How Much a Year is 15 Dollars an Hour? How to Easily Live on It?

In this post, you’ll learn how much a year is 15 dollars an hour and how you can live on this income.

In the United States, the minimum wage per hour is $7.25 and it hasn’t increased since 2009.

But in the year 2019, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that the minimum wage will increase slowly to $15 an hour by 2025. 

If you’re earning below $15 an hour, then the question is, “How is your life going to look like when you earn 15 per hour?.”

Taking that in mind you need to have an idea of yearly, monthly, biweekly, and weekly income. Also how much taxes you’re going to pay?

All of that and more amazing information is discussed in this post.

So let’s get started.

How much a year is 15 dollars an hour?

Because we are going to calculate this value for the US workers. That’s why to get the actual calculation done you need three variables:

  1. working hours per day
  2. working days per week
  3. wage rate per hour

In the US, traditional business hours are eight each day (9 AM to 5 PM) from Monday to Friday which is 40 hours per week.

Now there are 52 weeks in a year. 

Here is the actual calculation of how much a year is 15 dollars an hour:

Yearly income = $15 X 40 X 52 = $31,200/year

So you earn a total of $31,200 each year at $15 an hour each day for 8 hours. 

Many uncertain events and problems like illness and marriage ceremonies come throughout the year. Due to this, you may take unpaid leave during working days. 

Let’s say you take 2 weeks of unpaid leave each year. Now your working weeks decreased to 50 weeks a year. 

In this case here is how much you earn a year: 

Yearly income = $15 X 40 X 50 = $30,000

You make $30,000 before tax income per year working at $15 an hour for 40 hours per week for 50 weeks a year.

You’re now clear on how much a year is $15 dollars an hour.

Let’s jump to the next section.

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How much a year is 15 dollars an hour after taxes?

There are four different types of tax rates applied to your personal income:

  1. the federal income tax rate
  2. state income tax rate
  3. Social Security payroll tax 
  4. medicare payroll tax

Let’s see the brackets of each category one by one.

For calculating the after-tax income per year, you need to know in which tax bracket your yearly income is falling for a specific amount category. 

Here are the US federal tax brackets from IRS:

Tax RateSingleHead of HouseholdMarried Filing Jointly or Qualifying WidowMarried Filing Separately
10%$0 to $9,950$0 to $14,200$0 to $19,900$0 to $9,950
12%$9,951 to $40,525$14,201 to $54,200$19,901 to $81,050$9,951 to $40,525
22%$40,526 to $86,375$54,201 to $86,350$81,051 to $172,750$40,526 to $86,375
24%$86,376 to $164,925$86,351 to $164,900$172,751 to $329,850$86,376 to $164,925
32%$164,926 to $209,425$164,901 to $209,400$329,851 to $418,850$164,926 to $209,425
35%$209,426 to $523,600$209,401 to $523,600$418,851 to $628,300$209,426 to $314,150
37%$523,600 or more$523,600 or more$628,300 or more$314,151 or more

You can see the US state income tax brackets here at Tax Foundation. Out of these states, 7 have no income tax, 11 have a flat income tax rate, and 33 have a Graduated income tax rate.

If you’re an employee you pay 6.2% of your yearly income is a taxable maximum of upto $147,000 in 2022. The Medicare tax is 1.45% of your yearly income. The tax rate for Social Security and Medicare is for employees working for employers. If you’re self-employed then you pay 2.9%.

As an employee, you’re earning $31,200 a year. Your tax bracket is 12% with zero state tax, social security is 6.2%, and Medicare is 1.45%. The total tax becomes 19.65% a year.

After-tax income per year = $31,200 − 0.1965($31,200) = $25,069.2

You’re left with an after-tax income of $25,069 a year at $15 an hour. 

If you’ve taken an unpaid leave of 2 weeks in a year then after-tax income will be:

After-tax income per year = $30,000 − 30,000 X 0.1965 = $24,105

You have taken the idea of how much a year is 15 dollars an hour after taxes. Now the same tax rate is applied in the below sections to calculate after-tax semiannually, quarterly, monthly, biweekly, weekly, and daily income.

How much is $15 an hour semiannually?

Half-year consists of six months and 26 weeks. 

For getting the semiannual figures divide yearly income by 2. 

Here is the actual calculation: 

Before-tax income = $31,200/2 = $15,600

Income after tax = $25,069/ 2 = $12,534.5

If you pass one week of unpaid leave in between 6 months then: 

Before-tax income = $30,000/2 = $15,000

After-tax income = $24,105/ 2 = $12,052.5

You make $15,600 semiannually which remains a $12,535 after-tax deduction.

How much is $15 an hour quarterly?

For calculating quarterly income divide the semiannual income by 2 because two quarters make half a year. Or you can divide the yearly income by 4. 

Here are the actual figures: 

Before-tax income = $15,600/2 = $7,800

Income after tax = $12,534/ 2 = $6,267

You make $7,800 in before-tax income while working $5,020 hours in 3 months period. And after-tax deduction remains at $6,267.

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How much is $15 an hour per month?

The month consists of four weeks with 20 working days. 

With 8 hours of work, a day the total working hours for a month becomes 160.

Multiplying this with $15 an hour you get the following results: 

Monthly before tax income = $15 X 160 hours = $2,400 per month

While considering the tax on this income you’ll remain with:

Monthly after-tax income= $2,400 − $2,400(0.1965) = ~ $1,928

You earn $2,400 before tax income while after paying tax your remaining income will be $1,928 per month at 15 dollars an hour. 

How much is $15 an hour biweekly?

In two weeks you work for 80 hours and multiplying 80 by 15 dollars an hour gives you a before-tax income of $1,200 and an after-tax income of $964.

How much is $15 an hour weekly?

A week consists of 40 hours and multiplying them by $15 an hour gives you $600 before-tax income and $482 in after-tax income.

How much is $15 an hour per day?

Considering no extra working hours or overtime you work for 8 straight hours from 9 AM to 5 PM. Multiplying 8 hours with a $15 an-hour rate gives earns you a $120 a day income. 

After deducting tax you’ll remain with $96.42. 

Here is the calculation from the above data:

After-tax daily income = $120 − $120X0.1965 = $96.42

Now you’re clear that if you earn $15 an hour then you’ll make $120 a day. After deducting taxes you’ll remain with $96.42. 

Hourly salary to annual salary calculator