Interactive guide US pay stub basics 5 sections to explore

Understanding your pay stub

Use the interactive guide below to explore the main sections of a US pay stub: pay period details, gross earnings, benefit deductions, retirement contributions, and take-home pay.

Interactive sample

Click through each pay stub section

Select a section below to see a plain-English explanation and a checklist of what to verify on your own pay stub.

Selected section

Pay period details details are shown below.

Midwest Services LLC

Columbus, OH 43215 · Employer ID: 31-1042000

Pay Statement

Pay Date: 06/20/2026

Period: 06/01/2026 – 06/15/2026

Earnings

Rate

Current

YTD

Total Gross Earnings $3,200.00 $38,400.00

Pre-Tax Benefit Deductions

Type

Current

YTD

Total Benefit Deductions $296.00 $3,552.00

Employer Contributions (not deducted from your pay)

Current

YTD

Sample pay stub for educational purposes only. Actual stubs include federal, state (Ohio), and local tax withholdings which further reduce take-home pay. Contact your HR or payroll department with questions about your own pay.

Who and when

Pay period details

These fields confirm the pay stub belongs to you and covers the correct pay period.

What it means

Check your name, employer, and pay date before reviewing any figures.
The pay period tells you which weeks or salary cycle the stub covers.
Any discrepancy here should be raised with HR or payroll before anything else.

What to check on your own stub

Your name and employee ID are correct.
The pay date and period match the work cycle you expected.
Your job title or department has not changed unexpectedly.

Before deductions

Gross earnings

Gross pay is your total earnings before any deductions come off.

What it means

It typically includes base salary and may include overtime, bonuses, shift differentials, or reimbursements.
A pay rise in gross earnings does not always produce the same rise in take-home pay.
If your hours vary, compare gross pay against your timesheet or approved schedule.

What to check on your own stub

Base pay matches your agreed hourly rate or monthly salary.
Overtime, bonus, or commission lines appear when you expected them.
You can explain any change from the previous pay stub.

What comes off

Benefit deductions

Pre-tax benefit deductions reduce gross pay to your take-home amount. They include health insurance, dental, vision, and other elected benefits.

What it means

Pre-tax deductions — health, dental, vision, and 401(k) — are taken from gross pay before other withholdings apply.
These elections are set during open enrollment and only change if you update your benefits.
A new or changed deduction line appearing without explanation is worth confirming with HR.

What to check on your own stub

All benefit amounts match the elections you made at open enrollment.
No unexpected new deduction has appeared on the stub.
The deduction amounts have not changed since your last enrollment period.

Retirement savings

401(k) contribution

Your 401(k) employee contribution and any employer match are shown separately. The employer match is additional — it does not reduce your pay.

What it means

Your employee contribution is deducted from gross pay each period and invested for retirement.
The employer match is money your company adds on top — it does not come out of your paycheck.
Your contribution rate is set in your plan portal; the stub confirms the correct amount is being withheld.

What to check on your own stub

The employee deduction matches the contribution percentage you selected.
The employer match line appears and reflects your plan's matching formula.
A contribution pause or rate change has not occurred without your action.

Take-home pay

Net pay

Net pay is the amount deposited into your bank account after all benefit deductions. Real stubs also include federal, state, and local tax withholdings.

What it means

This is the figure to use when planning your monthly budget.
A net pay change may come from a raise, a benefit change, an overtime month, or a 401(k) rate adjustment.
Comparing several stubs side by side usually explains a shift more clearly than looking at one alone.

What to check on your own stub

The deposit amount in your bank matches net pay on the stub.
You can trace any large shift in net pay back to a specific stub line.
If amounts differ, check for separate expense reimbursements paid outside payroll.

Quick checklist

What to review each pay day

Confirm the pay period and pay date match the cycle you expected.
Check gross earnings against your contract rate and any approved hours.
Verify benefit deductions match your open enrollment elections.
Confirm your 401(k) contribution is being deducted and the employer match is showing.
Save stubs throughout the year — they make it easier to trace changes over time.

What affects take-home pay

Why your net pay can change

Earnings changes

Overtime, bonus, commission, unpaid leave, or a salary adjustment all affect gross pay first.

Benefit elections

Changing health, dental, or vision coverage during open enrollment adjusts deductions from the next pay period.

W-4 withholding changes

Updating your W-4 on file changes how much is withheld each period. Your HR team can walk you through this.

Retirement contributions

Increasing your 401(k) rate lowers take-home now but grows long-term retirement savings over time.

Plain-English glossary

Pay stub terms worth knowing

Gross pay

Total earnings before any deductions are taken off.

Net pay

Take-home pay after all deductions, including benefits and tax withholdings.

Pay period

The date range your stub covers — weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly are most common in the US.

401(k) contribution

Money withheld from your gross pay each period and placed into your retirement savings account.

Employer match

Additional retirement savings your employer contributes — this does not reduce your take-home pay.

Pre-tax deductions

Benefit elections (health, dental, vision) deducted from gross pay before other withholdings apply.

YTD (Year-to-date)

Running totals for gross pay, deductions, and net pay since January 1 of the current year.

Direct deposit

Electronic transfer of net pay directly into your bank account each pay period.

If something looks wrong

Useful next steps

Contact your HR or payroll department

The first point of contact for any pay stub discrepancy is your employer's HR or payroll team.

Review your benefits enrollment portal

Confirm that deductions on the stub match the elections in your benefits system.

Take the pay stub quiz

Test what you have learned with a short quiz.

Next step

Ready to test yourself?

Once you can identify the main lines on a pay stub, a short quiz is a quick way to check what has stuck.

Take the Quiz