How to Read a Pay Stub: Every Line Explained, With the Math

To read a pay stub, work through it in four blocks: the header (who paid you, for which dates, on what day), the earnings (what you earned before anything came out), the deductions (pre-tax benefits, taxes, and post-tax items, in that order), and the bottom line (net pay, the amount that actually lands in your account). Almost every line has two numbers next to it: what happened this pay period, and the year-to-date (YTD) total since January 1.

Here's the part most guides skip: a pay stub is a math problem you can check yourself, and the answer key is printed on the stub. Every tax line is a rate applied to a specific wage base, and every YTD figure should equal the last stub's YTD plus this period. We build pay stub templates for more than 40 formats at MakeMyPaystub, and our paycheck calculator runs these exact 2026 formulas, so we check these relationships constantly. That habit is the useful one to borrow: once you know which number feeds which line, you can verify your own stub in about five minutes, and spot the rare paycheck that is actually wrong.

Below is a complete sample stub with every zone numbered. We'll walk it top to bottom and do the arithmetic for each line.

1Employer

Harbor Lane Logistics LLC

2150 Pacific Ave, Sacramento, CA 95818

Pay period3

09/07/2026 to 09/20/2026

Pay date: 09/25/2026

2Employee

Jordan A. Rivera

Employee ID 004417 · SSN XXX-XX-6082

Filing status: Single

Pay frequency: Biweekly

4Earnings	Hrs	Rate	Current	9YTD
Regular	80.00	28.50	2,280.00	43,320.00
Overtime	4.00	42.75	171.00	3,249.00
Gross pay			2,451.00	46,569.00

5Pre-tax deductions	Current	YTD
401(k) 5%	122.55	2,328.45
Medical (Sec. 125)	85.00	1,615.00

10Leave	Accrued	Used	Balance
PTO (hrs)	87.40	40.00	47.40
Sick (hrs)	29.30	8.00	21.30

6Taxes	Current	YTD
Federal income tax	185.37	3,522.03
Social Security (OASDI)	146.69	2,787.11
Medicare	34.31	651.89
CA state income tax	60.85	1,156.15
CA SDI	30.76	584.44

7Post-tax deductions	Current	YTD
Union dues	25.00	475.00

8NET PAY$1,760.47YTD 33,448.93

The Four Blocks of a Pay Stub

Layouts vary by payroll provider, but nearly every US pay stub is built from the same parts:

If your stub looks nothing like this, it is probably the provider's layout, not different content. An ADP pay stub, for example, calls the whole document a "Statement of Earnings" and stacks the blocks vertically, but every piece below is still there.

The Header: Employer, Employee, and Dates

Employer information (1). The legal name and address of whoever is paying you. In some states the law dictates exactly what has to appear here: California's Labor Code section 226, for instance, requires "the name and address of the legal entity that is the employer," which matters when a staffing agency or a parent company actually runs payroll. Our guide to pay stub requirements by state covers what each state mandates.

Employee information (2). Your name, an employee ID, and usually a masked Social Security number. California law allows only the last four digits of the SSN or an employee ID number other than the SSN, and most payroll systems nationwide print the last four by default. Check this block once: a wrong address here is often the same wrong address that ends up on your W-2.

Pay period and pay date (3). These are two different things, and confusing them causes most "my check is short" panics:

• The pay period is the stretch of days you worked that this check covers (09/07 to 09/20 on our sample).
• The pay date is the day you are paid (09/25).

The gap exists because payroll needs time to collect hours and process them. Hours you work after the period ends show up on the next stub. The pay date also controls taxes: wages count toward the year in which they are paid, which is why a period worked in late December but paid in January lands on your next year's W-2 and starts the new YTD column. We dig into that quirk in what YTD means on a pay stub.

The header often also shows your pay frequency (weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly) and your federal filing status. If the filing status doesn't match what you put on your W-4, that's worth fixing, because it changes how much income tax is withheld every period.

