Alaska Paystub Generator

Reading an Alaska pay stub, line by line

An Alaska pay stub has exactly one state line — and it is not income tax. Alaska has no individual income tax, no state withholding form, and no city or borough wage tax; the only state deduction is your share of unemployment insurance. Here is what each line means in 2026:

Federal income tax. Withheld per your federal Form W-4 — the only tax form an Alaska new hire fills out. The Department of Revenue puts it plainly: "The State of Alaska currently does not have an individual income tax, therefore no employee withholding for state income tax is required." There are no Alaska allowances, no state standard deduction, and no filing-status choice that changes a state number, because there is no state number.

Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026) and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000). On a $60,000 salary these two lines take $4,590 a year — nearly all of the payroll-tax bill in Alaska.

AK UI / AK SUI / AK ESC — the one state line. Under the Alaska Employment Security Act (AS 23.20) employees pay 0.50% of the first $54,200 of wages in 2026, a maximum of $271.00 a year (2025: 0.50% of $51,700, or $258.50). The regulation calls it "Alaska Employment Security Act contributions"; payroll software prints "AK SUI", "AK UI" or "AK ESC". Once your year-to-date wages pass $54,200 the line drops to zero for the rest of the year. Alaska is one of only three states (with New Jersey and Pennsylvania) that takes an employee UI contribution — and the only one of the three with no income tax. Your employer's own UI rate (1.00% to 5.40%, experience-rated) is employer-paid and never appears as a deduction.

Worked for two or more employers this year? Each one withholds 0.50% up to the $54,200 base separately, so your combined UI can exceed $271. If the overpayment is $5 or more, file DOLWD Form 07-1466 (Employee Application for Refund) with your W-2 copies by December 31 of the following year; processing starts April 1. Your employer must give you an annual statement of the contributions withheld — in practice, W-2 Box 14.

What you will NOT see: a state income tax line, a local or borough income tax line (no Alaska municipality levies one), a state disability insurance line (Alaska has none), or a paid-family-leave premium (Alaska has no PFML program — the paid sick leave from Ballot Measure 1 is employer-paid time off, not a deduction). The Permanent Fund Dividend is not a payroll item either; it is a separate annual payment from the state to you.

Alaska paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in Alaska (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the standard deduction. With no state income tax and no local tax, the deductions in this table are federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and the 0.50% Alaska UI employee contribution (capped at $271 once wages pass $54,200):

The Alaska number at $60,000: you keep $50,119 — a 16.5% effective rate, of which only $271 (0.45% of gross) goes to the state. That is the AK UI line at its cap; the other $9,610 is federal income tax and FICA.

The UI cap binds above $54,200. A $40,000 earner pays $200 in AK UI; a $54,200 earner pays $271; a $100,000 earner also pays $271. It is the only state line on the stub and it never grows past $271 in 2026.

Full-time at $14.00 grosses $29,120 — that stub shows about $146 of AK UI for the year, plus Social Security and Medicare ($2,228) and a small federal income tax on the $13,020 above the federal standard deduction.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA, Alaska UI employee contribution at 0.50% of wages up to the $54,200 taxable wage base (Alaska DOLWD Employment Security Tax, 2026 rates). Alaska has no state or local income tax, no SDI, and no PFML. Estimates only — your withholding depends on your W-4, credits, and pre-tax benefits.

What Alaska jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

Alaska's median hourly wage across all occupations is $29.33 — 20% above the national median of $24.51 — and there is no state tax on any of it. An Alaska registered nurse at the state median ($109,480) pays the state exactly $271 for the year. The waiters' $12.65 median sits below the current minimum because the May 2025 survey period predates the July 2025 increase and excludes most tips paid outside payroll. BLS does not publish an Alaska wage estimate for software developers (only about 530 are employed in the state).

