$15 an Hour Is How Much a Year?

$15 per hour multiplied by 2,080 work hours (40 hours per week, 52 weeks) equals $31,200 per year gross. With two weeks of unpaid time off, the denominator drops to 2,000 hours and annual gross becomes $30,000. Federal income tax plus FICA at $31,200 totals approximately $3,961 per year in a no-state-tax state, leaving roughly $27,239 take-home (about $2,270 per month). State income tax in California, New York, or other high-tax states reduces this further. See the per-state breakdown above.

$15 per hour at 40 hours per week for 52 weeks produces $31,200 gross per year, or $2,600 gross per month. After federal income tax and FICA (no state tax baseline), monthly take-home is approximately $2,270. In a high-tax state like California or New York, monthly take-home drops to roughly $2,105 (NYC, with city tax) or $2,236 (Los Angeles).

$15 per hour at 40 hours per week equals $600 gross per week. Bi-weekly gross is $1,200 (26 paychecks per year). Three months in each calendar year contain 3 bi-weekly paychecks instead of the usual 2, which is a common cashflow planning anchor. See biweeklysalarycalculator.com for the 3-paycheck month calendar.

$15/hr is the de-facto entry-wage benchmark in retail, food service, and warehouse roles in many metros. Several states (CA, NY, MA, WA) have $15+ statutory minimums. Whether $31,200 per year covers a comfortable cost of living depends on your metro. In Austin or Houston (no state tax, Numbeo COL index roughly 80), $31,200 per year is approximately 142% of median 1BR rent at the 50% needs allocation. In NYC or SF, the same gross covers a much smaller share of median rent.

At $15 per hour for 35 hours per week and 52 weeks, annual gross is $27,300 (a 12.5% reduction from the 40-hour baseline of $31,200). Federal tax brackets are progressive, so the take-home reduction is roughly proportional but the effective tax rate drops slightly because more income falls in lower brackets.

No. This calculator uses regular hours only. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (DOL Fact Sheet 23), non-exempt workers earn 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 per week. At $15 regular rate, overtime is $22.50/hr. Five hours of overtime per week for 52 weeks adds $5,850 to annual gross. See /overtime-impact for full overtime calc.