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

What $15 an hour leaves after federal taxes

A 40-hour week at $15 an hour pays 15 x 40 = 600. Across 52 paid weeks that is 600 x 52 = 31,200, so $15 an hour is $31,200 a year before any deduction touches it.

Two federal charges come off that total. FICA takes 2,386.80 and federal income tax takes 1,564.00 for a single filer who claims the standard deduction. The money left over is 31,200 - 3,950.80 = 27,249.20, which averages 2,270.77 a month.

Per hour, the split is 13.10 kept and 1.90 withheld. Combined federal charges equal 12.66 percent of gross pay, a smaller share than the 12 percent bracket on your last dollar suggests, because the 16,100 standard deduction removes the first slice of income from tax.

One check on the arithmetic: 3,950.80 / 31,200 = 12.66 percent, and 27,249.20 / 2,080 = 13.10 an hour. Both numbers come from the same two withholdings, so any change in hours or filing status moves them together.

The rest of this page follows each piece of that 3,950.80, shows what happens at 20, 25 and 30 hours, and adds a state wage tax on top.

FICA comes to $2,386.80 before income tax starts

FICA is the payroll tax split between Social Security at 6.2 percent and Medicare at 1.45 percent, or 7.65 percent together. It starts at the first dollar earned and ignores the standard deduction, dependents and filing status.

On 31,200 of wages, Social Security takes 31,200 x 0.062 = 1,934.40 and Medicare takes 31,200 x 0.0145 = 452.40. The two add to 2,386.80, which is 1.15 out of every hour on the clock.

The Social Security piece stops once wages pass the 2026 wage base of 184,500, listed on the Social Security Administration contribution and benefit base page. A $15 wage sits far below that ceiling, so the whole year is taxed at the full 6.2 percent. Medicare has no ceiling, and the extra 0.9 percent surtax begins above 200,000, which is also out of reach at this rate.

Payroll timing changes the size of each bite without changing the yearly total. A weekly check gives up 45.90, a biweekly check 91.80, and a monthly check 198.90.

Why federal income tax lands at $1,564

The IRS sets the 2026 standard deduction at 16,100 for a single filer, 32,200 for a married couple filing jointly and 24,150 for a head of household, as published in the IRS inflation adjustments for tax year 2026. Subtract 16,100 from 31,200 and 15,100 is left to tax.

That 15,100 is taxed in layers. The first 12,400 sits in the 10 percent bracket and owes 12,400 x 0.10 = 1,240. The next 2,700 sits in the 12 percent bracket and owes 2,700 x 0.12 = 324. The layers add to 1,564.00, so income tax equals 5.01 percent of the whole 31,200 even though the marginal rate is 12 percent.

Filing status moves this figure a lot at $15 an hour. A joint return gets a 32,200 deduction that covers the entire 31,200, so income tax falls to zero and take-home rises to 28,813.20. A head of household gets 24,150, which leaves 7,050 taxable and a bill of 705.00, for take-home of 28,108.20.

For a single earner with no other income, marriage changes only the income tax. FICA stays at 2,386.80 in every column.

Every paycheck, and the month that hides a check

The 31,200 arrives in pieces that depend on the payroll calendar. The table uses a single filer with the standard deduction, no state tax and no pretax benefits.

Two things trip people up. A biweekly check of 1,200 is not half a month, because 26 of them make the year, while 24 semi-monthly checks of 1,300 also make the year. And a worker paid every two weeks gets 26 checks, which means two months hold three paydays and the other ten hold two.

Semi-monthly and monthly figures carry a rounding error of a cent or two when multiplied back out, because 31,200 does not divide evenly by 12 or 24. The yearly row is the number to trust, and the smaller rows are there for budgeting.

The monthly column is a planning average. A household that budgets 2,270.77 a month looks short in a two-check month that deposits 2,096.10, and long in a three-check month that deposits 3,144.15. Neither month is a payroll error.

Part-time at 20, 25 and 30 hours

A short schedule cuts gross pay faster than it cuts tax, so net pay per hour rises as hours fall. This is the one place where working less looks better in percentage terms.

At 20 hours the 15,600 falls under the 16,100 deduction, so income tax is zero and only FICA comes out. That leaves 13.85 an hour, which is 0.75 more than a full-time week pays net. The gain is small next to the loss, since the 20-hour year brings in 12,842.60 less than the 40-hour year.

Thirty hours is the common middle ground. It pays 23,400 gross, leaves 20,879.90 after 1,790.10 of FICA and 730.00 of income tax, and gives up 6,369.30 against full time. Twenty-five hours leaves 17,668.25, which is 9,580.95 below the full-time year.

What a state wage tax takes from $27,249

Everything above is federal. A state income tax comes off the same paycheck, and a handful of states charge no wage tax at all. The table uses three common patterns, each applied as a flat rate on gross pay.

Pennsylvania charges a flat 3.07 percent on wages, as listed on the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue personal income tax page, so 31,200 x 0.0307 = 957.84 leaves 26,291.36. A 5 percent flat state takes 1,560.00 and leaves 25,689.20, a gap of 602.16 that works out to about 50 dollars a month.

Most states use brackets instead of one flat rate, and some add a local wage tax near 1 percent. Treat this table as a range of outcomes, not as your own state's answer.

Overtime at $22.50 and what the extra hours keep

Hours past 40 in a workweek earn 1.5 times the regular rate for most hourly workers, the rule the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division enforces under the Fair Labor Standards Act. At $15 an hour the overtime rate is 22.50.

Ten overtime hours a week add 225 to each weekly check and 11,700 to the year, lifting gross pay to 42,900. FICA rises to 3,281.85, taxable income to 26,800, and federal income tax to 2,968.00. Net pay lands at 36,650.15, which is 9,400.95 more than the flat 40-hour year.

Each overtime hour keeps 18.08 after FICA and the 12 percent bracket. Straight time keeps 13.10 an hour net, so the premium adds 4.98 per hour rather than the full 7.50 difference in gross pay.

The rule counts hours by the week, not by the day. A 10-hour Saturday inside a 38-hour week owes no premium, while a 45-hour week owes it even if the five extra hours were spread over five mornings.

Why your stub will not match to the cent

These numbers assume one W-2 job, the standard deduction, no dependents and no pretax deductions. A real paycheck differs for reasons that are easy to trace.

A traditional 401(k) deposit and a health insurance premium come out before income tax is figured. Routing 40 dollars a week into a 401(k) removes 2,080 from taxable wages and saves 249.60 at the 12 percent rate, while FICA stays at 2,386.80 because payroll tax is figured on gross wages.

The W-4 you file decides withholding, not the tax itself. Claiming a dependent or checking married reduces what comes out of each check, and a second job with its own W-4 can leave you underwithheld when you file.

Local taxes add another line in a dozen states. A city wage tax of 1 percent takes 312.00 from this year, and a school district tax can take a similar amount, neither of which appears in the federal tables above.

FICA is never refunded. If part-time work leaves a year under the 16,100 deduction, the income tax withheld comes back on the return, but the 7.65 percent already paid stays with the government. Use these figures as a planning estimate and compare them with a full pay stub before you sign a lease.