What this does and does not include
This compares take-home pay only — income tax and compulsory social contributions, nothing else. It does not adjust for rent, childcare, healthcare or schooling, and those differences are often larger than the tax ones. A salary that looks better in San Francisco can still leave you worse off once housing is paid for.
The exchange rate is the European Central Bank reference rate for 2026-09-04. Rates move; the tax arithmetic does not.
Where the numbers come from
- gov.uk income tax rates
- gov.uk National Insurance
- IRS 2026 inflation adjustments
- IRS Topic 751 — FICA rates
- California 2026 withholding schedules (EDD)
- California SDI rate (EDD)
Every figure on this page is computed from those published rates at build time, not copied from another calculator. If one looks wrong, tell us and we will show our working.