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

$48.00 an hour is how much a day?

$48/hour, a day
$384a day, before tax
$304 a day after federal tax and FICA · $99,840 a year
Before tax, a day$99,840 a year ÷ 260$384
After tax, a dayfederal income tax and FICA only — no state tax$304
A year, before tax48 × 2,080 hours$99,840
A year, after tax20.8% withheld$79,067
Federal income tax−$13,135
Social Security + Medicare7.65% of wages−$7,638
Per hour, after taxagainst $48 on paper$38.01

Notes

  • $48 an hour is $384 a day before tax, working forty hours a week. The arithmetic is $99,840 a year divided across five days a week, fifty-two weeks.
  • 260 working days is five days a week for all 52 weeks. Public holidays and time off come out of that, and whether they are paid decides whether the yearly figure holds.
  • After tax it is $304 a day. That is federal income tax of $13,135 and FICA of $7,638 over the year — 20.8% 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 $72 for non-exempt workers. Five overtime hours a week adds $18,720 a year — more than a 10% raise, for 12.5% more time.

The short answer

$48.00 an hour is $384 a day before tax, at forty hours a week — $304 after federal income tax and FICA.

Over a year that is $99,840 gross and $79,067 in hand, with 20.8% withheld.

Where it goes

Line A year
Gross $99,840
Federal income tax −$13,135
Social Security + Medicare −$7,638
Take-home $79,067

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 $304 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 $72 for non-exempt workers. Five overtime hours a week is $18,720 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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