reported separately.
- Power supply — the figure shown is the manufacturer's own recommendation for the card; the PSU calculator sizes a whole build.
Sources. 34 cards. NVIDIA: nvidia.com GeForce specifications (Total Graphics Power). AMD: AMD published Typical Board Power at launch. Electricity: EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, residential, June 2026.
Not modelled. Estimates for informational purposes only. Total Graphics Power is a power limit, not an average: real draw depends on the game, resolution, frame cap, board partner design and any factory overclock. Electricity prices are state residential averages and your tariff will differ.
PSU wattage
- Continuous load — the processor's real power ceiling (AMD's PPT or Intel's Maximum Turbo Power, never the TDP on the box), plus the graphics card's rated board power, plus an itemised allowance for the rest of the system: motherboard 25 W, memory module 3 W each, NVMe SSD 7 W each, SATA drive 8 W each, case fan 2 W each, AIO pump 10 W each. A default build comes to 44 W.
- Recommended size — the smallest standard supply (450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, 1000, 1200, 1300, 1600 W) that carries the continuous load at no more than 80% of its rating, or the card maker's own recommendation if that is larger.
- Efficiency — the 80 Plus rating changes how much is drawn from the wall (continuous load ÷ efficiency), not the size. The default is 80+ Gold at 90%.
Sources. 26 processors: AMD and Intel published processor specifications. 34 graphics cards: Manufacturer specifications, shared with the GPU power dataset. Platform: Component class allowances, itemised on every page.
Not modelled. A sizing estimate, not a measurement. It adds the processor's power ceiling, the graphics card's rated board power and an itemised allowance for the rest of the system, then leaves headroom so the supply is not running at its limit. Real draw depends on the board's power profile, how far the parts are overclocked, and how a particular graphics card handles transient spikes. Treat a result within 50 W of a supply's rating as a reason to choose the next size up.
Local LLM VRAM
Memory needed = model weights + key-value cache + a 0.8 GB runtime allowance.
- Weights — parameters × bits per weight ÷ 8. Effective bit widths: FP16 / BF16 16, Q8_0 8.5, Q6_K 6.6, Q5_K_M 5.5, Q4_K_M 4.5, Q3_K_M 3.9.
- Key-value cache — 2 × layers × key-value heads × head dimension × context length × bytes per value (FP16 2, 8-bit 1). It uses key-value heads rather than query heads; with grouped-query attention the difference is several times over.
- Defaults — Q4_K_M weights, a FP16 cache and a 8,192-token context.
- Usable memory — set per device, for example 75% of unified memory on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB).
- Special cases — mixture-of-experts models are sized by total parameters, because every expert stays in memory. Sliding-window attention is not modelled, so those figures are an upper bound. Models using multi-head latent attention are left out rather than reported wrongly.
Sources. 20 models: Model config.json files published on Hugging Face. Quantisation: GGUF K-quant effective bit widths as produced by llama.cpp. 30 accelerators: Manufacturer specifications for VRAM and unified memory.
Not modelled. An estimate of memory, not a benchmark. It counts model weights, the key-value cache at the context you choose, and a fixed runtime allowance. Actual usage moves with the runtime, the batch size, whether flash attention is on, and how much the operating system has already taken from a shared memory pool. Treat a result within a gigabyte of your card's capacity as 'probably not' rather than 'just fits'.
Dog weight and nutrition
- Resting energy requirement — 70 × body weight in kg raised to the power 0.75.
- Daily calories — resting requirement × a life-stage factor: neutered adult ×1.6, intact adult ×1.8, obesity-prone ×1.4, weight loss ×1, puppy under 4 months ×3, puppy 4-12 months ×2. For weight loss the factor is applied to the target weight, not the current one.
- Cups a day — daily calories ÷ the food's calories per cup (default 380; the figure printed on the bag is better).
- Breed standard — the adult weight range the breed standard gives, shown in kilograms and pounds. It is a range a healthy dog sits somewhere in, not a target.
Sources. 274 breeds: American Kennel Club breed standards. Energy: Merck Veterinary Manual, nutritional requirements of small animals.
Not veterinary advice. Estimates for informational purposes only and not veterinary advice. Breed standards are ranges, not targets, and healthy weight varies with frame, age, neuter status and body condition score. Calorie formulas are a starting point that a vet adjusts by watching how the dog responds. Talk to your veterinarian before changing a diet, and especially before a weight-loss plan.
GPA and grade conversion
- The local band first — a grade is placed in a band of the country's own scale, and that band's local classification is the fact the page leads with.
- Then the US convention — each band maps to a US letter grade, and the letter to points: A 4.0, A- 3.7, B+ 3.3, B 3.0, B- 2.7, C+ 2.3, C 2.0, C- 1.7, D+ 1.3, D 1.0, F 0.0. The conventional mapping used by US admissions offices. It is not an official conversion — no such thing exists — and the receiving institution's own table is the one that counts.
- Inverted scales — 4 countries grade with lower numbers as better: Austria, Czechia, Germany, Philippines.
Sources. 56 countries in 7 regions. Local classifications follow each country's national qualifications framework or ministry of education grading regulations; the US letter column follows the convention common to US credential evaluation.
Not an official conversion. There is no official conversion from a national grade to a US 4.0 GPA. Credential evaluators and individual universities publish tables that disagree, most of all near the top of each scale. Treat the figure here as the common convention and the local classification as the fact; the receiving institution's own table is the one that decides.
GTA 6 running cost
- Running cost — measured in-game draw × hours played, plus measured dashboard draw × hours left idle, priced at each state's residential rate. The default day is 2 hours of play and 2 idle.
- Measured, not rated — console draw comes from independent in-game measurements rather than power-supply ratings.
- PC requirements — none have been published, so none are shown. The release facts are stored as flags in the dataset; if a PC version is announced, the build fails until the pages are rewritten.
Sources. Release: Rockstar Games announcement. PlayStation: Sony PlayStation 5 technical specifications (Mark Cerny, Road to PS5). Xbox: Microsoft Xbox Series X|S technical specifications. Power draw: Digital Foundry / Eurogamer measured console power draw. Electricity: US EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, residential.
Rockstar has not published PC system requirements for Grand Theft Auto VI and has not announced a PC version. Anything presented elsewhere as GTA 6 PC requirements is a guess. The console hardware and power figures here are manufacturer specifications and independently measured draw; the running costs are computed from those and from state electricity rates, and a real bill depends on your tariff and how long you actually play.
Corrections
If a figure looks wrong, write to contact@calcugrid.com with the page and the inputs you used, or open an issue on the open data repository. A correction is made in the dataset, so it reaches every page built from it at once. What each calculator does not cover is set out in full in the Disclaimer.