Kenya Net Salary in 2026: PAYE, SHIF, Housing Levy and NSSF Explained

Every month, a Kenyan employer takes four statutory deductions from a resident employee's gross pay before paying the balance into their account. Three of them are contributions — NSSF for retirement, SHIF for health cover and the Affordable Housing Levy — and the fourth is income tax, collected through Pay As You Earn, or PAYE.

The order in which they are calculated matters. Under current Kenya Revenue Authority rules, NSSF, SHIF and Housing Levy contributions are deducted from gross pay first, and PAYE is calculated on what remains. That means each of the three contributions also slightly reduces the income tax you pay. Getting the order wrong is the most common reason informal net-pay estimates differ from a real payslip.

All figures use WorthSpan's 2026 Kenya standard case: a resident employee on a regular monthly cash salary, with the standard personal relief of KES 2,400 a month and no insurance relief, mortgage-interest deduction, voluntary pension contribution, disability exemption or benefits in kind. Amounts are monthly and rounded to the nearest shilling.

The National Social Security Fund is Kenya's statutory retirement scheme. Under the Year 4 (2026) rates published by NSSF, the employee contributes 6 percent of pensionable pay up to an upper earnings limit of KES 108,000 a month, and the employer matches it. The maximum employee contribution is therefore KES 6,480 a month.

Because of that ceiling, NSSF takes a smaller share of pay as salaries rise above KES 108,000. Someone earning KES 50,000 pays KES 3,000, which is 6 percent; someone earning KES 300,000 pays the same KES 6,480 as someone on KES 150,000.

The Social Health Insurance Fund replaced NHIF and is set out in the Social Health Insurance Regulations, 2024. Employees contribute 2.75 percent of gross salary, with a minimum of KES 300 a month. Unlike NSSF there is no upper limit, so SHIF grows in step with salary: KES 1,375 on KES 50,000 and KES 13,750 on KES 500,000.

The Affordable Housing Levy is 1.5 percent of gross salary for the employee, with the employer paying a further 1.5 percent. It also has no upper limit. On KES 100,000 the employee's share is KES 1,500.

PAYE is charged on taxable pay — gross pay minus NSSF, SHIF and the Housing Levy — using monthly bands. The first KES 24,000 is taxed at 10 percent, the next KES 8,333 at 25 percent, income up to KES 500,000 at 30 percent, income up to KES 800,000 at 32.5 percent, and anything above KES 800,000 at 35 percent.

Every resident employee then receives personal relief of KES 2,400 a month, which is subtracted from the tax calculated on the bands. If the band calculation comes to less than KES 2,400, PAYE is zero. In WorthSpan's model that happens up to a gross salary of roughly KES 26,700 a month, so many lower-paid workers have NSSF, SHIF and Housing Levy deductions but no PAYE.

Here is the full calculation for a gross salary of KES 100,000 a month, step by step, as an employer's payroll would do it.

• Gross salary: KES 100,000.
• NSSF (6%): KES 6,000.
• SHIF (2.75%): KES 2,750.
• Housing Levy (1.5%): KES 1,500.
• Taxable pay: KES 100,000 − 6,000 − 2,750 − 1,500 = KES 89,750.
• Tax on the bands: KES 21,708 (10% on the first 24,000, 25% on the next 8,333, 30% on the rest).
• Less personal relief of KES 2,400: PAYE of KES 19,308.
• Net pay: KES 100,000 − 6,000 − 2,750 − 1,500 − 19,308 = about KES 70,442 a month, or about KES 845,300 a year.

At KES 100,000 the four deductions together take about 29.6 percent of gross pay. At lower salaries the share is smaller because PAYE is light or zero; at KES 50,000 total deductions are about 21.9 percent. At higher salaries the share rises more slowly than people expect, because NSSF stops at its ceiling: at KES 500,000 total deductions are about 32.4 percent.

The marginal picture is just as useful. Between KES 50,000 and KES 100,000, an extra KES 10,000 of gross pay adds about KES 6,283 to net pay, because it attracts NSSF, SHIF, the Housing Levy and 30 percent PAYE on what is left. Above the NSSF ceiling the same raise adds about KES 6,703, because NSSF no longer grows.

Real payslips often include items the standard case does not. Insurance relief, mortgage-interest deductions, voluntary pension contributions and disability exemptions can all reduce PAYE. Allowances, overtime and benefits in kind such as a car or housing can increase it. Loan repayments, SACCO savings and union dues reduce the cash you receive without changing tax.

WorthSpan lists these assumptions and exclusions on the calculator so you can see exactly what a figure represents. For comparing job offers or checking whether a payslip looks right, the standard case is the right starting point; for filing your annual return, use your actual P9 form from your employer.

Your employer withholds PAYE every month, but the tax year is settled through your annual return to KRA. At the end of the year your employer should give you a P9 form showing your gross pay, the statutory deductions and the PAYE withheld for each month. You use those figures when filing your return on iTax.

If your only income is a salary with standard deductions, the PAYE withheld and your annual liability should be very close, and the return mainly confirms it. Differences arise when you have reliefs that payroll did not apply, a second job, rental or business income, or months with large bonuses. In those cases the monthly net-pay figures on this page remain correct for budgeting, but the annual return may produce a refund or an amount to pay.