How to read a pay stub, line by line: a sample that adds up and a class routine
Take a $1,480.00 paycheck (illustration) that deposits $1,099.37. The missing $380.63 is the whole lesson: $134.00 went to benefits the worker chose, $108.63 to Social Security and Medicare, and $138.00 to income tax. Most stubs follow the same order, with gross pay at the top, deductions in the middle, net pay at the bottom and year-to-date totals alongside.
The habit worth building is making the stub add up. Gross pay minus every deduction has to equal net pay, and each tax has to tie to the right wages. The sample below is built so you can check it with a calculator, and a teacher can turn it into one class period.
For 2026, the employee's share of payroll tax is 6.2% for Social Security plus 1.45% for Medicare, so 7.65 percent of covered pay is gone before any income tax is withheld. That is why take-home pay is almost always less than hours times rate.
What is on a pay stub?
A stub has four blocks: who and when, earnings, deductions and taxes, and totals with year-to-date. The CFPB's student handout puts the basics in plain words. Gross income is total pay before taxes and other deductions are taken out. Net income, also called take-home pay, is what you receive after they come out. Year-to-date totals run from the start of the year, and your employer sets the pay period schedule.
| Section | Line | What it means | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Pay period and pay date | The days this check covers and the day it's paid | The dates match your hours |
| Earnings | Rate, hours, gross pay | Total pay before taxes and deductions | Hours times rate |
| Pre-tax deductions | Health premium, 401(k) deferral | Amounts taken out before some taxes are figured | Each is what you elected |
| Taxes | Social Security, Medicare, federal income tax, state tax | Amounts withheld | Social Security and Medicare are figured on FICA wages |
| After-tax deductions | Anything else you agreed to | Taken out after taxes | You agreed to each one |
| Totals | Net pay | What remains after everything | Gross minus every line |
| Year to date | YTD columns | Running totals since January 1 | YTD grows by this check's amount |
A sample stub that adds up
Every figure in this table is an illustration: a made-up biweekly stub, pay period 20 of 26. The federal and state income tax lines are invented to show direction, not computed from tax tables.
| Line | Current (illustration) | Year to date (illustration) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular earnings, 80 hours at $18.50 | $1,480.00 | $29,600.00 | A: hours times rate |
| Gross pay | $1,480.00 | $29,600.00 | B |
| Pre-tax health premium | $60.00 | $1,200.00 | C: comes out before income tax, Social Security and Medicare |
| Pre-tax 401(k) deferral (5% of gross) | $74.00 | $1,480.00 | D: lowers federal taxable wages, not FICA wages |
| Federal taxable wages | $1,346.00 | $26,920.00 | E: gross minus C minus D |
| FICA wages (Social Security and Medicare) | $1,420.00 | $28,400.00 | F: gross minus C |
| Social Security tax (6.2% of F) | $88.04 | $1,760.80 | G |
| Medicare tax (1.45% of F) | $20.59 | $411.80 | G |
| Federal income tax withheld (made up) | $97.00 | $1,940.00 | H: depends on the W-4 |
| State income tax withheld (made up) | $41.00 | $820.00 | H: varies by state |
| Net pay | $1,099.37 | $21,987.40 | I: gross minus every line above |
Read it top to bottom. In the illustration, line A is the sanity check: 80 hours times $18.50 is $1,480.00, which is gross pay.
The two pre-tax lines behave differently. A health premium taken through an employer's cafeteria plan generally comes out of pay before income tax, Social Security and Medicare are figured. A 401(k) deferral is left out of the taxable wages in Box 1 of the W-2 but still reported as Social Security wages in Box 3. That is why a stub can carry two wages lines, E and F, and why Social Security and Medicare are figured on F while the income tax lines follow the W-4 and the state. Both rules describe employer plans in general, and your plan documents govern.
In the illustration, the arithmetic closes: $1,480.00 minus $60.00, $74.00, $88.04, $20.59, $97.00 and $41.00 leaves $1,099.37.
Where does the missing money go?
Three different things come out of a check, for three different reasons. In the illustration, $380.63 leaves a $1,480.00 check: $134.00 of pre-tax deductions, $108.63 of Social Security and Medicare, and $138.00 of made-up federal and state income tax.
The first group is money the worker elected to put toward benefits. The second is set by federal payroll tax law. The third depends on your W-4 and where you live.
