Pay stub requirements by state.

The table

Click a column heading to sort. The last column gives the citation and a link to the text we read. A dagger (†) marks a source that is a mirror, an older publication or an agency summary instead of the official current text; the methodology below lists why.

What federal law does and does not require

The Fair Labor Standards Act makes employers keep payroll records. The statute (29 U.S.C. 211(c)) requires records of wages and hours, and the regulation (29 CFR 516.2) lists them, including the total wages paid each pay period and the date of payment. Payroll records are kept for 3 years under 29 CFR 516.5. Those provisions describe what the employer keeps. We found nothing in them that tells the employer to hand the employee a copy each payday, so the obligation to give a pay stub comes from state law, and it is state law that this page tracks.

That gap is why a worker in Alabama and a worker in California can be paid the same hourly rate and have opposite rights to see how the check was computed. Alabama's own labor department says the state has no wage-and-hour laws of its own; California names nine items the statement must contain and prices a missing one at up to $4,000 per employee.

Why published state counts disagree

Pay stub roundups we read in October 2026 gave totals anywhere from the mid-20s to "more than 40" states. One 2026 vendor table lists nine states with no pay stub statute and includes Ohio, which changed in April 2025. The disagreement is mostly about classification, not facts:

• Deductions-only duties. Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming require a statement of deductions, not of earnings. A list that counts them reports a higher total than a list that wants hours, rates and gross pay.
• Scoped duties. Texas imposes its earnings-statement rule only on employees outside the federal FLSA. Indiana's statement duty rides on its own minimum wage law. Arizona's applies when pay goes by direct deposit or payroll card. Florida's applies to labor pools. Missouri's applies to corporations and railroads.
• Recent change. Illinois added a defined pay stub on 1 January 2025 and Ohio on 9 April 2025. Any list written before then is wrong for those two.
• Rule versus statute. Alaska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Vermont lean on agency regulations or guidance rather than a section of the statutes.

This table keeps those categories apart instead of forcing a yes or no. On our reading 29 jurisdictions require a full statement, 10 require a deductions-only statement, 5 apply a limited rule and 7 have no general rule.

Methodology and verified date

Each row was built from the primary text where we could reach it: a state legislature or code site, a state agency regulation or an agency publication. We read the cited text on October 20, 2026; nothing here is a search-volume or ranking claim. Rules we placed in each type:

• Full statement: the cited rule requires a statement of earnings or hours with deductions each pay period (or each payment). A size or coverage limit in the rule, for example Delaware (over 3 employees), South Carolina (five or more employees) or New Jersey (10 or more for the earnings fields), is noted in the row.
• Deductions only: the rule requires a statement of the deductions taken, or makes the fuller record available only on request.
• Limited scope: the duty exists but applies only to a subset described in the row.
• No general rule: after reading the wage-payment section or the agency statement cited in the row we found no duty to give the employee a statement. That is a negative finding; confirm with the state labor agency before relying on it.

Daggers. Rows marked with a dagger rest on weaker text. California, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont. Reasons: the official site refused automated access or could not be reached from our verification network (California, Georgia copy, Massachusetts electronic guidance, New Jersey, North Carolina statute, New Mexico, Ohio), the source is an open copy of a code or a mirror (Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, California), an agency summary stands in for statute text (Indiana, Oklahoma, Vermont), or the text we read is dated (Utah 2014 version, Vermont 2019 pamphlet). Treat a dagger row as a pointer to the official text, not a final answer.

Not covered: city or county ordinances, union contracts, public employer rules, which state governs a remote worker, and independent contractors. The New York Department of Labor, for example, states that its wage statement rules do not reach employees who work in other states.

Five states where the details change the answer

Most states ask for a short list: hours, rate, gross, deductions, net. Five are worth reading in full because the rule, the remedy or the history differs from the pattern:

• California: nine named items, a piece-rate add-on, a paid sick leave line, a 21-day copy right and a $4,000 aggregate penalty.
• New York: a wage statement with every payment, $250 a work day in damages up to $5,000, and 6-year payroll records.
• Illinois: a statutory definition that includes year-to-date totals, and detailed rules for copies to current and former employees.
• Massachusetts: one of the shortest statutes, with treble damages that attach to lost wages, not to the stub itself.
• Ohio: new since 9 April 2025, with a written-request-then-10-days remedy and no money damages in the pay stub section.

For the meaning of each line once you have a stub in hand, see Pay stub explained. To estimate what should be on it, use the paycheck calculator by state.

How to read the format column

Three models of electronic delivery appear in the table. Some states require the employee's consent or authorization before the employer goes paperless (Connecticut, Hawaii, Oregon). Some allow electronic delivery only if the employee can reach and print the statement, often with a computer supplied by the employer (Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Washington, West Virginia). A third group says paper or electronic without conditions (Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma). Where the cell says the statute is silent, that is what we read; silence is not a ban or a permission, and agency guidance may fill it. If you are an employee and cannot open or print your stub, say so in writing to payroll; in several states that is exactly the access the rule is protecting.

Retention is the thinnest column on purpose. Most stub rules do not set a retention period for the stub itself; where the same section sets a records period, it is shown (for example 3 years in California, Colorado, Illinois and Virginia, 6 years in New York, and 6 years for Hawaii's electronic statements). A dash means the cited provision does not say, and the 3-year federal payroll-record minimum still applies to the underlying records.

Worked example: two employees, same job

Two cooks do the same work for the same chain, one in Illinois and one in Alabama. The Illinois row is a full-statement state, so the Illinois cook can expect hours, pay rate, overtime, gross wages, deductions and year-to-date totals on each stub, and can ask for copies later. The Alabama row is one of the seven with no general rule, so the Alabama cook has no state statutory right to a stub, although the employer must still keep payroll records under federal law.

Sources

Each link was opened and read on October 20, 2026 (retrieved 2026-10). Items marked with a dagger are explained after the list.

• 29 U.S.C. 211(c) — employers must make, keep and preserve wage and hour records; the section requires records, and we found no sentence in it that requires giving the employee a copy.
• 29 CFR 516.2 — the payroll items an employer must record, including total wages paid each pay period and the date of payment.
• 29 CFR 516.5 — payroll records are preserved for 3 years.
• Alabama Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Info — states that Alabama has no state wage and hour laws.
• NYSDOL Wage Theft Prevention Act FAQ — the New York wage statement rule does not reach employees who work in other states.
• Texas Workforce Commission, delivery of wages — Texas earnings statements are not required for FLSA-covered employees.
• Illinois Public Act 103-0953 — defines pay stub including year-to-date totals.

† The official current text could not be opened by our automated check, or the link is a mirror, an open copy or a secondary summary of it. Use it as a pointer and read the official text before relying on it.