France Net Salary Calculator (Net/Brut)

The France Net Salary Calculator converts a French salary from brut to net — and, unusually, from net back to brut — using the official 2026 contribution rates. French pay is not a single number: the same job has an employer cost, a salaire brut, a net à payer, a net imposable and a net après impôt, and each one is what somebody means when they say "salary". This tool shows all of them in one waterfall, then backs it up with a simulated bulletin de paie listing every cotisation line by line.

How to Use This Calculator

1. Choose the direction: Brut → Net if you know your gross, or Net → Brut if you know the net you want and need the gross to negotiate.
2. Enter the amount and period: type the salary, pick per year, per month or per hour, and choose 13 months if your contract pays a 13th month.
3. Set your status: cadre, non-cadre or fonction publique, then the régime général or Alsace-Moselle, your weekly hours, and any company mutuelle.
4. Add your tax household: optionally set your marital status and children, or paste your own taux de prélèvement à la source.
5. Read the waterfall: click Calculate and follow the cascade from employer cost down to net after income tax, then open the simulated payslip for every contribution line.

Brut to Net in 2026: Common Monthly Salaries

Net pay for a full-time employee (35 hours a week) in the régime général, with no company mutuelle. The last column is a single person with no children after the prélèvement à la source. Click a salary to see its full breakdown.

Brut, Net, Net Imposable: The Five Numbers on a French Payslip

Confusion between these figures is the single biggest source of unpleasant surprises in French job offers. From the largest to the smallest:

How to Convert Brut to Net in France

Net pay is the gross minus the cotisations salariales. Three families of contributions matter:

For a private-sector employee whose whole salary sits under the plafond, that arithmetic collapses to a single figure: 20.84% of gross, so net ≈ 79.2% of brut. You can check it against the official SMIC: 1 867,02 € brut per month × 0,7916 = 1 477,93 € net, exactly the published SMIC net for 2026.

2026 Employee Contribution Rates (Cotisations Salariales)

The plafond annuel de la Sécurité sociale (PASS) for 2026 is 48 060 €, and the monthly plafond (PMSS) is 4 005 € — a 2% rise on 2025.

Employees pay no unemployment contribution in France — the assurance chômage has been funded entirely by employers since 2018. That is why French employee contributions look lower than many people expect while employer contributions look unusually high.

Do Cadres Pay More Than Non-Cadres?

Far less than the folklore suggests. You will constantly read that "cadres keep 75–78% and non-cadres keep 80%", but the only genuinely cadre-specific items are the APEC contribution of 0.024% and the mandatory 1.50% employer prévoyance on Tranche 1 — which slightly increases your CSG base and therefore your taxable income. Agirc-Arrco Tranche 2 and the CET apply to every private-sector employee whose pay exceeds the plafond, cadre or not. The real driver of the difference is simply that cadres more often earn above 4 005 € a month.

There is a second surprise hidden in the rate table: French employee contributions are mildly regressive. Below the plafond the marginal social-charge rate is about 20.84%; above it, the 6.90% vieillesse plafonnée stops while Agirc-Arrco rises, giving a marginal rate near 19.8%. This calculator shows the effect directly in the Tranche 1 / Tranche 2 bar.

Income Tax and the Prélèvement à la Source

Since 2019 French income tax is withheld monthly by your employer at your taux de prélèvement à la source. The tax itself is computed on the household, not the individual:

1. Start from the annual net imposable.
2. Deduct the 10% abattement for professional expenses (2026: minimum 509 €, ceiling 14 555 €).
3. Divide by the number of parts: 1 for a single person, 2 for a couple, plus 0.5 for each of the first two children and 1 for each further child.
4. Apply the progressive barème to that quotient familial, then multiply back by the parts.
5. Cap the children's advantage (plafonnement, 1 807 € per extra half-part) and apply the décote for modest incomes.

2026 Income Tax Brackets (on 2025 Income)

If you already know your own withholding rate from impots.gouv.fr or your payslip, type it into the optional field and the calculator will use it instead — which makes the net après impôt match your bank statement to the cent.

Net to Brut: The Number You Need for a Negotiation

Job seekers think in net, employers think in brut, and the mismatch costs money. Because contribution rates change at the 1, 4 and 8 PASS ceilings, net pay is a piecewise-linear function of gross pay, so there is no single multiplier that inverts it correctly across the whole range. Switch the direction to Net → Brut and the calculator inverts the cascade numerically, returning the gross to the cent. A useful rule of thumb for a quick mental check: brut ≈ net ÷ 0.79, or net × 1.264.