Your employer also pays a matching Social Security and Medicare amount, at the same 6.2% and 1.45% rates, and the stub never shows it. As the CFPB handout puts it, your paycheck shows your share.
The pre-tax lines are the easiest to misread. A premium for an employer-sponsored health plan shrinks both wages lines, while a 401(k) deferral shrinks only the income tax wages. The 401(k) match is something else again: it is the employer's own contribution, and it never appears as a deduction from your pay.
Three checks to run on every stub
Each check takes a calculator and a minute.
- Do the taxes tie to the right wages? Take FICA wages, which are gross pay minus a pre-tax health premium, and multiply by 0.062 for Social Security and 0.0145 for Medicare. In the illustration, $1,420.00 gives $88.04 and $20.59. Social Security tax stops once a worker's 2026 pay passes $184,500, and Medicare has no cap.
- Does year-to-date roll forward? Each YTD figure should equal the last stub's YTD plus this stub's current amount. In the illustration, the previous stub's gross YTD would be $28,120.00, because $29,600.00 minus $1,480.00 is $28,120.00.
- Is every deduction one you chose? Compare each pre-tax and after-tax line with what you signed up for.
None of these checks proves the income tax number is right, because that depends on the W-4 and the tax tables. If a number looks wrong, ask payroll. Compare the last stub of the year with your W-2 when it arrives. Parents reading along can use our guide to teens and paychecks, which walks through a sample stub too.
A class routine for one period
Four steps fit one class period, and the middle two are where the learning happens.
- Predict. Show only gross pay and ask students to guess take-home pay.
- Annotate. Hand out the sample stub and the anatomy table, and have students label each line.
- Check. Run the three checks above, then have students work out the employer's matching Social Security amount.
- Compare. Show the twin stubs below and ask why the same gross pay gives different take-home pay.
| Line | Elects benefits (illustration) | Elects none (illustration) |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $1,480.00 | $1,480.00 |
| Pre-tax health premium | $60.00 | $0.00 |
| Pre-tax 401(k) | $74.00 | $0.00 |
| FICA wages | $1,420.00 | $1,480.00 |
| Social Security (6.2%) | $88.04 | $91.76 |
| Medicare (1.45%) | $20.59 | $21.46 |
| Federal income tax (made up) | $97.00 | $128.00 |
| State income tax (made up) | $41.00 | $46.00 |
| Net pay | $1,099.37 | $1,192.78 |
In the illustration, take-home pay differs by $93.41, yet $134.00 went into the health premium and the 401(k). The federal and state amounts are made-up examples chosen to show direction, not tax-table results.
Building a stub is the natural next step, and the Taxes & Income module in Rapunzl's curriculum, written for grades 9 to 12, has gross-to-net worked examples that include FICA and the standard deduction.
The routine lines up with four grade 8 Earning Income learning outcomes in the 2021 national standards: 8-5a (differentiate between gross and net income), 8-5b (identify common types of payroll deductions), 8-5c (explain how taxes impact take-home pay) and 8-6c (calculate what a worker and the employer pay in Social Security taxes).
For a worksheet, blank out the Note column of the sample and have students fill it in. For a simpler first stub, start with the CFPB handout linked above. The budgeting activity is a natural next lesson once students can read a stub.
Frequently Asked
Questions
Social Security and Medicare take 6.2% and 1.45% of covered pay in 2026. On a hypothetical $300 paycheck, that is $18.60 plus $4.35, or $22.95 together. Income tax comes on top of that. Federal withholding depends on the W-4 and can be $0 for a worker who claims exemption, and state income tax depends on the state.
Year to date: the running total since January 1, as the CFPB handout defines it.
Gross pay is total pay before taxes and other deductions. Net pay, also called take-home pay, is what you receive after they come out.
A stub covers one pay period, and a W-2 totals the year. Employers must furnish the W-2 by February 1, 2027 for 2026 wages, and your last stub's year-to-date figures should land near it.
Not under the FLSA: the law does not require an employer to provide pay stubs, though employers must keep accurate records of hours worked and wages paid. State law may differ, so check your state labor department.
A class that can check one stub line by line is ready for the paycheck math behind it. To see the Taxes & Income module and the rest of the curriculum, request a Rapunzl demo.
By Nate Thomas, School Partnerships Lead at Rapunzl.
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