The four parts of every pay stub
Pay stubs look different from one payroll provider to the next, but they all follow the same order:
- Earnings: what you earned before anything is taken out (gross pay).
- Pre-tax deductions: money taken out before some or all taxes are figured, such as a traditional 401(k) or health premiums.
- Taxes: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and any state and local taxes.
- After-tax deductions and net pay: Roth 401(k), union dues or garnishments, then what’s left, which is your take-home pay.
Most stubs also show a current column for this paycheck and a YTD column for the year so far.
Earnings lines
- Gross pay: your pay for the period before deductions. For a salary, it’s usually the annual amount divided by the number of paychecks (a $60,000 salary paid biweekly is $2,307.69). For hourly work, it’s hours × rate, plus overtime.
- Regular / REG: straight-time hours or salary.
- OT: overtime hours, usually at 1.5 times your rate.
- Bonus, commission, SUPP: supplemental pay, which can be withheld differently from regular wages (see the bonus tax calculator).
- Tips: reported tips. They count as wages for withholding and for Social Security and Medicare.
Tax lines and their codes
| Code on the stub | What it is | 2026 rate |
|---|---|---|
| FIT, FITW, FED W/H | Federal income tax withholding | Depends on your W-4 and pay |
| OASDI, SS, FICA-SS | Social Security | 6.2% up to $184,500 |
| MED, MED/EE, FICA-MED | Medicare | 1.45%, no cap |
| Addl Med | Additional Medicare | 0.9% on wages over $200,000 from one employer |
| SIT, SWT, ST W/H | State income tax withholding | Varies by state; zero in some states |
| LOCAL, CITY, EIT, SD | Local income tax | Only in some cities, counties and school districts |
Federal income tax (FIT or FITW) is the amount your employer withholds based on your Form W-4, your pay and how often you’re paid. It’s an estimate of your yearly tax, settled when you file your return.
Social Security (OASDI) stands for Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance. You pay 6.2% and your employer pays a matching 6.2% that doesn’t appear as a deduction from your pay. Once your pay from one employer reaches $184,500 in 2026, this line drops to zero for the rest of the year. The most one employer withholds is $11,439.00.
Medicare (MED/EE): “EE” means employee share. It’s 1.45% of all Medicare wages, matched by your employer. The FICA guide covers both taxes in detail.
State income tax (SIT or SWT) follows your state’s own withholding form and tables. Nine states don’t tax wages at all.
State payroll taxes: SDI, SUI, FLI, PFL
Some states fund disability, family leave or unemployment programs with an employee payroll deduction. Common codes:
- SDI: State Disability Insurance. In California it’s 1.3% of SDI wages in 2026 with no wage cap, and it includes paid family leave. In New York, DBL/SDI is 0.5% of wages with a maximum of $0.60 a week.
- TDI: Temporary Disability Insurance (New Jersey, Rhode Island, Hawaii).
- FLI or PFL: Family Leave Insurance or Paid Family Leave. New Jersey FLI is 0.23% on up to $171,100 in 2026; New York PFL is 0.432%, capped at $411.91 for the year.
- PFML or FAMLI: paid family and medical leave programs in states such as Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Colorado, Oregon, Maine, Minnesota and Delaware.
- SUI or UI: state unemployment insurance. It’s usually employer-only, but a few states take a small employee share. New Jersey takes 0.3825% on up to $44,800, Alaska 0.5% on up to $54,200, and Pennsylvania 0.07% with no cap.
Local taxes
Cities, counties and school districts in some states tax wages. Examples include New York City (residents only), Philadelphia, Detroit, many Ohio cities, Maryland counties and Pennsylvania’s earned income tax (EIT) and local services tax (LST). Your state page in the paycheck calculator lists the local taxes it handles.
Deduction lines
- 401(k), 403(b), 457(b): traditional retirement contributions. They’re taken out before federal income tax (and most state taxes) but not before Social Security and Medicare.
- Roth 401(k): taken out after tax; it doesn’t lower any tax on this paycheck.
- §125, SEC125, MED PRE-TAX, DEN, VIS: health, dental and vision premiums paid through a cafeteria plan. They lower federal income tax wages and Social Security and Medicare wages.
- HSA, FSA, DCFSA: health savings account, health flexible spending account and dependent-care FSA, usually also through §125.
- Commuter, TRANSIT, PARKING: pre-tax transit and parking, up to $340 a month each in 2026.
- After-tax lines: union dues, garnishments, charitable payroll gifts, after-tax life insurance.
To see how a different contribution would change your check, try the 401(k) paycheck calculator.
Example pay stub (2026)
This is the 10th biweekly paycheck of 2026 for a single employee in North Carolina earning $60,000 a year. They contribute 5% to a traditional 401(k) and pay $100 per check in pre-tax health premiums. The W-4 has no adjustments, and the NC-4 claims no allowances. The numbers come from our calculator’s engine.
| Line | Current | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $2,307.69 | $23,076.90 |
| 401(k) (pre-tax) | −$115.38 | −$1,153.80 |
| Medical §125 (pre-tax) | −$100.00 | −$1,000.00 |
| FITW (federal income tax) | −$167.23 | −$1,672.30 |
| OASDI (Social Security) | −$136.88 | −$1,368.80 |
| MED/EE (Medicare) | −$32.01 | −$320.10 |
| SIT (North Carolina) | −$66.00 | −$660.00 |
| Net pay | $1,690.19 | $16,901.90 |
Many stubs also list the taxable wages behind each tax. In this example:
- Federal and NC taxable wages: $2,092.31. That’s gross minus both the 401(k) and the §125 premium.
- Social Security and Medicare wages: $2,207.69. That’s gross minus only the §125 premium, because 401(k) deferrals stay subject to FICA.
This is also why box 1 of your W-2 is often lower than boxes 3 and 5.
How to check your stub
- Gross pay: does it match your salary ÷ paychecks, or your hours × rate?
- Social Security and Medicare: multiply the FICA wages by 6.2% and 1.45%. They should match to the cent or within a cent of rounding.
- Federal income tax: compare it with the paycheck calculator using the same W-4 entries. A big gap usually means an old or missing W-4.
- YTD: each YTD figure should equal the previous stub’s YTD plus this check.
How our numbers are computed, and the sources behind them, are on the methodology page.