About Income Clarity
Income Clarity builds practical US-only financial calculators. We help you see real numbers before a big money choice. Built on public data. Reviewed on a schedule. Free. No account.
We do three things well. Simple screens. Honest math. Tools that load fast on a phone or laptop. Every calculator answers one of the four money questions most US homes face. What is my real take-home pay? How long will my debt take to clear? Should I rent or buy? Am I better off as a 1099 contractor or a W-2 employee?
Why you can trust our numbers
Most money sites hide the math. Or wave their hands at the formulas. We do the opposite. Every calculator shows the formula. Every figure on a guide page traces back to a primary source. Every page is dated.
- Public data only. Tax brackets come from the IRS. Wage caps come from the SSA. Mortgage rates come from Freddie Mac. Household balances come from the Federal Reserve. No paid data feeds. No "industry insights."
- Formulas in plain sight. Our How We Calculate page lists every formula and number behind every tool. You can rebuild any result in a spreadsheet.
- Annual review. Tax tables and the FICA wage cap change every year. We review them at least once a year. The last review date appears on every page.
- US-only. Every formula assumes a US worker filing a US return. We do not stretch the math to other tax systems.
Who built Income Clarity
Income Clarity is run by a small US editorial team focused on personal finance tools — not generic content farms. We read IRS publications, Federal Reserve releases, and state revenue guidance. We write and review the words on each page ourselves.
AI may help with first drafts or code scaffolding. A human always checks facts, sources, and calculator output before publish. We do not sell leads or take affiliate fees from lenders or card issuers. See our privacy policy.
Our expertise
We specialize in four areas US households ask about most:
- Take-home pay — federal brackets, FICA, state withholding, and hourly-to-salary conversion (income tools)
- Debt & APR — payoff timelines, daily interest, DTI, and affordability (debt tools)
- Housing & living costs — rent vs buy, affordability rules, and metro benchmarks (living tools)
- Freelance pay — 1099 vs W-2, self-employment tax, and benefits trade-offs (freelance tools)
Editorial standards
Every page follows the same trust rules:
- Primary sources only for core numbers — IRS, SSA, Fed, BLS, CFPB, Freddie Mac.
- Formulas documented in our calculator methodology and full methodology.
- Plain language — one user question per page, short sentences.
- Dated reviews — every page shows in the footer.
- Corrections within 7 days when a reader flags a confirmed error.
Full policy: editorial policy.
What this site is not
Income Clarity is educational. It is not a stand-in for licensed advice.
- Our take-home calculators are not tax filing software. Use TurboTax, H&R Block, or a CPA to file.
- Our affordability tools are not a mortgage pre-approval. A lender checks your full credit profile and your verified income.
- Nothing on the site is legal or investment advice. For big choices, talk to a CPA, a fee-only planner, or a licensed loan officer.
Found an error?
We want to know. Tell us through the contact page. Send the URL and a short note on what looks wrong. A screenshot helps. A primary source helps more. We fix confirmed errors within 7 days. We then update the page's "Last reviewed" date.
What we do every day
If you came here looking for your real take-home pay, you are in the right spot. Most of our work is the boring kind. The work that makes a number you can trust.
- We watch the data. When the IRS posts new brackets, we update. When the Social Security wage cap rises, we update. When Freddie Mac's weekly rate moves, we update. We watch the BLS rent series. We watch the Fed's quarterly household debt report. We watch the state revenue departments.
- We test on real pay stubs. Before a change ships, we test the take-home calculator against actual W-2 stubs from a few states. If your real net is off by more than $50 a month from what we show, that is a defect to fix.
- We answer email. If you found a number that looks wrong, write to us. We have fixed three figures this year because a reader pointed to a primary source we missed.
- We write in plain words. Money is stressful enough. Our pages use short sentences. No jargon walls. If a sentence needs a glossary, we rewrite it.
Who uses Income Clarity
Most of our readers are working US adults trying to make one specific choice. Should you take a new job in a different state? Should you keep renting or sign on a house? Should you take a 1099 contract or stay on payroll? Can you afford a kid yet?
Your situation is not the same as the next reader's. Your state matters. Your debts matter. Your goals matter. If a calculator gives you the wrong answer for your case, we want to know. That is how the next reader gets a better number.