How to Read Your Pay Stub (Every Line, Explained)

Most people check one number on their pay stub — the deposit — and file the rest unread. That works until it doesn't: payroll errors are common enough that a five-minute read twice a year routinely finds money. Here's every section, decoded.

The earnings block

Gross pay: your salary divided by pay periods, or hours × rate for hourly workers. Check the rate after every raise — the single most common payroll error is a raise that never made it into the system. Overtime should appear as its own line at 1.5× for non-exempt workers. Other lines you might see: holiday pay, shift differential, bonus (often taxed at a flat 22% federal supplemental rate on the check, reconciled at filing), and PTO payouts.

The deductions block

Pre-tax first: 401(k), HSA/FSA, medical/dental/vision premiums, commuter benefits. These reduce the taxable wages shown further down — which is why your "federal taxable wages" line is smaller than gross.

Then taxes: FIT or FWT (federal income tax withheld — driven by your W-4), Social Security or OASDI (6.2%), Medicare (1.45%), state income tax, and possibly SDI/PFL (state disability/family leave, in CA, NJ, NY, WA and a few others) or a city tax line. Post-tax deductions come last: Roth 401(k), garnishments, union dues, life insurance over $50K (which appears as "imputed income" — the IRS taxes the premium value even though you never saw the cash).

The YTD columns and why they matter

Year-to-date columns let you audit the whole year at a glance. Three checks worth doing every June and December: (1) YTD 401(k) vs. the annual limit — hitting it early can cost match in some plans; (2) YTD Social Security stops accruing once wages pass the cap ($184,500 in 2026) — if it keeps deducting after, payroll owes you; (3) YTD federal withholding vs. your projected tax — a big mismatch in June is fixable with a W-4 tweak; discovered in April, it's a bill.

The abbreviations, decoded

Payroll systems abbreviate aggressively. The table covers the codes that appear on most US stubs.

Checking your withholding mid-year

Multiply your YTD federal withholding by (12 ÷ months elapsed) to project the year, then compare to the calculator's federal income tax estimate for your salary and status. A single filer at $75,000 should see roughly $7,670 withheld over a full year — about $295 per biweekly check with no pre-tax deductions. Projected withholding well above that means a big refund (an interest-free loan to the government); well below means a bill in April. Either is fixed with a new W-4, and the IRS withholding estimator handles multi-job and two-earner households.

What to keep and for how long

Keep every stub until you've reconciled it against your W-2 in January — the W-2's Box 1 (federal wages) should equal your YTD federal taxable wages, and Box 3/5 should match Social Security and Medicare wages. Discrepancies are far easier to fix in February than during an audit. After reconciliation, the year-end stub is worth keeping permanently; the rest can go. Stubs are also proof of income for apartments and loans, so hold the last three months at minimum.

Hourly stubs: what to verify every time

Hours by category — regular, overtime, double time, holiday — against your own record; the rate on each line; and that overtime is computed on the regular rate including any shift differentials (federal law requires it). Rounding rules (many employers round to the nearest quarter hour) must apply evenly, not always in the employer's favor. Missed meal breaks in states that require them (California, among others) trigger penalty pay that should appear as its own line. Tipped employees should confirm the tip credit and that declared tips are recorded correctly for Social Security purposes — under-reported tips lower future benefits.

Fixing an error

Start with payroll or HR in writing, attach the stub, state the specific line and the expected figure. Most errors are corrected on the next check or with an off-cycle payment. If an employer won't correct unpaid wages or overtime, every state has a labor department wage-claim process, and the federal Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division handles overtime and minimum-wage violations; retaliation for filing is illegal. Keep copies of everything — the stubs are the evidence.

Three errors that actually happen

Old rate after a raise. Overtime paid at straight time. Benefits deducted for a plan you dropped at open enrollment. Each is a one-email fix with the stub as evidence — and each compounds silently if unread. If your netted amount doesn't match what the paycheck calculator estimates within a few percent, the stub will tell you exactly which line is the culprit.