Earnings: How Your Gross Pay Is Built (4)

The earnings block lists every type of pay on its own line. The sample shows two:

Each line should be hours times rate: 80 × $28.50 = $2,280.00, and 4 × $42.75 = $171.00. The overtime rate is exactly 1.5 times the regular rate, which is the federal floor: under the Fair Labor Standards Act, covered nonexempt employees must get at least one and one-half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, per the Department of Labor. Note the word workweek: on a biweekly stub, overtime is calculated week by week, not across the whole period. Weeks of 44 and 40 hours produce 4 overtime hours, but weeks of 45 and 39 produce 5, even though both add up to 84. Our overtime pay stub template shows how payroll lays that out.

Other earnings lines you may see:

• Shift differential. Extra pay per hour for nights or weekends. Federal law doesn't require it, but if your employer pays one, it has to be included in the regular rate used to calculate overtime.
• Holiday, PTO, vacation, sick. Paid time off appears as its own line with hours and rate. These hours usually don't count toward overtime because they aren't hours worked.
• Bonus or commission. Often withheld for federal income tax at a flat 22% as "supplemental wages" under IRS Publication 15, which is why bonus checks can look over-taxed. The flat rate is only withholding; your actual tax is settled on your return.
• Tips. Employees who receive $20 or more in tips in a month must report them to their employer, and the employer withholds income tax, Social Security, and Medicare on them, per IRS Publication 531. Reported cash tips appear as earnings and then get subtracted back out further down, since you already have the cash. Our restaurant pay stub template shows the pattern.
• Retro pay. A catch-up payment for a raise or correction that applied to earlier periods.

Add every line and you get gross pay: everything you earned before a single deduction. The difference between that number and what you take home is the subject of our gross pay vs net pay guide.

Pre-Tax Deductions: The Lines That Change Your Tax Math (5)

Pre-tax deductions come out of gross pay before some or all taxes are calculated, which is why they matter more than their size suggests. The sample has two, and they are deliberately different:

That table is the single most useful thing to understand on a pay stub. Traditional 401(k) contributions lower your federal income tax wages, but they are still subject to Social Security and Medicare tax. Health, dental, and vision premiums paid through a Section 125 cafeteria plan are exempt from income tax and FICA, per IRS Publication 15-B. So the sample stub actually has two different taxable wage figures:

• Income tax wages: $2,451.00 minus $122.55 minus $85.00 = $2,243.45
• Social Security and Medicare (FICA) wages: $2,451.00 minus $85.00 = $2,366.00

Every tax line below is calculated from one of those two numbers. Our guide to pre-tax vs post-tax deductions covers the full list, including HSAs, FSAs, commuter benefits, and the 2026 contribution limits.

Taxes: Each Line Decoded (6)

This is the block people search for. Here is every line on the sample, what it is, and the math behind it:

Federal income tax. Unlike the other lines, this one isn't a flat rate. Payroll annualizes your income tax wages, applies your W-4 settings and the IRS tables, then divides back down. For the sample: $2,243.45 × 26 pay periods = $58,329.70, minus the 2026 standard deduction for a single filer ($16,100) = $42,229.70. Under the 2026 brackets, that's 10% of the first $12,400 plus 12% of the rest, or $4,819.56 for the year, which is $185.37 per paycheck. Real payroll software follows the percentage method in IRS Publication 15-T, which lands on essentially the same number for a standard W-4. You can run your own numbers in our paycheck calculator.

Social Security, shown as OASDI. 6.2% of FICA wages: $2,366.00 × 6.2% = $146.69. In 2026 this tax stops once your Social Security wages for the year reach $184,500, so the most any employee pays is $11,439, according to the Social Security Administration. Your employer pays a matching 6.2% that never appears in your deductions. The full story, including why the label is so cryptic, is in what is OASDI.

Medicare. 1.45% of FICA wages with no cap: $2,366.00 × 1.45% = $34.31. Once your wages from one employer pass $200,000 in a calendar year, the employer must also withhold a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on the excess, per the IRS.

State income tax. Calculated with your state's own rules, which vary from nothing at all (Texas, Florida, and seven other states don't tax wages) to graduated brackets like California's. The sample's $60.85 reflects California's formula on this employee's wages.

