Nebraska Paystub Generator

Reading a Nebraska pay stub, line by line

A Nebraska pay stub is one of the simplest in the country: one state line — income tax — and nothing else. Here is what each line means in 2026:

NE State Income Tax ("NE SIT", "NE State Tax"). For 2026 Nebraska taxes a single filer at 2.46% on the first $4,130 of taxable income, 3.51% up to $24,760, and 4.55% on everything above — the top rate fell from 5.20% in 2025. The 2026 standard deduction is $8,850, and your personal exemption is a $176 tax credit taken straight off the tax, not a deduction from income.

How your employer calculates it. You fill out Form W-4N; your employer runs the Department of Revenue's 2026 Circular EN tables, subtracting $2,440 a year per allowance ($93.85 per biweekly check). No W-4N on file means you are withheld as single with zero allowances. The tables top out at 4.60%, a touch above the 4.55% statutory rate, so the stub is an estimate that settles on your Form 1040N.

The 1.5% floor and bonus rate. Employers with more than 24 employees must withhold at least 1.5% of your taxable wages for Nebraska unless you document a reason for less. Bonuses, commissions and overtime paid separately can be withheld at a flat 3.5%.

What you will NOT see: a city or county income tax (Omaha and Lincoln have none — Nebraska's local option taxes are sales and use taxes), a state disability line, or a paid-family-leave deduction. Your stub carries no state program deductions at all.

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). From January 1, 2027: Social Security 6.2% up to $192,300.

Nebraska paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in Nebraska (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the standard deduction, including federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and Nebraska state income tax (2026 statutory brackets after the $8,850 standard deduction, minus the $176 personal exemption credit). Nebraska has no local income tax and no employee-paid state program deductions:

Where the money goes at $60,000: Nebraska state tax is about $1,850 — 3.1% of gross. Your stub withholds closer to $2,124 a year with one allowance (the Circular EN tables run slightly high), so about $274 typically comes back when you file. Federal income tax and FICA take the rest.

2026 is a tax-cut year: the same $60,000 paid Nebraska's 5.01%/5.20% top brackets in 2025; for 2026 everything above $24,760 of taxable income is taxed at 4.55%.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA, Nebraska 2026 rates from the Department of Revenue's 2026 rate schedule (Form 1040N-ES) after the $8,850 standard deduction, less the $176 personal exemption credit. Estimates only — your withholding depends on your W-4N allowances, credits, and pre-tax benefits.

What Nebraska jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

Nebraska's median hourly wage across all occupations is $23.55 — about 4% below the national median of $24.51 — but with a 4.55% top rate, no local income tax and no state payroll programs, more of each check stays in your pocket.

Nebraska's workforce in numbers

• 2.02 million residents, civilian labor force of 1.10 million, unemployment 2.9% (Census 2025 estimate; BLS, July 2026 preliminary)
• 154,971 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — about one for every 13 residents, and 2.7 times the number of businesses with employees
• 923,066 people on employer payrolls at 56,503 establishments, earning $53.1 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $62,400 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

Nebraska pay rules — the answers people actually need

Final paycheck: the next regular payday or within two weeks of termination, whichever comes first. Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-1230(4) applies the same deadline whether you quit, were fired, or were laid off by a private employer. Public employers (political subdivisions) follow a separate schedule tied to their governing body's meetings.

Pay frequency: Nebraska requires pay on regular paydays set by the employer or agreed with you, and 30 days' written notice before those paydays change (48-1230(1)). Deductions are allowed only when required or permitted by law, ordered by a court, or authorized by you in writing.

Is a pay stub required? Yes. On each regular payday your employer must deliver or make available — by mail, electronically, or at your workplace — a wage statement showing at minimum the employer's identity, the hours you were paid for, the wages earned, and the deductions made (48-1230(2)). Hours can be left off for overtime-exempt salaried staff unless the employer pays them overtime or hour-based pay.

Minimum wage: $15.00 an hour in 2026, the final step of the 2022 voter initiative (48-1203). Tipped workers can be paid a $2.13 cash wage as long as wage plus tips reaches $15.00; 14- and 15-year-olds can be paid a $13.50 youth wage. From January 1, 2027 the rate rises 1.75% every year, with the new figure published by the Department of Labor each October 15. The law covers employers with four or more employees.

Payroll debit cards: if you are paid on a card, your employer must give you at least one free way each pay period to withdraw up to your full net pay (48-1230(3)).

Local taxes in Nebraska: none on your paycheck

Nebraska has no city or county income tax. The state's withholding rules (Circular EN) cover state income tax only, and cities and counties raise local revenue through local option sales and use taxes of ½% to 2% — which you pay at the register, never on your stub.

That means a worker in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island or Scottsbluff sees the same deductions at the same salary: federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, and Nebraska state income tax.

How Nebraska compares with its neighbors (take-home on $60,000, 2026 est.)

South Dakota and Wyoming charge no state income tax, so a $60,000 earner there keeps about $1,850 more than in Nebraska. Against its income-tax neighbors, Nebraska's 2026 cut to 4.55% keeps it competitive — compare the rows above.

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