$15 an Hour Is How Much a Year After Taxes?

$15 an hour is a common wage benchmark, whether you're evaluating a job offer, budgeting for a new role, or just curious what it adds up to over a full year. Here's the full breakdown, before and after taxes.

Converting $15/hour to an annual salary

Full-time, 40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year:

  • $15 × 40 hours = $600/week
  • $600 × 52 weeks = $31,200/year gross

That's your gross annual salary equivalent — before any taxes or deductions come out.

Worked example: $31,200 salary, single filer, no state tax

  • Standard deduction (2026): $16,100
  • Taxable income: $31,200 − $16,100 = $15,100
  • Federal tax owed: 10% on the full $15,100 (still within the first bracket) = $1,510
  • Social Security: 6.2% × $31,200 = $1,934.40
  • Medicare: 1.45% × $31,200 = $452.40
  • Total tax: $3,896.80
  • Annual take-home pay: $27,303.20

Broken down by pay frequency:

Pay frequencyTake-home pay
Monthly~$2,275
Biweekly (26 pay periods)~$1,050
Weekly~$525
Hourly equivalent (after tax)~$13.13/hour

That's an effective tax rate of about 12.5% — entirely within the lowest federal bracket, since the standard deduction covers roughly half of gross income at this wage level.

How state taxes change this number

In a no-tax state, the $27,303.20 figure stands as-is. A flat 4% state tax would take out roughly $1,250 more, bringing take-home pay down to about $26,050 — a meaningful difference at this income level, which is part of why state matters just as much as wage rate for lower and middle incomes.

What to know about part-time or fewer hours

This example assumes a full 40-hour week year-round. If you work fewer hours, take fewer weeks (like seasonal work), or take unpaid time off, your actual annual total will be lower — and your effective tax rate may drop further too, since a larger share of a smaller income stays under the standard deduction.

See your exact take-home pay

This example uses a simplified single-filer, no-state-tax scenario. For your exact take-home pay at $15/hour based on your actual hours, state, and filing status, use the PayGauge paycheck calculator.

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