$16 an Hour Is How Much a Year?
At 40 hours a week, $16 an hour is $33,280 a year before taxes — $2,773 a month, $1,280 every two weeks, $640 a week. After federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, a single filer keeps about $28,920 in a state with no income tax and $28,428 in California. That is an after-tax rate of $13.90 per hour.
$16 an hour by hours worked
The $$33,280 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 | $320 | $640 | $1,387 | $16,640 |
| 25 | $400 | $800 | $1,733 | $20,800 |
| 30 | $480 | $960 | $2,080 | $24,960 |
| 35 | $560 | $1,120 | $2,427 | $29,120 |
| 40 (full-time) | $640 | $1,280 | $2,773 | $33,280 |
Federal taxes on $33,280
For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer, so $33,280 of wages becomes $17,180 of taxable income, which reaches the 12% federal bracket. Federal income tax comes to $1,814. Social Security takes 6.2% ($2,063) and Medicare 1.45% ($483). Total federal withholding: $4,360, leaving $28,920 — or $2,410 a month — before any state tax.
A married couple filing jointly on the same $33,280 keeps $30,626, $1,706 more, because the joint standard deduction is $32,200 and the brackets are twice as wide.
$16 an hour after taxes in every state (2026)
State income tax is where $33,280 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 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 2 | Florida | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 3 | Nevada | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 5 | North Dakota | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 6 | South Dakota | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 7 | Tennessee | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 8 | Texas | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 9 | Washington | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 10 | Wyoming | $0 | $28,920 | $2,410 | 13.1% | $13.90 |
| 11 | Ohio | $199 | $28,722 | $2,393 | 13.7% | $13.81 |
| 12 | South Carolina | $409 | $28,512 | $2,376 | 14.3% | $13.71 |
| 13 | Arizona | $430 | $28,491 | $2,374 | 14.4% | $13.70 |
| 14 | New Mexico | $464 | $28,457 | $2,371 | 14.5% | $13.68 |
| 15 | California | $492 | $28,428 | $2,369 | 14.6% | $13.67 |
| 16 | New Jersey | $495 | $28,426 | $2,369 | 14.6% | $13.67 |
| 17 | Mississippi | $599 | $28,321 | $2,360 | 14.9% | $13.62 |
| 18 | Missouri | $610 | $28,310 | $2,359 | 14.9% | $13.61 |
| 19 | Louisiana | $623 | $28,297 | $2,358 | 15.0% | $13.60 |
| 20 | Iowa | $653 | $28,268 | $2,356 | 15.1% | $13.59 |
| 21 | Vermont | $696 | $28,224 | $2,352 | 15.2% | $13.57 |
| 22 | Colorado | $756 | $28,165 | $2,347 | 15.4% | $13.54 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | $789 | $28,131 | $2,344 | 15.5% | $13.52 |
| 24 | Montana | $807 | $28,113 | $2,343 | 15.5% | $13.52 |
| 25 | North Carolina | $819 | $28,101 | $2,342 | 15.6% | $13.51 |
| 26 | Rhode Island | $839 | $28,081 | $2,340 | 15.6% | $13.50 |
| 27 | Nebraska | $853 | $28,068 | $2,339 | 15.7% | $13.49 |
| 28 | West Virginia | $875 | $28,045 | $2,337 | 15.7% | $13.48 |
| 29 | Idaho | $911 | $28,010 | $2,334 | 15.8% | $13.47 |
| 30 | Hawaii | $946 | $27,974 | $2,331 | 15.9% | $13.45 |
| 31 | Minnesota | $981 | $27,940 | $2,328 | 16.0% | $13.43 |
| 32 | Maine | $996 | $27,924 | $2,327 | 16.1% | $13.43 |
| 33 | Pennsylvania | $1,022 | $27,899 | $2,325 | 16.2% | $13.41 |
| 34 | Oklahoma | $1,041 | $27,879 | $2,323 | 16.2% | $13.40 |
| 35 | Kentucky | $1,047 | $27,873 | $2,323 | 16.2% | $13.40 |
| 36 | Kansas | $1,067 | $27,854 | $2,321 | 16.3% | $13.39 |
| 37 | Georgia | $1,104 | $27,816 | $2,318 | 16.4% | $13.37 |
| 38 | Arkansas | $1,123 | $27,797 | $2,316 | 16.5% | $13.36 |
| 39 | Delaware | $1,144 | $27,776 | $2,315 | 16.5% | $13.35 |
| 40 | Virginia | $1,167 | $27,753 | $2,313 | 16.6% | $13.34 |
| 41 | Michigan | $1,168 | $27,753 | $2,313 | 16.6% | $13.34 |
| 42 | New York | $1,200 | $27,720 | $2,310 | 16.7% | $13.33 |
| 43 | Connecticut | $1,248 | $27,673 | $2,306 | 16.8% | $13.30 |
| 44 | Alabama | $1,333 | $27,587 | $2,299 | 17.1% | $13.26 |
| 45 | Massachusetts | $1,444 | $27,476 | $2,290 | 17.4% | $13.21 |
| 46 | Utah | $1,481 | $27,440 | $2,287 | 17.5% | $13.19 |
| 47 | Illinois | $1,506 | $27,414 | $2,285 | 17.6% | $13.18 |
| 48 | Indiana | $1,517 | $27,403 | $2,284 | 17.7% | $13.17 |
| 49 | Maryland | $2,267 | $26,653 | $2,221 | 19.9% | $12.81 |
| 50 | Oregon | $2,355 | $26,566 | $2,214 | 20.2% | $12.77 |
The gap between Alaska ($28,920) and Oregon ($26,566) is $2,355 a year at $16 an hour — $196 a month. Use the state comparison tool to put two specific states side by side.
Overtime at $16 an hour
Time-and-a-half on $16 is $24.00 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 | $6,240 | $39,520 | +$5,014 |
| 10 hours | $12,480 | $45,760 | +$10,028 |
Is $16 an hour a good wage?
At $16 an hour you are at or above every state minimum wage and earn 2.2× the federal floor. The $33,280 annual figure is still under the roughly $62,000 a median full-time American worker earns, and about 40% of the $83,700 median household income — which usually means two earners. The 30%-of-gross rule puts a comfortable rent ceiling near $832 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 $16 to $18 is therefore worth roughly $3,343 a year in your pocket, before state tax.