California Pay Stub Generator: What Every CA Pay Stub Must Show

California Labor Code Section 226 specifies the minimum information every employer must include on a wage statement. Beyond the federal requirements, California mandates the pay period dates, the employer name and address, the employee name and last four digits of the social security number, all piece-rate or hourly rates in effect during the period, and the applicable hourly rates together with the corresponding number of hours worked at each rate.

For a typical California salaried employee, a correctly completed pay stub will show gross wages, then a deduction block covering federal income tax withheld, Social Security (6.2% up to the annual wage base), Medicare (1.45%, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax if applicable), California state income tax, and California SDI.

• Gross wages for the pay period
• Federal income tax withheld (based on W-4 filing status and allowances)
• Social Security: 6.2% on wages up to the annual wage base
• Medicare: 1.45% (plus 0.9% over $200,000 for single filers)
• California state income tax (progressive, 1% to 13.3%)
• California SDI: 1.30% of gross wages in 2026 (no wage base cap)
• Net pay (gross wages minus all withholdings)

California uses a progressive income tax with ten brackets. The lowest rate is 1% on income up to $10,756 (for single filers in 2026) and the top rate is 13.3% on income over $1,000,000. For wage withholding purposes, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) publishes withholding tables each year that translate gross wages per pay period into the correct withholding amount based on the employee's DE 4 filing status.

The standard deduction used in California withholding calculations is $5,202 for single filers and $10,404 for married filing jointly. These amounts are applied before calculating the tentative withholding amount from the bracket schedule. Because California's top marginal rate is the highest of any US state, high earners working in California will see a noticeably larger state tax line on their pay stubs than employees doing equivalent work in Texas or Florida.

California SDI is an employee-paid payroll deduction that funds California's short-term disability and Paid Family Leave programs. Starting in 2024, California removed the SDI taxable wage base, meaning the 2026 rate of 1.30% applies to all wages, not just wages up to a cap. Prior years had a taxable wage base that varied annually.

SDI appears as a separate line on every California pay stub. On an annual salary of $60,000, the SDI deduction at 1.30% equals $780 for the year, or $30 per biweekly pay period. Employees who become disabled or need to care for a family member can file a claim with the EDD to draw on the benefit funded by this withholding.

The simplest way to create a California pay stub is to use a pay stub generator that knows the California SDI rate, the EDD withholding tables, and the Social Security and Medicare rates. Manual calculation using the EDD publication DE 44 (California Employer's Guide) is accurate but time-consuming, especially if the employee has a complex W-4 or DE 4.

When you generate a California pay stub with Swift Paystubs, you enter the gross pay, filing status, pay frequency, and allowances. The generator applies the current 1.30% SDI rate, looks up the correct California withholding from the EDD bracket schedule, and adds the federal FICA taxes, producing a complete pay stub that matches what a California payroll system would produce.