How to Read a Pay Stub

A pay stub has five parts: who and when, what you earned, what was taken out, what you received, and the running totals. Below is a real-format 2026 stub, followed by what each part means and how to check it.

The sample stub

An hourly employee in Texas earns $22.00 an hour and is paid biweekly. Her 2026 W-4 says single, with no other entries. This is her eighth paycheck of the year.

Employer: Sunbelt Supply LLC, Austin, TX · Employee: D. Rivera, SSN ending 4417 Pay period: Mar 29 – Apr 11, 2026 · Pay date: Apr 17, 2026

Earnings	Rate	Hours	Current	YTD hours	YTD
Regular	$22.00	80.00	$1,760.00	636.00	$13,992.00
Overtime	$33.00	6.00	$198.00	18.00	$594.00
Gross pay			$1,958.00		$14,586.00

Taxes	Current	YTD
Federal income tax	$151.11	$1,079.52
Social Security	$121.40	$904.33
Medicare	$28.39	$211.49

	Current	YTD
Net pay	$1,657.10	$12,390.66

Direct deposit advice: $1,657.10 to checking ••••2208 (non-negotiable).

1. The header: who and when

• Employer name and address. The legal entity that paid you. Some states require it, California and New York among them.
• Employee name and ID. Usually the last four SSN digits or an employee number, never the full SSN.
• Pay period. The days worked, here two weeks ending Saturday, April 11.
• Pay date. When the money was paid, here Friday, April 17. The pay date decides which tax year the paycheck belongs to.

2. Earnings: what you earned

Each earnings line shows a rate, hours and an amount. Check the arithmetic: 80 × $22.00 = $1,760.00, and 6 × $33.00 = $198.00.

Overtime is at least 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Federal law counts overtime week by week, so a biweekly stub's 6 overtime hours mean one or both weeks went over 40. Hours can't be averaged across the two weeks.

Salaried stubs show a single salary line instead, such as $2,000.00 per period, often without hours. See hourly vs. salary pay stubs.

3. Taxes: what was withheld

• Federal income tax, $151.11. From the IRS Publication 15-T tables and the W-4. $1,958 × 26 = $50,908, less the $8,600 standard amount, gives $42,308 a year, taxed at $1,240 plus 12% of the amount over $19,900. That's $3,928.96 ÷ 26.
• Social Security, $121.40. 6.2% of $1,958, rounded to the cent.
• Medicare, $28.39. 1.45% of $1,958.
• State tax. None here, because Texas has no income tax. In California or New York you'd see state lines too.

4. Deductions: everything else taken out

This stub has none, but many do: 401(k) deferrals, health premiums, Roth contributions, garnishments. Pre-tax deductions lower the wages some taxes are figured on, so a stub with deductions should show federal tax figured on less than gross. Our gross vs. net pay guide shows which deduction reduces which tax.

5. Net pay and the deposit

Net pay is gross minus every tax and deduction: $1,958.00 − $151.11 − $121.40 − $28.39 = $1,657.10. The direct deposit advice shows where it went. It should match the deposit on your bank statement to the cent. See direct deposit slips.

The YTD columns, explained

Year-to-date columns are running totals since the first pay date of the year at this employer. Her YTD gross of $14,586.00 is the sum of eight paychecks, whose hours varied from 76 to 88.

Three quick YTD checks:

1. YTD hours × rate = YTD earnings for each line: 636 × $22.00 = $13,992.00, and 18 × $33.00 = $594.00.
2. YTD gross − YTD taxes = YTD net: $14,586.00 − $1,079.52 − $904.33 − $211.49 = $12,390.66.
3. YTD taxes ≈ rate × YTD wages: 6.2% of $14,586 is $904.33, a match. 1.45% is $211.50 against $211.49 on the stub. That one-cent gap is normal, because each paycheck rounds separately.

Lenders and landlords often read the YTD column first. It shows earnings over months, not just one good week. For how YTD carries across pay dates, mid-year job changes and the December–January boundary, see what is YTD on a pay stub.

A two-minute pay stub checklist

• Your name, SSN digits and the employer's name are correct
• The pay period and pay date make sense for your schedule
• Hours match your timesheet, and overtime is paid at 1.5× or more
• Social Security is 6.2% and Medicare 1.45% of their wage bases
• Federal tax changes when gross changes
• YTD = last stub's YTD + this stub's current amounts
• Net pay matches the bank deposit

Red flags worth asking about

• YTD totals that went down, or that don't equal the sum of the stubs
• Social Security still being withheld above $184,500 of 2026 wages from one employer
• No state tax line in a state that has income tax, with no explanation
• Overtime paid at the regular rate

If an employer-issued stub has an error, our guide to correcting a pay stub error explains who fixes what. Abbreviations like FIT, OASDI and SDI are decoded in the cheat sheet.