Hawaii Paystub Generator

Reading a Hawaii pay stub, line by line

A Hawaii pay stub has one state income tax line and, at most, two small state program lines — and no county tax anywhere in the islands. Here is what each line means in 2026:

HI State Income Tax ("HI State Tax", "HI W/H"). Hawaii runs twelve brackets from 1.4% to 11% for single filers: 1.4% on the first $9,600 of taxable income, stepping through 3.2%, 5.5%, 6.4%, 6.8% and 7.2% up to $48,000, then 7.6% on everything from $48,000 to $125,000, and 7.9%, 8.25%, 9% and 10% above that until the 11% top rate starts at $325,000. Act 46 of 2024 keeps the 2026 brackets identical to 2025 and widens them again on January 1, 2027. Before the brackets apply you subtract the $8,000 standard deduction — nearly double the $4,400 of 2024–2025 — and a $1,144 personal exemption for yourself and each dependent (a figure fixed since 1985).

How the withholding is built. You file Form HW-4 (a federal W-4 cannot be substituted) claiming allowances worth $1,144 each; your employer then also subtracts a flat $4,350 lump-sum allowance from annual wages — up from $1,650 — which is how the bigger 2026 standard deduction reaches your paycheck. The result runs through the Booklet A single table, which tops out at 7.9% over $125,000. The 8.25%–11% statutory brackets are not in the withholding table at all, so if you earn above $125,000 you are under-withheld unless you add an extra dollar amount on line 5 of the HW-4. There is no flat rate for bonuses or commissions — supplemental pay is aggregated with regular wages — and Hawaii has no "exempt" status on the HW-4, even for students and part-timers.

HI TDI ("HI SDI") — Temporary Disability Insurance. Your employer must carry disability insurance and may pass you up to half the cost, capped at 0.5% of weekly wages up to $1,500.21 — a maximum of $7.50 a week in 2026 (about $390 a year). At $60,000 the line is 0.5% × $1,153.85 = $5.77 a week. Many employers absorb it entirely, so a stub with no TDI line is normal. You become eligible for the deduction after 14 weeks of 20+ hours and $400 or more in wages in the prior 52 weeks (HRS §392-43).

HI PHC ("Medical", "Health") — Prepaid Health Care premium share. Hawaii is the only state that makes every employer buy health coverage for anyone working 20+ hours a week for four consecutive weeks and earning at least $1,387 a month (86.67 × the minimum wage). Your share of the single-coverage premium is capped at the lower of 1.5% of your wages or half the premium; the employer pays the rest. The actual amount depends on the plan — it is not a flat 1.5% tax — and dependent coverage may cost more by agreement (HRS §393-13).

What you will NOT see in 2026: a county or city income tax (0% everywhere — counties may only add a 0.5% surcharge to the general excise tax on business receipts, never on wages); an unemployment insurance deduction (HRS §383-61 says employer contributions "shall not be deducted, in whole or in part, from the wages" of employees); a paid-family-leave line (Hawaii has no PFML program); a workers' compensation premium (employer-only); or a general excise tax line (GET is a business tax on gross receipts).

Plus the federal lines on every US stub: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026), and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000).

Hawaii paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in Hawaii (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the standard deduction, including federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, Hawaii state tax (statutory brackets after the $8,000 deduction and $1,144 exemption), and the maximum 0.5% TDI employee share (capped at $390 a year). No local tax applies anywhere in Hawaii. The PHC health-premium share is left out because it depends on your employer's plan:

Where the money goes at $60,000: Hawaii state tax is $2,756 — 4.6% of gross — after the $8,000 deduction and $1,144 exemption leave $50,856 taxable. Your stub withholds about $2,947 a year ($113 per biweekly check) under Booklet A with two allowances, so roughly $190 comes back at filing. The 2026 deduction increase alone saves this earner $274 compared with 2025. TDI at the employer's maximum adds $300; federal income tax and FICA take the other 16%.

Above $125,000 the stub and the return diverge: withholding stops at 7.9%, but the return charges 8.25% from $175,000, 9% from $225,000, 10% from $275,000 and 11% from $325,000 of taxable income. If you earn in that range, put an extra dollar amount on your HW-4 or expect a balance due in April.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA, Hawaii Schedule I brackets for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024 (Department of Taxation rate schedules; Act 46, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024) after the $8,000 standard deduction (HRS §235-2.4) and $1,144 personal exemption (HRS §235-54), TDI at the 0.5% maximum employee share on the $1,500.21 weekly wage base (DLIR Disability Compensation Division, 2026). Estimates only — your withholding depends on your HW-4 allowances, your employer's TDI and PHC cost-sharing, credits, and pre-tax benefits.

What Hawaii jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

Hawaii's median hourly wage across all occupations is $27.08 — 10% above the national median of $24.51 — and the pay ladder is unusual: registered nurses ($65.54 median) out-earn software developers ($59.64), construction laborers clear $37 an hour, and waiters report a $29.99 median with tips on a $14.75 cash minimum. A nurse at the state median ($136,320) has taxable income above $125,000, so part of her tax lands in the 7.9% bracket that Booklet A never withholds.

