Location is Louisville, Kentucky
Welcome to the work force.
Lol nope
Indy said:
Lol nope
The headline made me lol
You can lower the amount you take out on a paycheck - however that makes it much more likely that you will owe federal and state taxes when you file next year.
Welcome to adulthood. It sucks. You’re gonna love it.
@Dexter
I had no idea it was going to be 20% of my bi-weekly paycheck 
was hoping it’d be atleast a bit lower.
This is also without insurance/HSA/401k contribution since America allows you to stay on your parents insurance until 25.
With all of those tacked on eventually it’d probably be closer to 30 or maybe even 40% depending on how much I have to put into my 401k to have my company match it.
@Devi
Be happy it’s only 20%. That percentage only goes up as you earn more. (As it should, I’m not saying the progressive tax system is bad)
High earners in high cost of living states can get over 50% combined effective tax rate between local, state, and federal.
@Devi
Welcome to hell!
@Devi
Contributing to your 401k will reduce your taxes but your net paycheck will be lower. The amount coming out for your 401k is going into your retirement savings though (along with a match and future growth), so you should definitely prioritize contributing to your 401k at least up to the employer match.
@Devi
brother i’m paying about 50% consider yourself blessed
@Devi
Yep, that’s about right. You should assume 25-30% will be withheld. If you are self employed, set aside 1/3 of income for these things.
As others have said: Welcome, fellow taxpayer! If it’s any consolation, your total taxes withheld are just a teeny bit over 20%, and in a few years, assuming you’re steadily increasing your earnings in that time, you will look back on this paycheck fondly.
Reminds me of that scene from friends where Rachel wonders who fica is and why they’re taking her money.
To OP. Not much you can really do, and to be honest you don’t really want to mess around with withholding too much otherwise you’ll just end up with a large tax bill in the end.
The tax rate for residents of Jefferson County is 2.2%, while the tax rate for non-residents is 1.45%.<<<
You could increase your take home pay by $9.72 by moving out of Jefferson County.
However, you would probably pay more than that with the additional commute.
Other than that, welcome to the real world.
Maybe move somewhere that doesn’t have a county tax if that’s what those last three items are? Otherwise, not much.
Put (up to) around $7000 per year into an IRA. You can deduct that from your total income. If you make under a certain amount, you may even be able to get a tax credit up to $1000.
Consider having a baby, your earned tax and child tax credits will offset some or all of the taxes! /jk
What is your annual income / which tax bracket are you? Is this a Full time Job? Depending on your income threshold you could recover amounts on your tax return for 2026. You can always tell your employer to withhold any amount, but it would be adjusted one way or another when filing your taxes.
welcome to adulthood
Hahaha!, Hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!!!