take-home pay

IPA/ˈteɪk həʊm peɪ/
IPA/ˈteɪk həʊm peɪ/

take-home pay — noun

1. the money an employee receives from their salary or wages after the employer has

1.nounB1
Definition

the money an employee receives from their salary or wages after the employer has subtracted income tax, insurance payments, and other mandatory charges

Example

After the tax increase, Pim's take-home pay dropped by nearly two hundred dollars a month.

collocation: take-home pay drops / falls / rises

Hui compared her take-home pay with a coworker's to see whether the salaries were fair.

Common collocations
  • take-home pay drops / falls / decreases
  • take-home pay rises / increases / goes up
  • deductions reduce take-home pay
  • monthly / annual take-home pay
  • net take-home pay
Synonyms
  • net pay

    more formal, often appears on official pay stubs and tax documents

  • net income

    broader term that includes all sources of income, not just wages

  • after-tax income

    more explicit but less common in everyday conversation

Antonyms
  • gross pay

    the total earnings before any deductions are made

Usage Note

Frequently modified by adjectives such as monthly, weekly, annual, or net. Often appears with verbs of change (rise, fall, increase, decrease, drop, go up) in discussions of salary adjustments or tax changes.

Common Mistakes

My take-home pay is 50,000 dollars a year before tax.
My gross pay is 50,000 dollars a year; my take-home pay is about 38,000.
Take-home pay already means after tax and other deductions, so 'before tax' contradicts its meaning.

Etymology

English

Formed in English from the adjective phrase 'take-home' (referring to the amount an employee keeps) combined with 'pay' (wages or salary). The term became widely used in the mid-20th century as income tax withholding and social insurance deductions became standard for most wage earners.

First known use

1942

1942, in the meaning defined above