TruWage
For servers, bartenders and hourly workers

Is your paycheck right? Check it line by line.

TruWage compares your pay stub with the wage law in your state: tip credit, overtime, deductions, tip pools and more. If something is short, it shows the amount, the rule, and where the rule comes from.

  • Nothing you type leaves your device
  • Free, no account
  • English and Spanish
  • 51 jurisdictions: all 50 states and DC
  • 10 checks on every stub
  • Every rule links to its source
  • Rules last checked October 2026
How it works

Three minutes with a pay stub

You do not need to know the law. You need your stub and a rough idea of your hours and tips.

  1. Enter your stub

    Hours, rates, tips reported, gross pay and deductions. In the app you scan the stub with your camera or import the payroll PDF.

  2. Add your hours and tips

    Your own count of hours and tips for each workweek. That is what the stub gets compared with.

  3. See what is owed and why

    Each check passes, fails or needs a closer look. Anything short shows the dollar amount and the rule behind it.

What gets checked

Ten checks, run against your state's rules

Where your state and federal law differ, the rule that protects you more is the one used. That is how the law works too.

Hours

Do the hours on the stub match the hours you actually worked?

Gross pay math

Do hours times rates, plus tips and other pay, add up to the gross?

Minimum wage

Did your cash wage plus the tips you kept reach minimum wage every week?

Tip credit

Is your employer allowed to count your tips toward the wage, and is the cash wage high enough?

Overtime

Are hours past 40 a week (or past 8 a day in some states) paid at the right overtime rate?

Missed breaks

In states that pay a premium for missed meal or rest breaks, is it on the check?

Deductions

Are uniform, shortage, breakage, walkout or card-fee deductions allowed where you work?

Tip pool

Are managers or anyone else who may not share in tips taking a cut of the pool?

Service charges

Are mandatory service charges being passed off as tips?

Social Security and Medicare

Is Social Security and Medicare withheld on the right amount, no more?

How each check works

State by state

What your state requires

Minimum wage, the tipped cash wage, overtime, breaks, deductions and tip pools for all 50 states and DC. Tap a state.

  • Full minimum wage before tips
  • Tip credit, cash wage above $2.13
  • Federal $2.13 cash wage

Compare every state

When something is off

Ask about it, with the letter already written

Many short paychecks are honest mistakes that get fixed once someone points at the numbers. TruWage writes a short, polite note to your manager or payroll that does exactly that.

  • Lists each problem with the dollar amount
  • Plain and friendly, not a legal threat
  • In English or Spanish, ready to copy or print
See the letter template

Hello,

I went over my paycheck for September 14 to September 27, and a few items don't add up for me. Could you take a look?

My overtime rate looks too low. For a tipped employee, the overtime rate is one and a half times the full minimum wage, minus the tip credit. For this pay period the difference is $5.12.

A $25.00 uniform deduction brings my pay below the minimum for the hours I worked. The part below the minimum comes to $22.87.

By my count, the shortfall on this check comes to $27.99.

Could you review these items and let me know whether a correction will be made? Thank you.

Private by design

Your pay stub is nobody else's business

A pay stub has your name, your employer and what you earn. TruWage is built so it never has to see any of it.

Checked on your device

The checker on this site runs in your browser and the app runs on your phone. Your numbers are not sent to us or anyone else.

Every rule shows its source

Each result names the statute or regulation and links to the official page it came from, so you can see for yourself.

No ads, no lawyer referrals

No ad trackers, no selling leads to law firms, no account to sign up for.

Cashout TruWage
Pairs with Cashout

Already track your tips in Cashout?

Cashout is our tip and shift tracker. Sign in from TruWage and your jobs, rates and shifts come across, so the hours and tips for each check are already filled in.

About Cashout and TruWage
Questions

Common questions

Is TruWage free?

The paycheck checker on this site is free, with no account and no ads. The state law pages and guides are free too.

Is this legal advice?

No. TruWage is a calculator. It applies the published wage rules for your state to the numbers you enter and shows its work. It cannot see everything about your job, so treat a result as a reason to ask questions, not as a verdict.

Which states does it cover?

All 50 states and the District of Columbia, plus federal law. Each state page shows the date its rules were last checked. City and county minimum wages are not included yet; the state page tells you when your area has one.

Does my pay stub get uploaded anywhere?

No. On this site, everything you type stays in your browser and the page never sends it anywhere. In the app, scanning reads the stub on your phone. The privacy page lists exactly what the site and app send and to whom.

What if it says I was underpaid?

Start by asking your manager or payroll, with the numbers in front of you. Many mistakes get fixed that way. If it is not fixed, every state page lists the agency that takes wage claims. Filing is free and you do not need a lawyer.

How current are the rules?

Each state's rules come from the state labor agency's own pages and laws, and each state page shows the date they were last verified. Many scheduled increases, like a new minimum wage on January 1, are already in the rules with their start dates, but not every announced increase is on file yet.

What can it not check?

City and county minimum wages, rules that depend on how big your employer is, and anything that does not show up on a stub or in your own records, like how much of your shift went to untipped side work. Each state page lists these limits so you know when a result might be off.

TruWage for iPhone and Android is almost here

Scan a stub with your camera, keep a history of every check, and get a reminder on payday. Leave your email and you will get one message when it is out.

One email when the app is out. No newsletter, no sharing.