Washington Paystub Generator

Reading a Washington pay stub, line by line

Washington has no state income tax — yet a Washington pay stub still carries three state deductions most Americans never see, including the country's only public long-term-care premium. Here is what each line means in 2026:

WA Paid Family & Medical Leave (labels vary: "WA PFML", "WA Paid Leave", "PFML EE"). The 2026 total premium is 1.13% of gross wages up to the Social Security cap of $184,500, and employees pay 71.43% of it — about 0.81% of every paycheck. Employers with 50 or more Washington employees pay the other 28.57%; smaller employers skip their share but still withhold yours. The rate jumped from 0.92% in 2025, so a $60,000 earner now pays about $484 a year ($19 per biweekly check). The program pays up to 12 weeks (18 combined) of leave for a new child, a serious illness, or a family member's care.

WA Cares Fund (recommended labels: "WA Cares Fund" or "WA Cares LTC"). 0.58% of gross wages, no cap, entirely employee-paid — withheld since July 2023. It is the first public long-term-care insurance program in the United States; benefits (a $36,500 lifetime amount, inflation-indexed) became payable July 1, 2026. Unlike Paid Leave, tips are excluded from the base. Workers who live outside Washington, hold a temporary work visa, or are military spouses can apply for an exemption — once approved, the line disappears and so does the benefit.

L&I workers' compensation — worker portion (label varies: "WA L&I", "WC EE", "Medical Aid"). Washington is nearly unique in letting employers deduct part of the workers' comp premium from pay. Premiums are charged per hour worked, by the employer's risk class, and the worker may be charged at most half the Medical Aid Fund and half the Supplemental Pension Fund rates — never any of the Accident Fund. The 2026 statewide average worker share is $0.189 per hour, about $363 a year for a full-time job (roughly a quarter of the total premium). Deducting more than the legal half is a gross misdemeanor under RCW 51.16.140.

What you will NOT see: state income tax (none — and the 9.9% tax on income over $1 million that starts in 2028 has no paycheck withholding at all), local income tax (none anywhere in the state), the capital-gains excise tax (paid by annual return only), or unemployment insurance — RCW 50.24.010 makes any employee UI deduction "unlawful". Seattle's payroll expense tax is likewise employer-only; the city's own guidance says employers are barred from withholding it.

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).

Washington paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in Washington (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the standard deduction, including federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, the employee share of WA Paid Leave, WA Cares, and the average worker portion of L&I premiums:

What the three Washington lines cost at $60,000: Paid Leave ≈ $484, WA Cares $348, L&I worker share ≈ $363 — about $1,195 a year, or 2.0% of gross. That is the whole state bite; everything else on the stub is federal. A software developer at the state median ($166,540) pays about $1,344 for Paid Leave and $966 for WA Cares.

Hourly workers: the L&I line is charged per hour, not per dollar, so it is a bigger share of a minimum-wage check (about 1.1% at $17.13/hr) than of a salaried one. Your actual rate depends on your employer's risk class — restaurants, for example, run about $0.51/hr total premium in 2026.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA; WA Paid Family & Medical Leave 1.13% × 71.43% employee share on wages to $184,500 (ESD); WA Cares 0.58% uncapped (RCW 50B.04.080); L&I 2026 statewide average worker portion $0.189 per hour × 1,920 hours (L&I rate notice). Estimates only — your withholding depends on your W-4, credits, pre-tax benefits, and your employer's L&I risk class.

What Washington jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

Washington's median hourly wage across all occupations is $30.28 — 24% above the national median of $24.51 and higher than California's $28.00. Because Washington bans tip credits, its waiters post one of the highest medians in the country ($26.98 including tips), against $17.35 in California and $11.18 in Texas.

Washington's workforce in numbers

• 8.0 million residents, civilian labor force of 4.0 million, unemployment 5.0% (Census 2025 estimate; BLS, July 2026 preliminary)
• 545,903 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — 480,298 of them sole proprietorships, and none of them covered by WA Cares or Paid Leave unless they opt in
• 3.1 million people on employer payrolls at 202,177 establishments, earning $252 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $83,330 — among the highest of any state (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

Washington pay rules — the answers people actually need

Final paycheck: on or before the next regular payday, whether you quit or were fired. RCW 49.48.010 says wages are due "at the end of the established pay period", and L&I's plain-English rule is the same for both kinds of separation. There is no accelerated deadline for a firing, unlike California or Texas.

Pay frequency: at least monthly, on a regular payday the employer sets in advance (WAC 296-126-023). For pay periods shorter than a month, payday can be no more than 10 calendar days after the period ends; monthly employers may hold the last seven days of a month to the next check. Overtime is due by the regular payday for the period it was earned (or the following one if it takes time to calculate).

Is a pay stub required? Yes. WAC 296-126-040 requires "an itemized statement showing the pay basis (i.e., hours or days worked), rate or rates of pay, gross wages and all deductions for that pay period" with every payment of wages. It must be a separate written document each payday that identifies the pay period by month, day, and year; electronic stubs are fine only if you can access and copy them on payday.

Overtime exemption is tied to the minimum wage. In 2026 a salaried worker must earn at least 2.25 × the state minimum wage — $1,541.70 a week ($80,168.40 a year) — to be treated as exempt from overtime, regardless of employer size. The multiplier rises to 2.5× by 2028. Salaried employees under that line are owed time-and-a-half after 40 hours.

City minimum wages above the state floor (2026)

Washington's $17.13 state minimum (up 2.8% from $16.66; CPI-adjusted every January 1; 14–15-year-olds may be paid 85%, $14.56) is the highest of any state — and several King County cities go well past it. Tipped workers get the full rate everywhere: Washington has no tip credit.

Everett, Burien, and unincorporated King County also set rates above the state floor. A full-time Seattle minimum-wage job grosses $44,304 a year — $8,674 more than the same job in Spokane at the state rate.

Seattle's payroll expense tax is not on your stub. It applies only to employers with more than $9 million in Seattle payroll and at least one employee earning $194,452 or more, at 0.746%–2.557% of that payroll — and the ordinance bars employers from withholding any of it from employees.

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

Washington's three program lines cost a $60,000 earner about $1,195 a year — a fraction of the roughly $5,000 an Oregon resident loses to state income tax and Paid Leave Oregon at the same salary. That gap is why so many people work in Portland and live in Vancouver, WA: Oregon taxes nonresidents on Oregon-source wages, so the trick only works in reverse for Washington-based jobs.

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

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