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

$48.00 an hour is how much biweekly?

$48/hour, biweekly
$3,840biweekly, before tax
$3,041 biweekly after federal tax and FICA · $99,840 a year
Before tax, biweekly$99,840 a year ÷ 26$3,840
After tax, biweeklyfederal income tax and FICA only — no state tax$3,041
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 $3,840 biweekly before tax, working forty hours a week. The arithmetic is $99,840 a year divided across twenty-six fortnightly paycheques.
  • Twenty-six paycheques, not twenty-four. Fortnightly pay is not the same as twice-monthly pay: 26 cheques against 24. Two months a year carry a third cheque, and budgets built on "two a month" are wrong in both directions in those months.
  • After tax it is $3,041 biweekly. 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 $3,840 biweekly before tax, at forty hours a week — $3,041 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 $3,041 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

Read more