How to Read Your Pay Stub, Line by Line
A pay stub is a dense grid of abbreviations that most people glance at once and then ignore. It is also the only record you have of what your employer is actually withholding, and errors on it are more common than you would expect — wrong filing status, a stale local tax code, a deduction that should have stopped months ago.
Here is every section, what it means, and what to check.
Gross pay
The top line: what you earned this period before anything is removed. On an hourly stub it breaks into rate × hours, often split across REG (regular), OT (overtime, at 1.5×), and HOL or PTO for paid time off.
Check: that hours match what you worked, and that overtime hours are actually at the premium rate rather than folded into regular.
Pre-tax deductions
Taken before tax is calculated, so they reduce your taxable income. Common codes:
| Code | What it is | Reduces income tax | Reduces FICA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 401K / 403B | Traditional retirement contribution | Yes | No |
| HSA | Health savings account | Yes | Usually yes |
| FSA / DCA | Flexible spending / dependent care | Yes | Yes |
| MED / DEN / VIS | Health, dental, vision premiums | Yes | Usually yes |
| ROTH | Roth retirement contribution | No — post-tax | No |
The 401(k) row is the one that surprises people: it saves you income tax but you still pay Social Security and Medicare on that money.
Taxes withheld
Four lines, sometimes five:
FED / FIT — federal income tax, based on the W-4 you filed. FICA-OASDI / SS — Social Security, 6.2% up to the annual wage base. FICA-HI / MED — Medicare, 1.45% with no cap. ST / SIT — state income tax, blank in the nine states that levy none. LOC / CITY — municipal income tax, which appears in nine states.
Check: that the state code matches where you live, and that any local tax matches your actual municipality. Local codes are the most frequently wrong line on a stub, particularly after a move or a switch to remote work — Ohio and Pennsylvania cities are common culprits.
Post-tax deductions
Taken after tax, so they do not reduce your tax bill: Roth contributions, union dues, garnishments, life insurance above the tax-free threshold, and charitable payroll giving.
Net pay
What lands in your account. Gross, minus pre-tax deductions, minus taxes, minus post-tax deductions.
Year-to-date columns
The most useful part of the stub and the most ignored. YTD figures are what you use to check whether withholding is on track, whether you are going to hit the Social Security wage base, and whether your 401(k) will reach the annual limit before December — stopping early means forfeiting employer match on the remaining months at many companies.
A worked example
$30/hr in Ohio, 40 hours, single, contributing 5% to a 401(k), paid bi-weekly:
| Line | This period | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $2,520.00 | $65,520.00 |
| 401(k) pre-tax | − $120.00 | − $3,120.00 |
| Federal income tax | − $189.75 | − $4,933.60 |
| FICA | − $174.42 | − $4,534.92 |
| Ohio state tax | − $35.15 | − $913.83 |
| Net pay | $1,880.68 | $48,897.65 |
When the number looks wrong
Work through it in order. Compare gross against hours × rate. Check that pre-tax deductions match what you elected. Then compare the tax lines against a calculation of what you would expect — if federal withholding is far off, the usual cause is a W-4 that no longer reflects your situation after a job change, a marriage, or a second income.
You can reproduce the expected figures for your own wage and state in the calculator, including city tax. If the gap persists, payroll can show you exactly which W-4 settings they hold for you.