SHIF and Housing Levy Deductions in Kenya Explained (2026)

For many Kenyan employees, SHIF and the Affordable Housing Levy are the deductions that changed payslips most in recent years. Unlike NSSF, neither has an upper limit, so together they take a fixed 4.25 percent of every shilling of gross salary. At higher incomes they can add up to more than NSSF.

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 Social Health Insurance Fund replaced the National Hospital Insurance Fund. Under the Social Health Insurance Regulations, 2024, a salaried employee contributes 2.75 percent of gross salary each month. The contribution has a minimum of KES 300 a month but no maximum.

The biggest difference from NHIF is the structure. NHIF used fixed amounts that rose in bands and stopped at a relatively low ceiling, so higher earners paid only slightly more than middle earners. SHIF is a straight percentage, so it rises in proportion to salary. That makes it larger for most middle and higher earners than NHIF was.

• KES 30,000 gross: SHIF KES 825.
• KES 50,000 gross: SHIF KES 1,375.
• KES 100,000 gross: SHIF KES 2,750.
• KES 200,000 gross: SHIF KES 5,500.
• KES 500,000 gross: SHIF KES 13,750.

The Affordable Housing Levy is charged at 1.5 percent of gross salary for the employee and a further 1.5 percent for the employer, as reflected in the Kenya Revenue Authority's housing levy calculator. Like SHIF, it has no upper limit.

The employee's share appears on the payslip as a deduction. The employer's matching share does not reduce your pay, but it is part of what it costs an employer to hire you, which matters when employers set salary budgets.

• KES 30,000 gross: employee levy KES 450.
• KES 50,000 gross: employee levy KES 750.
• KES 100,000 gross: employee levy KES 1,500.
• KES 200,000 gross: employee levy KES 3,000.
• KES 500,000 gross: employee levy KES 7,500.

Under current KRA rules, SHIF and the Housing Levy are deducted from gross pay before PAYE is calculated, in the same way as NSSF. Each shilling of these contributions therefore reduces taxable pay by a shilling, and in the 30 percent PAYE band it reduces income tax by 30 cents.

This is why the real cost of SHIF and the Housing Levy to your take-home pay is less than the deduction shown on the payslip. On KES 100,000, the two contributions total KES 4,250, but because they also lower PAYE, net pay is reduced by noticeably less than KES 4,250 compared with a world in which they did not exist.

It also explains why online calculators sometimes disagree. A calculator that deducts SHIF and the Housing Levy after PAYE, or that still uses NHIF bands, will overstate PAYE and understate net pay. WorthSpan applies them in the order KRA specifies.

NSSF behaves differently from the other two. It is 6 percent of pensionable pay, but only up to an upper earnings limit of KES 108,000 a month, so it stops at KES 6,480. SHIF and the Housing Levy keep rising. On KES 200,000 the combined SHIF and Housing Levy of KES 8,500 is already larger than NSSF; on KES 500,000 they total KES 21,250 against NSSF of KES 6,480.

For lower earners the reverse is true. On KES 50,000, NSSF of KES 3,000 is larger than SHIF and the Housing Levy combined, which come to KES 2,125.

SHIF contributions fund health cover through the Social Health Authority, which replaced NHIF as the national health insurer. Contributions entitle the member and registered dependants to the benefits package set by the authority, so it is worth making sure your dependants are registered. Salaried employees contribute through payroll as described here; people without a salary contribute under separate arrangements set by the authority, subject to the same KES 300 monthly minimum.

The Affordable Housing Levy funds the government's affordable housing programme. Paying the levy does not by itself give you a house, but contributors may apply for housing units under the programme's rules. Unlike NSSF, the levy is not a personal savings account that you withdraw at retirement, which is an important difference when you think about the real cost of each deduction.

NSSF is 6 percent of pensionable pay up to KES 108,000, so at most KES 6,480 a month, matched by the employer and saved in your name for retirement. SHIF is 2.75 percent of gross pay with a KES 300 minimum and no maximum, paid by the employee only. The Affordable Housing Levy is 1.5 percent of gross pay with no maximum, matched by a further 1.5 percent from the employer.

All three are deducted before PAYE is calculated. That shared treatment is why the four statutory deductions together cost you less in take-home pay than their face values suggest.

To check whether your SHIF and Housing Levy deductions are right, multiply your gross salary for the month by 0.0275 for SHIF and by 0.015 for the Housing Levy. If gross pay includes overtime or allowances that month, the deductions should be based on the full gross figure. Small differences of a shilling or two are usually rounding.

If the figures are far off, ask your payroll team which gross figure they used and whether any part of your pay was treated differently. Then use the calculator to see your full net-pay calculation with all four statutory deductions in the right order.