What This Calculator Does Not Model

• Réduction générale des cotisations patronales — this substantially reduces the employer bill on salaries close to the SMIC, so the employer cost shown here is an upper estimate for low wages.
• Accident du travail — an average 2.00% is used; your company's real rate depends on its sector and claims history and can range from 0.4% to over 8%.
• Versement mobilité — a local transport levy on employers, up to 2.95% in Île-de-France.
• Bonuses, primes, intéressement, heures supplémentaires — add them to your annual gross for the most accurate annual figure. A 13th or 14th month has its own option in the form.
• Frais réels, tax credits, rental or investment income — the income tax shown covers salary income only.
• Apprentices, interns, expatriates and impatriates — these enjoy specific exemptions not modelled here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you convert brut to net in France?

You subtract the cotisations salariales from the gross. For a private-sector employee earning below the plafond de la Sécurité sociale these are vieillesse plafonnée 6.90%, vieillesse déplafonnée 0.40%, Agirc-Arrco Tranche 1 3.15%, CEG Tranche 1 0.86%, plus CSG and CRDS at 9.70% charged on 98.25% of the gross. That totals about 20.84%, so net is roughly 79% of brut. Above the plafond the Tranche 2 rates replace the Tranche 1 rates and the exact percentage changes.

What percentage of brut is net in France in 2026?

About 79% for a non-cadre and about 78 to 79% for a cadre, before income tax. The often-quoted rule of thumb is that net is 78% of brut for a cadre and 80% for a non-cadre, but the real figure depends on how much of your pay sits above the 2026 plafond of 4 005 € per month, on whether you pay into a company mutuelle, and on whether you are covered by the Alsace-Moselle régime local.

What is the difference between net à payer and net imposable?

Net à payer is the money transferred to your bank account before income tax. Net imposable is the figure the tax office uses, and it is higher: the CSG non déductible of 2.40% and the CRDS of 0.50% were withheld from your pay but are not deductible, so they are added back, together with any prévoyance or mutuelle funded by your employer.

What is the plafond de la Sécurité sociale in 2026?

The plafond annuel de la Sécurité sociale (PASS) is 48 060 € for 2026 and the monthly plafond (PMSS) is 4 005 €, a 2% increase on 2025. Pay up to that ceiling is Tranche 1; pay between one and eight times the ceiling is Tranche 2, where the complementary pension contribution jumps from 3.15% to 8.64% on the employee side.

Do cadres really pay more contributions than non-cadres?

Much less than people think. The only genuinely cadre-specific items are the APEC contribution of 0.024% and the mandatory 1.50% employer prévoyance on Tranche 1. Agirc-Arrco Tranche 2 and the CET apply to every private-sector employee whose pay exceeds the plafond, cadre or not. The popular 22% versus 25% shorthand mostly reflects the fact that cadres more often earn above the plafond.

How much does an employee really cost a French employer?

Employer contributions typically add 40 to 45% on top of the gross salary, so a gross of 3 000 € per month costs the company roughly 4 300 €. This tool shows that super-brut figure. It uses full 2026 rates and an average accident du travail rate, and it does not apply the réduction générale des cotisations patronales, which substantially cuts the employer bill on salaries close to the SMIC.

Can I calculate the brut I need from a target net salary?

Yes. Switch the direction to Net → Brut and enter the net you want. Because the contribution rates change at the 1, 4 and 8 PASS ceilings, net is a piecewise-linear function of brut, so the calculator inverts it numerically and returns the gross to the cent. This is the figure to quote in a salary negotiation or a job offer.

How much is the SMIC net in 2026?

The SMIC is 1 867,02 € brut a month for a 35-hour week since 1 June 2026, which leaves about 1 478 € net before income tax. A single person on the SMIC usually pays no income tax, so that is also roughly what reaches the bank account.

Does a 13th month change my net salary?

Not over the year. Contributions are percentages of the gross, so the same annual brut leaves almost the same annual net whether it is paid in 12 or 13 instalments. A 13th month only makes each regular payslip smaller (annual brut ÷ 13) and adds one extra payment, usually in December. Choose 13 months in the form to see the regular monthly net.

Additional Resources

• URSSAF — Taux et barèmes des cotisations
• Bulletin officiel de la Sécurité sociale (BOSS)
• Service-Public.fr — Bulletin de paie
• Taxation in France — Wikipedia