Alaska's workforce in numbers

• 737,270 residents, civilian labor force of 367,216, unemployment 4.3% (Census 2025 estimate; BLS, July 2026 preliminary)
• 61,337 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — about one for every 12 residents, and 2.8 times the number of businesses with employees
• 263,691 people on employer payrolls at 22,178 establishments, earning $19.25 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $74,720 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

Alaska pay rules — the answers people actually need

Final paycheck: three working days if you were fired, next payday if you quit. AS 23.05.140(b) says that when employment "is terminated by the employer, regardless of the cause for the termination, payment is due within three working days after the termination." Working days are Monday through Friday excluding legal holidays (8 AAC 15.910). If you quit, payment is due "at the next regular pay day that is at least three days after the employer received notice." Miss the deadline and the employer can owe your regular wage from the day you demand payment until the day you are paid, up to 90 working days (AS 23.05.140(d)). Wage claims go to the DOLWD Wage and Hour Administration in Anchorage.

Pay frequency: monthly or semi-monthly — your choice, not the employer's. AS 23.05.140(a) requires the employer to "establish monthly or semi-monthly pay periods, at the election of the employee"; only an annual initial employment contract can fix monthly pay. Alaska does not require weekly or biweekly pay — a biweekly employer is simply paying more often than the law demands. You must get written notice of your payday, place of payment, and rate at hire, and notice of any change on the payday before it takes effect (AS 23.05.160).

Is a pay stub required? Yes. 8 AAC 15.160(h) requires "a written or electronic statement of earnings and deductions for each pay period" showing your rate of pay, gross wages, net wages, the beginning and ending dates of the pay period, federal income tax, FICA, the Alaska Employment Security Act contribution by name, board or lodging deductions, advances, straight-time and overtime hours actually worked, and every other authorized deduction. Electronic stubs are expressly allowed. Direct deposit needs your voluntary authorization, to a bank of your choosing (AS 23.10.043). Deductions are limited to those required by law or agreed in writing, and can never pull you under minimum wage or under 1.5× for overtime.

Minimum wage: $14.00 from July 1, 2026, and no tip credit — ever. AS 23.10.065 steps the rate $13.00 (July 1, 2025) → $14.00 (July 1, 2026) → $15.00 (July 1, 2027), then indexes it each January 1 to Anchorage CPI-U, rounded up to the next 10 cents. The statute forbids applying tips "as a credit toward payment of the minimum hourly wage," so a server earns the full $14.00 in cash — the federal $2.13 tipped wage does not exist in Alaska. School bus drivers get twice the minimum ($28.00).

Daily overtime and a minimum-wage-linked salary floor. Alaska pays 1.5× after 8 hours in a day, not just after 40 in a week (AS 23.10.060) — one of a handful of daily-overtime states. To be exempt from overtime as an executive, administrative, or professional employee you must be paid at least 2× minimum wage × 40 hours: $1,120 a week ($58,240 a year) from July 1, 2026, rising to $1,200 a week in 2027 — above the federal FLSA threshold. Since July 1, 2025, employees also accrue paid sick leave at one hour per 30 worked, capped at 56 hours a year (15+ employees) or 40 hours (smaller employers) (AS 23.10.066).

Minimum wage in Alaska — one statewide rate, no local overrides, no local taxes (2026)

Alaska runs a single statewide minimum wage with no small-employer tier and no city or borough rates: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and the Mat-Su all use the state figure. The 2026 rate changes mid-year, so a January and an August stub at minimum wage will show different hourly rates:

On local taxes the answer is just as short: no Alaska city or borough levies an income, wage, or payroll tax, so there is never a local line on an Alaska stub. Some boroughs and cities (Juneau, the Kenai Peninsula) charge a local sales tax, but that is collected at the register, not from your paycheck. The market floor is above the minimum in most jobs: Alaska retail salespersons post a $17.93 median and customer service reps $21.71.

Alaska vs. the states people compare it with — take-home on $60,000 (Alaska has no land neighbors, so this shows Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana)

Alaska lands within a few hundred dollars of Washington — the two no-income-tax states of the Pacific Northwest — separated only by their employee-paid programs (Alaska's $271 UI line versus Washington's paid-leave and long-term-care premiums). Against Oregon, whose income tax is among the steepest on wages, the Alaska worker at $60,000 keeps several thousand dollars more. And once a year the flow reverses: the state pays residents a Permanent Fund Dividend — $1,000 plus a $200 energy relief payment for 2026 per the enacted FY2027 budget, with the official PFD page still pending its update.

(The Montana figure is a directional estimate pending that state's full data workup.)

FAQ