Hawaii's workforce in numbers

• 1,432,820 residents — down 2,132 in a year and 22,447 since 2020, a fifth straight annual decline — with a civilian labor force of 690,900 and unemployment of 2.7% (Census Vintage 2025; BLS, July 2026 preliminary)
• 120,656 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — about one for every 12 residents, and 3.7 times the number of businesses with employees
• 520,043 people on employer payrolls at 32,911 establishments, earning $30.3 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $70,270; median annual $56,320 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

Hawaii pay rules — the answers people actually need

Final paycheck: fired means paid the same day. HRS §388-3(a) requires an employer that discharges you, with or without cause, to pay all wages "in full at the time of discharge" — or, if conditions prevent immediate payment, "not later than the working day following discharge." This is one of the strictest firing rules in the country; it does not soften to "next payday."

Quit? Next regular payday — unless you gave notice. If you resign, wages are due no later than the next regular payday, by the usual channel or by mail if you ask (§388-3(b)). Give at least one pay period's notice and the rule flips: you must be paid at the time of quitting. Temporary layoffs and labor-dispute suspensions pay on the next regular payday (§388-3(c)). Unused vacation is not statutory "wages" under §388-1, so a payout depends on your employer's written policy. Your employer may recover a prepaid PHC premium share from the final check (§393-13).

Pay frequency: at least twice each calendar month on paydays designated in advance, with wages due within 7 days after the pay period ends (§388-2; the Director of Labor may allow 15 days or monthly pay on application, and a workplace majority can vote by secret ballot for monthly pay). Direct deposit needs your voluntary written or electronic authorization, cannot cost you fees, and can be cancelled without retaliation.

Is a pay stub required? Yes. HRS §388-7(4) requires a "legible printed, typewritten, or handwritten record" at every payday showing your total gross compensation, the amount and purpose of each deduction, total net compensation, date of payment, and pay period covered; the employer keeps a copy for at least six years. Electronic stubs are allowed only with your written authorization and must remain accessible to you. Direct-deposit employees still get the statement. Employers must also give written notice of your pay rate and the day, hour and place of payment at hire, written or posted notice before any change, and written or posted vacation and sick-leave policies.

Minimum wage: $16.00 since January 1, 2026 for every employer in the state — no small-business, youth or city tiers (HRS §387-2, Act 114 of 2022). The next and final scheduled step is $18.00 on January 1, 2028; there is no inflation indexing after that. Tipped employees (more than $20 a month in tips) can be paid a $1.25 tip credit — a $14.75 cash wage — only if cash wage plus tips reaches at least $7.00 above the minimum, i.e. $23.00 an hour; fall short and the full $16.00 is owed. Overtime is due after 40 hours a week (§387-3). Act 115 of 2025 set a $500 minimum civil penalty for Wage and Hour Law violations.

Visitors and out-of-state employers. A nonresident working 60 or fewer days a year in Hawaii for an out-of-state employer is exempt from Hawaii withholding, as are military spouses covered by the federal relief act. Without a completed HW-4 on file, your employer must withhold as single with zero allowances.

No county taxes, no city minimum wages — Hawaii is one set of rules

Hawaii has four counties — Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Maui and Kauaʻi — and none of them taxes wages. HRS §46-16.8 and §237-8.6 limit county tax authority to a surcharge of up to 0.5% on the state general excise tax, a tax on business gross receipts that the state Director of Taxation collects. It never appears on a paycheck. A county income tax has never existed in Hawaii, so Honolulu — the state's only city of any size, with roughly a million residents — has a local income tax rate of exactly 0%.

The same goes for the wage floor. Chapter 387 is a statewide law, no county has passed its own minimum-wage ordinance, and the statute has no employer-size tiers: $16.00 an hour applies on every island, in every business, from January 1, 2026. Compare that with the county-by-county floors in Maryland or the city rates in California and Washington — a Hawaii employer with staff on Oʻahu, Maui and the Big Island runs one rate, one tip credit and one schedule.

A full-time job at $16.00 grosses $33,280 a year — $4,160 more than the same job paid at the 2025 rate of $14.00. What does vary by employer is the two optional program lines: a TDI deduction of $0 to $7.50 a week and a PHC premium share of $0 to 1.5% of wages, depending on how much of the cost your employer chooses to pass on.

Hawaii vs the states people compare it with — take-home on $60,000 (no land borders, so we use the West Coast and Nevada)

Hawaii's 12-bracket schedule looks steep on paper, but the 2026 jump to an $8,000 standard deduction pulls the state tax on $60,000 down to about $2,756 — 4.6% of gross. Washington and Nevada have no wage income tax at all, so the gap is that $2,756 plus up to $390 of TDI; against Oregon's high flat-ish brackets a Hawaii earner at this level comes out ahead. Move up the ladder and the picture flips: from $325,000 of taxable income Hawaii's 11% top rate is among the highest marginal rates in the country.

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