State programs like SDI. A few states fund disability or paid leave programs through employee payroll deductions. California's SDI is 1.3% of wages with no cap in 2026, per the EDD. Section 125 premiums are excluded from SDI wages, so the base is $2,366.00 and the deduction is $30.76. New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Washington, Massachusetts, and others have their own versions with their own labels. See what is SDI on a pay stub.

Local taxes. Some cities, counties, and school districts levy income or head taxes: New York City, Philadelphia, most Ohio municipalities, Pennsylvania's earned income tax, Denver's occupational privilege tax. They appear as their own lines, often with codes like LIT, CITY, or EIT. If you're not sure what a short code means, our pay stub abbreviations glossary lists the common ones.

Post-Tax Deductions (7)

Post-tax deductions come out after taxes are calculated, so they don't change any of the numbers above. The sample has one: union dues, $25.00. Others you might see:

• Roth 401(k) contributions, which are taxed now and grow tax-free.
• Wage garnishments for child support, a creditor judgment, or a tax levy. Federal law caps most garnishments at 25% of disposable earnings, and child support at 50% to 60% (plus 5% for arrears over 12 weeks), according to the Department of Labor.
• Charitable giving, loan repayments, employee stock purchase plans, after-tax life insurance.

If you see a deduction you never authorized, ask about it. Under the FLSA, deductions for things that mainly benefit the employer, such as uniforms, tools, or cash register shortages, cannot bring your pay below minimum wage or cut into required overtime, per the DOL's Fact Sheet #16. Many states are stricter.

Net Pay (8)

Net pay is gross pay minus every deduction above:

That's about 72% of gross, a typical result for a California employee contributing to a 401(k) and health plan. If you have direct deposit split across accounts, the stub may show the net pay divided into lines like "Checking" and "Savings", which should add up to this figure. A stub with net pay of zero and the full amount listed as a deposit is normal: it means the money went straight to your bank and no paper check was cut.

The YTD Column (9)

Every earnings, deduction, and tax line has a year-to-date figure: the running total since the first pay date of the calendar year. On the sample, which is pay period 19 of 26, YTD gross is $46,569.00.

YTD is the column lenders and landlords read first when you use a stub as proof of income, because it shows your income trend without needing every stub since January. It's also your best early preview of your W-2. Just don't expect YTD gross to match Box 1:

Those differences are the pre-tax deduction table from earlier, playing out over a year. Our year-to-date pay stub template is built around this column, and what does YTD mean covers the edge cases, like what happens when you change jobs mid-year.

Leave Balances (10)

Many stubs end with paid time off and sick leave: hours accrued, used, and remaining. Federal law doesn't require paid vacation, so whether this block exists depends on your employer's policy and your state. Several states and cities require paid sick leave, and some require the balance to be shown on the pay stub or another written notice. Check this block after any time off: a balance that didn't go down when you took a day, or went down twice, will be much harder to sort out months later.

Check Your Pay Stub in Five Minutes

Because every line is a rate applied to a base, you can audit your own stub with a calculator and the previous stub. Here's the method we use when we test our own templates and calculator:

1. Rebuild gross pay. Multiply hours by rate on each earnings line and add them up. If you're hourly, compare the hours to your own record of the period. Overtime should be at least 1.5 times your regular rate for hours over 40 in each workweek.
2. Find your two wage bases. Income tax wages = gross minus all pre-tax deductions. FICA wages = gross minus only the Section 125 items (health, dental, vision, HSA through payroll, FSA). If your stub prints "taxable wages" figures, compare yours to them.
3. Check the flat-rate taxes. OASDI should be 6.2% of FICA wages and Medicare 1.45%, each within a cent or two of rounding. State programs with flat rates (like California SDI at 1.3%) check the same way.
4. Test YTD continuity. Last stub's YTD plus this stub's current amount should equal this stub's YTD, line by line. A YTD that resets mid-year or jumps by more than the current amount is the most reliable sign of a payroll correction or error.
5. Recompute net pay. Gross minus every deduction should equal net pay to the penny.

