Home › Hourly to salary
$15 an Hour Is How Much a Year?
At 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, $15 an hour is $31,200 a year before tax — about $2,600 a month and $600 a week. After estimated federal tax and FICA you keep roughly $26,847.
The math
$15 × 40 hours × 52 weeks = $31,200. If your schedule is different, the total moves with you:
| Hours per week | Annual | Monthly | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 (part time) | $15,600 | $1,300 | $300 |
| 37.5 | $29,250 | $2,438 | $563 |
| 40 (full time) | $31,200 | $2,600 | $600 |
| 45 | $35,100 | $2,925 | $675 |
| 50 | $39,000 | $3,250 | $750 |
Most hourly jobs pay for actual hours worked, so a week off without pay removes roughly $600 from your year. Federal law (FLSA) requires 1.5× pay for hours over 40 in a workweek for most non-exempt employees; if you regularly work 45 hours at $15, overtime pushes the year to $37,050.
What $15 an hour looks like after tax
For a single filer with no dependents in California, $31,200 gross works out to about $26,847 take-home a year — $2,237 a month, or $12.91 for every hour worked. That is an effective rate of 14.0% across federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security and Medicare.
| Item | Annual | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $31,200 | $2,600 |
| Federal income tax | −$1,564 | −$130 |
| State income tax | −$402 | −$34 |
| Social Security + Medicare | −$2,387 | −$199 |
| Take-home | $26,847 | $2,237 |
Is $15 an hour a good wage?
The median full-time annual wage in the United States is about $48,940. $31,200 sits below that line by $17,740, which is 64% of the median. On a 40-hour week the federal minimum wage of $7.25 brings in $15,080, so $15 is 2.1× the floor.