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$15 An Hour is How Much Per Year? $15 an Hour Jobs (No Degree Required)

By: Author Swati Chalumuri

Posted on Last updated:

Wondering what jobs pay $15 an hour? And, how much is $15 an hour per year?

While the Federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour despite rapid inflation since 2009, some states have bumped up their minimum wages to up to $15 per hour since 2019 – which is quite a bit of a relief!

But, is $15 an hour a good salary to live comfortably? And, what is your actual take-home after taxes for a $15-an-hour job? 

In this article, we are going to discuss how much $15 per hour gets you yearly and some of the jobs you might consider for the rate. Don’t miss out on our salary calculator feature.

Answers to these questions will help you budget and ensure that your bills and debts are settled on time. This way, you will be able to save for a vacation, retirement, or even a mortgage.

Let’s look at $15 per hour is how much yearly.

$15 An Hour Is How Much Per Year?

The annual pay for an individual with a $15 hourly wage is $31,200 a year before taxes.

$15 An Hour is How Much Per Year?

To calculate ‘$15 an hour is how much per year’ we are going to multiply the $15 hourly pay by the total number of hours you work in one year.

In the USA, a full-time employee works for 40 hours. And, if you take an unpaid leave of 2 weeks, you will factor 50 weeks into the calculations, instead of 52 weeks.

Let’s assume you are working for 40 hours a week, for 50 weeks a year, which equates to 2080 hours (40 hours x 52 weeks). Then you multiply 2080 hours by $15 to get $31,200 per year. 

$15/hour x 52 weeks x 40 hours = $31,200 per year before taxes

However, with the 2 weeks’ vacation, you will get paid $30,000 which is derived from 40 hours x 50 weeks x $15.

$15/hour x 50 weeks x 40 hours = $30,000 per year before taxes.

How Much Is $15 An Hour? Pay Calculator

As you can see above, $15 an hour amounts to $120 per day for an 8-hour workday. 

$15/hr x 8 hours = $120 daily

It’s also possible to increase your daily income to $150 by working for 10 hours every day. Working over the weekend will be an added bonus.

15 Dollars an Hour is How Much Per Year After Taxes?

What you get from a $15 an hour gig after taxes will differ depending on where you reside.

For instance, you’ll have to pay federal income tax on top of the state income tax, social security, medicare, and a host of other deductions.

To know how much of your income goes to taxes, you can turn to online tax calculators.

Typically, if you earn $15 an hour, paying 18.4% in taxes, your annual take-home pay is $25,450 (~$12.2/hr)

How Much is $15 an hour per month?

And to know, how much you earn per month, you will have to divide $31,200 (40 hours x 52 weeks x $15) by 12 months, which equates to $2,600 per month.

$31,200 per year/12 months = $2,600 monthly before taxes.

This amounts to $2,120 monthly take-home after taxes.

How Much is $15 an hour bi-weekly?

As for your biweekly pay, start by taking 40 hours per week multiplied by 2 to get 80 hours. Then, multiply 80 hours by $15 per hour which gives you $1,200 biweekly before taxes.

$15/hr x $80 hours = $1,200 bi-weekly before taxes.

That’s, a $1060 take home every other week.

$15 an Hour is How Much a Week? 

To know how much is $15 an hour for 40 hours a week, your $15 hourly wage multiplied by 40 hours a week gives you $600 per week.

$15/hr x 40 hours = $600 per week before taxes.

Again, weighing in the taxes, you’ll pocket $530 weekly.

How Much is $15 an hour per day?

To arrive at this, you’ll have to divide your $600 weekly pay by the number of working days in a week.

$600 per week/5 days = $120 per day before taxes.

At a $15 pay, for an 8-hour workday, you’ll net $106 a day.

Is $15 An Hour a Good Salary?

According to BLS, the median weekly earnings of full-time workers were $1,037 in the first quarter of 2022. ($1037 per week/40 hours = $25.9 per hour).

So, the above $15 hourly rate, however, is lower than 2022’s first-quarter median weekly rate which is reported to be $1,037.

Can you live off $15 an hour?

At 15 dollars an hour, it can be a challenge to make ends meet and truly thrive, based on where you live. 

