$15 an Hour Is How Much a Year?
At 40 hours a week, $15 an hour is $31,200 a year before taxes — $2,600 a month, $1,200 every two weeks, $600 a week. After federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, a single filer keeps about $27,249 in a state with no income tax and $26,840 in California. That is an after-tax rate of $13.10 per hour.
$15 an hour by hours worked
The $$31,200 figure assumes 2,080 paid hours — 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, the convention payroll systems and the Bureau of Labor Statistics use. Unpaid time off reduces it; paid holidays and vacation do not. Part-time schedules scale in a straight line:
| Hours / week | Weekly | Biweekly | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | $300 | $600 | $1,300 | $15,600 |
| 25 | $375 | $750 | $1,625 | $19,500 |
| 30 | $450 | $900 | $1,950 | $23,400 |
| 35 | $525 | $1,050 | $2,275 | $27,300 |
| 40 (full-time) | $600 | $1,200 | $2,600 | $31,200 |
Federal taxes on $31,200
For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer, so $31,200 of wages becomes $15,100 of taxable income, which reaches the 12% federal bracket. Federal income tax comes to $1,564. Social Security takes 6.2% ($1,934) and Medicare 1.45% ($452). Total federal withholding: $3,951, leaving $27,249 — or $2,271 a month — before any state tax.
A married couple filing jointly on the same $31,200 keeps $28,813, $1,564 more, because the joint standard deduction is $32,200 and the brackets are twice as wide.
$15 an hour after taxes in every state (2026)
State income tax is where $31,200 starts to diverge. Nine states take nothing; Oregon takes the most at this income. Every row applies that state's real 2026 brackets and standard deduction for a single filer.
| # | State | State + local tax | Take-home | Monthly | Effective rate | After-tax / hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 2 | Florida | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 3 | Nevada | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 5 | North Dakota | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 6 | South Dakota | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 7 | Tennessee | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 8 | Texas | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 9 | Washington | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 10 | Wyoming | $0 | $27,249 | $2,271 | 12.7% | $13.10 |
| 11 | Ohio | $142 | $27,108 | $2,259 | 13.1% | $13.03 |
| 12 | South Carolina | $346 | $26,903 | $2,242 | 13.8% | $12.93 |
| 13 | Arizona | $378 | $26,872 | $2,239 | 13.9% | $12.92 |
| 14 | New Mexico | $390 | $26,860 | $2,238 | 13.9% | $12.91 |
| 15 | California | $409 | $26,840 | $2,237 | 14.0% | $12.90 |
| 16 | New Jersey | $459 | $26,791 | $2,233 | 14.1% | $12.88 |
| 17 | Missouri | $515 | $26,734 | $2,228 | 14.3% | $12.85 |
| 18 | Mississippi | $516 | $26,733 | $2,228 | 14.3% | $12.85 |
| 19 | Louisiana | $561 | $26,688 | $2,224 | 14.5% | $12.83 |
| 20 | Iowa | $574 | $26,675 | $2,223 | 14.5% | $12.82 |
| 21 | Vermont | $626 | $26,623 | $2,219 | 14.7% | $12.80 |
| 22 | Colorado | $664 | $26,585 | $2,215 | 14.8% | $12.78 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | $687 | $26,562 | $2,214 | 14.9% | $12.77 |
| 24 | Montana | $710 | $26,540 | $2,212 | 14.9% | $12.76 |
| 25 | North Carolina | $736 | $26,513 | $2,209 | 15.0% | $12.75 |
| 26 | Rhode Island | $761 | $26,488 | $2,207 | 15.1% | $12.73 |
| 27 | Nebraska | $761 | $26,488 | $2,207 | 15.1% | $12.73 |
| 28 | Idaho | $800 | $26,449 | $2,204 | 15.2% | $12.72 |
| 29 | West Virginia | $806 | $26,443 | $2,204 | 15.2% | $12.71 |
| 30 | Hawaii | $808 | $26,441 | $2,203 | 15.3% | $12.71 |
| 31 | Minnesota | $869 | $26,380 | $2,198 | 15.4% | $12.68 |
| 32 | Maine | $876 | $26,373 | $2,198 | 15.5% | $12.68 |
| 33 | Oklahoma | $948 | $26,301 | $2,192 | 15.7% | $12.64 |
| 34 | Pennsylvania | $958 | $26,291 | $2,191 | 15.7% | $12.64 |
| 35 | Kansas | $959 | $26,291 | $2,191 | 15.7% | $12.64 |
| 36 | Kentucky | $974 | $26,275 | $2,190 | 15.8% | $12.63 |
| 37 | Georgia | $996 | $26,253 | $2,188 | 15.9% | $12.62 |
| 38 | Delaware | $1,029 | $26,220 | $2,185 | 16.0% | $12.61 |
| 39 | Arkansas | $1,042 | $26,207 | $2,184 | 16.0% | $12.60 |
| 40 | Virginia | $1,048 | $26,201 | $2,183 | 16.0% | $12.60 |
| 41 | Michigan | $1,080 | $26,170 | $2,181 | 16.1% | $12.58 |
| 42 | New York | $1,088 | $26,161 | $2,180 | 16.1% | $12.58 |
| 43 | Connecticut | $1,154 | $26,095 | $2,175 | 16.4% | $12.55 |
| 44 | Alabama | $1,242 | $26,007 | $2,167 | 16.6% | $12.50 |
| 45 | Massachusetts | $1,340 | $25,909 | $2,159 | 17.0% | $12.46 |
| 46 | Utah | $1,388 | $25,861 | $2,155 | 17.1% | $12.43 |
| 47 | Illinois | $1,403 | $25,846 | $2,154 | 17.2% | $12.43 |
| 48 | Indiana | $1,419 | $25,830 | $2,152 | 17.2% | $12.42 |
| 49 | Maryland | $2,106 | $25,143 | $2,095 | 19.4% | $12.09 |
| 50 | Oregon | $2,173 | $25,076 | $2,090 | 19.6% | $12.06 |
The gap between Alaska ($27,249) and Oregon ($25,076) is $2,173 a year at $15 an hour — $181 a month. Use the state comparison tool to put two specific states side by side.
Overtime at $15 an hour
Time-and-a-half on $15 is $22.50 an hour. Overtime is taxed as ordinary income — the 22% figure people quote is a withholding rate on supplemental pay, not a separate tax — so what you keep depends on your bracket. For tax years 2025 through 2028 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act also allows a federal deduction for the premium portion of qualified overtime pay (up to $12,500 for a single filer), which this table does not include; see the overtime tax calculator for the deduction-aware figure.
| Overtime / week | Extra gross / year | New annual gross | Extra take-home (fed + FICA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 hours | $5,850 | $37,050 | +$4,700 |
| 10 hours | $11,700 | $42,900 | +$9,401 |
Is $15 an hour a good wage?
At $15 an hour you are at or above every state minimum wage and earn 2.1× the federal floor. The $31,200 annual figure is still under the roughly $62,000 a median full-time American worker earns, and about 37% of the $83,700 median household income — which usually means two earners. The 30%-of-gross rule puts a comfortable rent ceiling near $780 a month. Nearly all of this income falls in the 12% federal bracket, so each extra dollar earned keeps about 80 cents after federal tax and FICA in a no-income-tax state.
Every $1-an-hour raise adds $2,080 a year before tax — about $1,671 after federal tax and FICA at this income. Negotiating from $15 to $17 is therefore worth roughly $3,343 a year in your pocket, before state tax.