Federal income tax is the one line you can't check with simple multiplication, because it depends on your W-4. For that, plug your numbers into the paycheck calculator and see if the estimate lands within a few dollars.

Red Flags Worth Raising With Payroll

Most surprises on a stub have innocent explanations. These are the ones worth an email:

Federal law makes your employer keep accurate payroll records but, as the DOL notes, it doesn't require them to give you a pay stub at all. Most states do, and if yours does, you're generally entitled to one every payday. If you're missing stubs and need them, our guide to what a pay stub is and how to get yours covers your options.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I read my pay stub?

Read it in four blocks. The header tells you who paid you, for which dates, and on what day. The earnings block shows each pay type with hours, rate, and amount, adding up to gross pay. The deductions block shows pre-tax deductions, taxes, and post-tax deductions. The bottom line is net pay, the amount deposited. Every block usually has a current column and a year-to-date (YTD) column.

What is the difference between gross pay and net pay on a pay stub?

Gross pay is everything you earned in the pay period before anything is taken out: regular wages, overtime, bonuses, and reported tips. Net pay is what is left after pre-tax deductions, taxes, and post-tax deductions. On a typical stub, net pay runs roughly 65% to 80% of gross, depending on your state, benefits, and withholding settings.

What does OASDI mean on my pay stub?

OASDI stands for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, the official name for Social Security tax. In 2026 it is 6.2% of your Social Security wages up to $184,500, and your employer pays a matching 6.2%. Some payroll systems label the same line SS, SOC SEC, or FICA-SS.

Why is the YTD amount on my pay stub different from my W-2?

Your YTD gross pay includes everything you earned, but Box 1 of your W-2 shows taxable wages after pre-tax deductions like 401(k) contributions and Section 125 health premiums. Boxes 3 and 5 differ again, because 401(k) contributions are still subject to FICA while Section 125 premiums are not.

Why was there no Social Security tax on my last paycheck?

If your Social Security wages for the year have passed $184,500 (the 2026 wage base), your employer stops withholding OASDI for the rest of the calendar year. That is correct, not an error. Medicare has no wage cap, so that line keeps going, and an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies once your wages pass $200,000.

What is the difference between a pay period and a pay date?

The pay period is the range of days you worked that the check covers. The pay date is the day the money is paid. Taxes and YTD totals follow the pay date, so a period worked in late December but paid in January counts toward the new year.

Does federal law require my employer to give me a pay stub?

No. The FLSA requires employers to keep accurate payroll records but does not require them to give employees pay stubs. Most states fill that gap with their own wage statement laws, and a handful have no general requirement at all.

How can I check if my pay stub is correct?

Run four checks: hours times rate should equal each earnings line; OASDI should be 6.2% and Medicare 1.45% of your FICA wages; this period's YTD should equal last period's YTD plus this period's current amounts; and net pay should equal gross minus every deduction.

Why is my federal income tax withholding different from paycheck to paycheck?

Withholding is calculated on each paycheck's taxable wages, so anything that changes those wages changes the tax: overtime, a bonus, unpaid time off, or a new benefit election. Bonuses are often withheld at a flat 22% as supplemental wages.

Is overtime still taxed on my pay stub after the no tax on overtime law?

Yes. The 2025 law created a federal income tax deduction for qualified overtime premium pay (up to $12,500, or $25,000 for joint filers, for 2025 through 2028), but you claim it on your tax return. Your employer still withholds income tax, Social Security, and Medicare on overtime as usual.

The Takeaway

Reading a pay stub comes down to three ideas. First, the four blocks: header, earnings, deductions, net pay. Second, the two wage bases: income tax wages and FICA wages, which differ by whichever pre-tax deductions you have. Third, the YTD column, which should always equal the last stub plus this one. Hold those three and every line becomes something you can check rather than something you have to trust.

If you're on the other side of payroll and need to issue stubs rather than decode them, our hourly pay stub template lays out every block described here. Run the numbers through the paycheck calculator first and it can prefill the builder with the taxes already worked out.