Academics · Adult Learning

What you earn, and what reaches the bank.

A job offer is quoted in gross pay; rent is paid from net pay. Enter an hourly rate or a salary and watch the stub fill in line by line, with the reason for every number that comes out.

Build a pay stubWhat you get

The simulator

The worked example is $22.00 an hour with four hours of overtime, paid every two weeks. Change any number and the stub follows. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Academics · Adult LearningFree

What you finish with
A line-by-line pay stub for your own job or job offer: gross pay, each deduction and tax with a plain explanation, net pay for one paycheck and for a year, what a raise or a 401(k) change does to take-home pay, and the IRS withholding worksheet with your numbers filled in.
Who it is for
Adults starting or changing jobs, students with a first paycheck, people comparing a job offer with their budget, and adult education, workforce and personal finance teachers.
Format
Browser tool. Works on a phone or computer. Print or save as PDF, a .csv spreadsheet, and a file to move your numbers between devices.
Access
Free. No account and no sign-in. Pay figures stay in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Adult Learning space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.
The worked example. Before-tax deductions come off the top, taxes are figured on what is left, and net pay is what reaches the bank.

How to use it

  1. Choose hourly or salary and enter the pay, the hours and how often you are paid.
  2. Add what comes out before tax: a 401(k) percent, your share of the health premium, an HSA or FSA amount.
  3. Pick the filing status from your Form W-4 and type the percent your state and city take.
  4. Guess the take-home pay, then check it. Tap any line on the stub to read what it is and why it is there.
  5. Try the what-if cards, open the IRS worksheet to see the steps, and print the stub for a class or a budget.

Build a pay stub

How the stub is figured

Federal figures are for 2026. The page follows the IRS worksheet employers use, in the same order, and rounds each line to the cent.

In order

  • Gross pay is rate times regular hours plus one and a half times the rate for overtime hours, or the salary divided by the paychecks in a year.
  • Before-tax deductions: a traditional 401(k) lowers the wages used for income tax but not the wages used for Social Security and Medicare. A health premium, HSA or FSA taken through payroll lowers both.
  • Federal income tax follows IRS Publication 15-T, Worksheet 1A, for a 2020 or later Form W-4: multiply taxable wages by the paychecks in a year, subtract line 1g and any Step 4(b) deductions, read the tax from the annual table, divide by the paychecks, subtract Step 3 credits and add Step 4(c).
  • Social Security is 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 for the year. Medicare is 1.45% of all wages, plus 0.9% on wages above $200,000.
  • State and local income tax is the percent you enter times the same taxable wages. After-tax deductions come out last.

What it leaves out

  • A second job or a working spouse (the Step 2 box on the W-4), which raises withholding.
  • State tables, state disability or paid-leave contributions and local wage taxes, beyond the one percent you type.
  • Tips, bonuses taxed at a flat supplemental rate, and the new federal deductions for tips and overtime, which are claimed on the tax return.
  • Yearly limits on 401(k) and HSA contributions, and employer matching.
  • Payroll systems may round the tax to the nearest dollar, so a real stub can differ by a few cents.
Filing statusStandard deductionWorksheet line 1g10% starts at12% starts at22% starts at24% starts at32% starts at35% starts at37% starts at
Single or married filing separately$16,100$8,600$7,500$19,900$57,900$113,200$209,275$263,725$648,100
Married filing jointly$32,200$12,900$19,300$44,100$120,100$230,700$422,850$531,750$788,000
Head of household$24,150$8,600$15,550$33,250$83,000$121,250$217,300$271,750$656,150

The "starts at" columns are adjusted annual wages (worksheet line 1i), from the 2026 Publication 15-T standard withholding schedules. Line 1g plus the first threshold equals the standard deduction, which is why a simple W-4 withholds about what the tax return will ask for.

The worked example, checked when the page is built. $22.00 an hour for 80 regular hours and 4 overtime hours is $1,892.00 gross. A 4% 401(k) contribution ($75.68) and a $62.50 health premium leave $1,753.82 of taxable wages, or $45,599.32 over 26 paychecks. Subtracting $8,600 gives an adjusted annual wage of $36,999.32; the table row that starts at $19,900 gives $1,240 plus 12% of the amount over $19,900, $3,291.92 a year or $126.61 a paycheck. Social Security is 6.2% of $1,829.50 ($113.43), Medicare is 1.45% ($26.53) and the example state rate of 4% takes $70.15. Net pay: $1,417.10, about 75 cents of each gross dollar.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15-T: Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods, for use in 2026: Worksheet 1A and the annual percentage method tables for Forms W-4 from 2020 or later (irs.gov).
  2. Internal Revenue Service, Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and the news release "IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026" (October 2025): the 2026 standard deduction and bracket thresholds used to cross-check the tables.
  3. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide: the employee Social Security rate of 6.2%, the Medicare rate of 1.45% and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax withheld on wages above $200,000.
  4. Social Security Administration, "Contribution and Benefit Base": $184,500 for 2026 (ssa.gov).
  5. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #23, "Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA": time and one half for hours over 40 in a workweek.
  6. Internal Revenue Service, Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate (2026): Steps 1(c), 2, 3 and 4.

An estimate for learning, not tax, legal or payroll advice. The simulator assumes one job, a 2020 or later Form W-4 with the Step 2 box not checked, and the 2026 federal figures listed above; state and local rules vary and are entered by you. The worked example is made up. For your own withholding, the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator at irs.gov uses your full situation. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.