Net Pay Calculator

What comes out of a Kenyan payslip

Most salaried employees in Kenya see four statutory deductions on their payslip, each set by a different piece of legislation and calculated on a different base: PAYE (income tax, after personal relief), NSSF (a pension contribution), SHIF (health insurance), and the Affordable Housing Levy. A voluntary registered pension contribution is optional, but it reduces taxable income before PAYE is applied, up to KES 30,000 a month.

NSSF, SHIF and the Housing Levy

Sources: NSSF — Phase 4 contribution rates, effective February 2026; Social Health Insurance (General) Regulations 2024, Legal Notice 49; KRA — collection of the Affordable Housing Levy. All as of 21 July 2026.

PAYE itself is applied on top of these — Kenya's bands run from 10% to 35% across five income bands, with a KES 2,400 monthly personal relief subtracted from the result. See the Income Tax Calculator for the full band table and a worked example of that calculation on its own.

Worked example: KES 150,000 gross, no voluntary pension contribution

Try the calculator's own default of KES 150,000 gross monthly pay. NSSF applies to pensionable pay up to the KES 108,000 cap, so the employee contributes 6% of that cap — KES 6,480 — rather than 6% of the full KES 150,000. That contribution reduces taxable income to KES 143,520, on which PAYE works out to KES 35,439 (10% on the first KES 24,000, 25% on the next KES 8,333, and 30% on the remaining KES 111,187, less the KES 2,400 personal relief). SHIF is 2.75% of gross pay — KES 4,125 — and the Housing Levy is 1.5% of gross pay — KES 2,250. Take KES 150,000 gross, subtract KES 35,439 in PAYE, KES 6,480 in NSSF, KES 4,125 in SHIF and KES 2,250 in Housing Levy, and net pay comes to KES 101,706.

Two of these four deductions are matched by your employer, though the match never touches your payslip. On the same KES 150,000 gross, your employer separately pays a further KES 6,480 in NSSF and KES 2,250 in Housing Levy on your behalf — money that adds to what it costs your employer to employ you, without reducing what lands in your account.

Add a voluntary registered pension contribution and the arithmetic shifts: it comes out of net pay directly, but it also lowers taxable income, so part of what you contribute is offset by paying less PAYE rather than a full one-for-one reduction in take-home pay. SHIF replaced the old NHIF scheme on 1 July 2024, and the current NSSF rates are Phase 4 of a statutory phase-in that began in 2023 — both are worth rechecking each time you review your payslip, since either can change independently of the PAYE bands above.