$17 an Hour Is How Much a Year?
At 40 hours a week, $17 an hour is $35,360 a year before taxes — $2,947 a month, $1,360 every two weeks, $680 a week. After federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, a single filer keeps about $30,592 in a state with no income tax and $30,017 in California. That is an after-tax rate of $14.71 per hour.
$17 an hour by hours worked
The $$35,360 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 | $340 | $680 | $1,473 | $17,680 |
| 25 | $425 | $850 | $1,842 | $22,100 |
| 30 | $510 | $1,020 | $2,210 | $26,520 |
| 35 | $595 | $1,190 | $2,578 | $30,940 |
| 40 (full-time) | $680 | $1,360 | $2,947 | $35,360 |
Federal taxes on $35,360
For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer, so $35,360 of wages becomes $19,260 of taxable income, which reaches the 12% federal bracket. Federal income tax comes to $2,063. Social Security takes 6.2% ($2,192) and Medicare 1.45% ($513). Total federal withholding: $4,768, leaving $30,592 — or $2,549 a month — before any state tax.
A married couple filing jointly on the same $35,360 keeps $32,339, $1,747 more, because the joint standard deduction is $32,200 and the brackets are twice as wide.
$17 an hour after taxes in every state (2026)
State income tax is where $35,360 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 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 2 | Florida | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 3 | Nevada | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 5 | North Dakota | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 6 | South Dakota | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 7 | Tennessee | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 8 | Texas | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 9 | Washington | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 10 | Wyoming | $0 | $30,592 | $2,549 | 13.5% | $14.71 |
| 11 | Ohio | $256 | $30,336 | $2,528 | 14.2% | $14.58 |
| 12 | Arizona | $482 | $30,110 | $2,509 | 14.8% | $14.48 |
| 13 | South Carolina | $514 | $30,078 | $2,506 | 14.9% | $14.46 |
| 14 | New Jersey | $531 | $30,060 | $2,505 | 15.0% | $14.45 |
| 15 | New Mexico | $553 | $30,039 | $2,503 | 15.0% | $14.44 |
| 16 | California | $575 | $30,017 | $2,501 | 15.1% | $14.43 |
| 17 | Mississippi | $682 | $29,909 | $2,492 | 15.4% | $14.38 |
| 18 | Louisiana | $686 | $29,906 | $2,492 | 15.4% | $14.38 |
| 19 | Missouri | $705 | $29,887 | $2,491 | 15.5% | $14.37 |
| 20 | Iowa | $732 | $29,860 | $2,488 | 15.6% | $14.36 |
| 21 | Vermont | $766 | $29,826 | $2,485 | 15.7% | $14.34 |
| 22 | Colorado | $847 | $29,744 | $2,479 | 15.9% | $14.30 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | $892 | $29,700 | $2,475 | 16.0% | $14.28 |
| 24 | North Carolina | $902 | $29,690 | $2,474 | 16.0% | $14.27 |
| 25 | Montana | $905 | $29,687 | $2,474 | 16.0% | $14.27 |
| 26 | Rhode Island | $917 | $29,675 | $2,473 | 16.1% | $14.27 |
| 27 | West Virginia | $944 | $29,647 | $2,471 | 16.2% | $14.25 |
| 28 | Nebraska | $947 | $29,645 | $2,470 | 16.2% | $14.25 |
| 29 | Idaho | $1,021 | $29,571 | $2,464 | 16.4% | $14.22 |
| 30 | Pennsylvania | $1,086 | $29,506 | $2,459 | 16.6% | $14.19 |
| 31 | Hawaii | $1,088 | $29,504 | $2,459 | 16.6% | $14.18 |
| 32 | Minnesota | $1,092 | $29,500 | $2,458 | 16.6% | $14.18 |
| 33 | Maine | $1,117 | $29,475 | $2,456 | 16.6% | $14.17 |
| 34 | Kentucky | $1,120 | $29,472 | $2,456 | 16.7% | $14.17 |
| 35 | Oklahoma | $1,135 | $29,457 | $2,455 | 16.7% | $14.16 |
| 36 | Kansas | $1,175 | $29,417 | $2,451 | 16.8% | $14.14 |
| 37 | Arkansas | $1,204 | $29,388 | $2,449 | 16.9% | $14.13 |
| 38 | Georgia | $1,212 | $29,379 | $2,448 | 16.9% | $14.12 |
| 39 | Michigan | $1,256 | $29,335 | $2,445 | 17.0% | $14.10 |
| 40 | Delaware | $1,260 | $29,332 | $2,444 | 17.0% | $14.10 |
| 41 | Virginia | $1,287 | $29,305 | $2,442 | 17.1% | $14.09 |
| 42 | New York | $1,312 | $29,279 | $2,440 | 17.2% | $14.08 |
| 43 | Connecticut | $1,341 | $29,251 | $2,438 | 17.3% | $14.06 |
| 44 | Alabama | $1,425 | $29,167 | $2,431 | 17.5% | $14.02 |
| 45 | Massachusetts | $1,548 | $29,044 | $2,420 | 17.9% | $13.96 |
| 46 | Utah | $1,574 | $29,018 | $2,418 | 17.9% | $13.95 |
| 47 | Illinois | $1,609 | $28,983 | $2,415 | 18.0% | $13.93 |
| 48 | Indiana | $1,615 | $28,977 | $2,415 | 18.1% | $13.93 |
| 49 | Maryland | $2,428 | $28,163 | $2,347 | 20.4% | $13.54 |
| 50 | Oregon | $2,537 | $28,055 | $2,338 | 20.7% | $13.49 |
The gap between Alaska ($30,592) and Oregon ($28,055) is $2,537 a year at $17 an hour — $211 a month. Use the state comparison tool to put two specific states side by side.
Overtime at $17 an hour
Time-and-a-half on $17 is $25.50 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 | $6,630 | $41,990 | +$5,327 |
| 10 hours | $13,260 | $48,620 | +$10,654 |
Is $17 an hour a good wage?
At $17 an hour you are at or above every state minimum wage and earn 2.3× the federal floor. The $35,360 annual figure is still under the roughly $62,000 a median full-time American worker earns, and about 42% of the $83,700 median household income — which usually means two earners. The 30%-of-gross rule puts a comfortable rent ceiling near $884 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 $17 to $19 is therefore worth roughly $3,343 a year in your pocket, before state tax.