How SHIF, NSSF & the Housing Levy Changed Your Take-Home Pay in 2026
Your 2026 payslip has four statutory deductions — PAYE, SHIF (2.75%), NSSF up to KES 6,480, and the 1.5% Housing Levy. Here is exactly what comes out, why net pay dropped in February 2026, and how to calculate your real take-home.
If you compared your January 2026 payslip with your February 2026 payslip and your take-home pay quietly dropped — you are not imagining it. Kenya’s statutory deductions changed again, and most salaried Kenyans now lose a bigger slice of gross pay to NSSF than ever before. This guide explains exactly what comes out of your salary in 2026, why, and how to work out your real net pay in under a minute.
The four deductions, in the order KRA applies them
This order matters, because three of the four are subtracted before your income tax (PAYE) is calculated. Get the order wrong and your numbers will be off by thousands.
The big 2026 change. From February 2026 (Year 4 of the NSSF Act 2013 rollout), Tier I covers the first KES 9,000 of pay and Tier II covers 9,001–108,000, each deducted at 6%. The maximum employee contribution is now KES 6,480 per month — up from KES 4,320 in 2025. Your employer matches it.
The Social Health Insurance Fund replaced NHIF on 1 October 2024. Instead of NHIF’s old fixed bands (which capped around KES 1,700), SHIF is 2.75% of your gross salary with a KES 300 minimum and no ceiling — so high earners now pay far more for health cover than under NHIF.
Introduced under the Affordable Housing Act 2024, the AHL takes 1.5% of your gross pay, matched by your employer. There is no cap and it applies to every shilling of gross salary.
After NSSF, SHIF and the Housing Levy are removed, PAYE is charged on what remains using the Finance Act 2023 bands: 10% on the first 24,000, 25% to 32,333, 30% to 500,000, 32.5% to 800,000 and 35% above that. Finally, a personal relief of KES 2,400 is subtracted from the tax.
Worked example: KES 100,000 gross in 2026
Here is the full calculation for a common salary, step by step, using 2026 rates.
| Item | Calculation | Amount (KES) |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | — | 100,000 |
| NSSF Tier I | 6% × 9,000 | 540 |
| NSSF Tier II | 6% × 91,000 | 5,460 |
| SHIF | 2.75% × 100,000 | 2,750 |
| Housing Levy | 1.5% × 100,000 | 1,500 |
| Taxable income | 100,000 − 10,250 | 89,750 |
| PAYE (gross) | bands on 89,750 | 21,708 |
| Less personal relief | — | (2,400) |
| PAYE payable | — | 19,308 |
| Net pay | 100,000 − deductions | ≈ 70,442 |
What actually changed — 2024 to 2026
How to budget around the new deductions
With roughly 29–30% of a mid-level gross salary now going to statutory deductions, the old “save 20% of gross” advice needs a reset — you should budget from net, not gross. Three practical moves:
Frequently asked questions
Kenya’s payroll deductions have shifted meaningfully since 2024, and they will keep moving as the NSSF rollout completes and each Finance Act lands. The single best habit is to stop guessing from gross and start planning from an accurate net figure — recalculated whenever the rates change. Bookmark the Net Salary Calculator, and you will always know exactly what lands in your account.