HourlyTallyWhat each job pays per hour, per year, and in your metro.

$38.50 an hour is how much a week?

$38.5/hour, a week
$1,540a week, before tax
$1,253 a week after federal tax and FICA · $80,080 a year
Before tax, a week$80,080 a year ÷ 52$1,540
After tax, a weekfederal income tax and FICA only — no state tax$1,253
A year, before tax38.5 × 2,080 hours$80,080
A year, after tax18.6% withheld$65,166
Federal income tax−$8,788
Social Security + Medicare7.65% of wages−$6,126
Per hour, after taxagainst $38.5 on paper$31.33

Notes

  • $38.5 an hour is $1,540 a week before tax, working forty hours a week. The arithmetic is $80,080 a year divided across fifty-two weeks.
  • Fifty-two weeks, not fifty. Every week of the year counts toward the annual figure, including the ones you take off — if they are paid. Hourly work often is not paid for them, which cuts the year by about 7.7%.
  • After tax it is $1,253 a week. That is federal income tax of $8,788 and FICA of $6,126 over the year — 18.6% of gross, and it assumes no state income tax. Nine states take none; the rest take between about 2% and 9.3% more, so this figure is the ceiling rather than the average.
  • FICA is charged from the first dollar. Social Security takes 6.2% and Medicare 1.45%, with no standard deduction shielding either. Income tax does not start until after the $16,100 standard deduction, which is why the total bite at lower wages is mostly FICA rather than income tax.
  • Overtime is where this number actually moves. Hours past forty in a week are paid at $57.75 for non-exempt workers. Five overtime hours a week adds $15,015 a year — more than a 10% raise, for 12.5% more time.

The short answer

$38.50 an hour is $1,540 a week before tax, at forty hours a week — $1,253 after federal income tax and FICA.

Over a year that is $80,080 gross and $65,166 in hand, with 18.6% withheld.

Where it goes

Line A year
Gross $80,080
Federal income tax −$8,788
Social Security + Medicare −$6,126
Take-home $65,166

This figure assumes no state income tax

Nine states take none: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. The other 41 take between roughly 2% and 9.3% at the top.

So $1,253 is a ceiling, not an average. The state-by-state figure has its own page.

FICA comes out of the first dollar

Social Security takes 6.2% of wages and Medicare 1.45%, with no standard deduction shielding either. Income tax does not begin until after the $16,100 standard deduction. At lower wages that makes FICA the larger of the two deductions — the opposite of what most people expect.

Overtime moves this more than a raise would

Hours past forty in a week are paid at $57.75 for non-exempt workers. Five overtime hours a week is $15,015 a year — more than a 10% raise, for 12.5% more time.

The threshold is forty hours in a week, not eighty in a fortnight. Fifty hours one week and thirty the next still earns ten hours of overtime, and an employer averaging across the pay period is getting it wrong.

Nearby sizes

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