Your paycheck, decoded.
Your pay stub, in plain English.
Type in the numbers from your stub and see what every line means, where each dollar went, and whether the math adds up. Free, no sign-up, and every rate comes straight from the IRS and the Social Security Administration.
Every line, translated
In this example, $452.07 comes out of a $2,500.00 paycheck before income tax is even counted. Here is what each line means and where the money went.
Example stubNot a real employee · codes vary by employer
How often you’re paid. Every two weeks means 26 paychecks a year, so some months bring three.
Find your three-paycheck months →Regular pay. What you earned before anything comes out. Also called gross pay.
See this pay as weekly, monthly or yearly →Health insurance. Your share of the premium. It comes out before taxes are figured, so it lowers them.
See what a benefit costs per paycheck →Social Security. 6.2% of your pay after health insurance. It stops for the year once you have earned $184,500 (2026).
See which paycheck it stops on →Two jobs? Check if you overpaid →Medicare. 1.45% of the same amount, with no yearly limit. Social Security and Medicare together are what a stub may call FICA.
Retirement savings. Still your money, moved into your 401(k). It lowers income tax, but not Social Security or Medicare.
Federal income tax. We don’t calculate this one. It depends on your W-4 and your whole year’s income, and so does state income tax. StubTrue covers the other lines shown here.
CiteTax, a sister site, calculates income tax →Take-home pay. What is left after every line above. Put in your own numbers to check your stub against it.
Check my paycheck →Not on this example, maybe on yours
Overtime. Hours past 40 in a week, paid at one and a half times your usual rate.
Work out an overtime week →State disability or paid leave. An insurance program only some states run, paid for out of each paycheck.
See your state’s deduction →See what it pays you while on leave →Garnishment. A court-ordered payment toward a debt or a support order. Federal law limits how much can be taken.
Check the legal maximum →Is your pay about to change?
- Got a raise?See what it adds to each paycheck. →
- Paid by the hour?See your rate as a yearly salary. →
- Bonus coming?See what comes out of it first. →
- Choosing between two job offers?Compare what each one pays per paycheck. →
- Giving someone a raise?See the full cost from the employer’s side. →
- Need a certain take-home?Find the salary that gets you there. →
- Curious about universal basic income?Model a monthly payment on top of your pay. A what-if only: no such U.S. program exists. →
Taking time off work?
Why you can trust the numbers
The rates are the government’s, not ours. Social Security and Medicare rates come from IRS Publication 15, and the yearly Social Security limit from SSA.gov. Last reviewed June 2026.
You can check every answer. Each calculator shows the formula it used and links to the rule it came from, so any number can be redone by hand.
Nothing you type is saved. The calculators run in your browser. No account, no sign-up.
StubTrue covers FICA only — it does not include federal or state income tax withholding. Informational only, not financial advice.