That’s not to say you can’t live off this salary. Most people can manage $15 an hour but to do so you’ll have to observe a strict budget, take up a side job, or move to a city with a low cost of living

As per a report by CNBC, for the older generation, you need to make at least $165 daily to cover everything from groceries to housing, while your daily take-home is just $1o6.

So, $15 an hour works best for a single person under the age of 25 who can cost-share expenses with a roommate. Well, if nobody depends on you, $15 per hour is not a bad rate.

Want to estimate the cost of living in your area based on typical expenses? The MIT living wage calculator helps you determine a local wage rate to meet minimum standards of living. So, ahead and check for yourself.

                                                                                        

Note that the above estimate is for an individual so, to care for a family you need to make more than $15 an hour.

Check out these jobs that pay $35/hour

Can you buy a house making $15 an hour?

The answer is no.

Especially given the rising costs of living and housing in many major cities, it is extremely difficult for most people to get by on 15 an hour. 

Moreover, it’s not easy to save for a down payment while renting and making a living off a $15 pay. And you might have a harder time keeping your debt-to-income ratio and credit score pristine.

How to buy a house making $15 an hour?

  • One of the first steps to buying a house while making $15 an hour is to figure out what your budget looks like.
  • This can include looking at your current expenses and income, as well as any debts you may have. Once you have a good understanding of your finances, you can start to look at houses that fit within your budget. 
  • It’s also important to get pre-approved for a mortgage before you start shopping for a house. This will give you a good idea of how much money you can borrow and can help narrow down your search.
  • When you’re ready to start viewing properties, it’s a good idea to work with a real estate agent who can help you find the right home within your budget.
  • Consider, looking at cheap housing alternatives like manufactured homes, condos, trailers, multi-family homes, or tiny homes over a traditional single-family home.
  • Owning, a multi-family home would be a great opportunity to rent out the other unit(s) while your family lives in one of them.

$15 an hour Jobs

If you are looking to make $15 an hour or more, consider the following jobs which require no investment or college degree:

1. Bookkeeper

Do you love playing with numbers? Try bookkeeping. You need to have data entry skills, accounting knowledge, and understand GAAP or IFRS.

Last but not least, you need to be computer literate, especially with applications such as Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets.

The average salary of a bookkeeper is $40,406 which is approximately $19.43 per hour, $777 per week, and $3,367 per month.

What’s more, this is a perfect gig for remote online working. As a virtual bookkeeper, you will get to choose your work hours and hourly rate. 

2. Online Tutor

Depending on your job or your employer, a teaching license and high school diploma are required for online teaching gigs. You can check out teaching English jobs on sites such as Qkids and VIPKid.

The average annual salary of an online tutor is $43,914, which is around $21.11 per hour.

3. Fitness Instructor

Being a personal trainer, you will be providing fitness programs and training to either groups or individuals. Having a certificate in fitness (gym) instruction is an added advantage.

The average salary of a fitness instructor is around $21 per hour.

4. Nanny

A nanny can be employed on either a full-time or part-time basis. Your main responsibility is to take care of children in the absence of their parents.

This is a good job especially if you worked as a kid babysitter. For a nanny, the average annual salary is approximately $30,952, which is equivalent to $15.50 per hour.

5. Painter

If you love art then this is your job and opportunity to make $15 an hour. A painter paints and decorates the interior and exterior surfaces of buildings.

On average you’ll earn $34,220 per year- $16 per hour and $2,852 per month.

6. Truck Driver

A truck driver transports goods from one state to another even when the weather conditions are a bit challenging.

But hey… taking long drives with some music is therapeutic, right?

The average salary of a truck driver is $23.52 per hour which is approximately $48,928 per year.

7. Construction Worker

A construction worker is a manual laborer working on tasks such as preparing the building site, carrying construction materials, and bracing. This is a strenuous job that requires you to be physically fit.

On average a construction worker makes $33,012 per year which is about $15.80 per hour.

8. Administrative Assistant 

An administrative assistant is more of an office secretary. You are responsible for filing, scheduling appointments, and distributing information among the staff. It’s also your duty to receive clients and sell the business to visitors.

For you to be on the safe side while applying for this position, you will need prior experience, stellar communication, and crisis management skills.

The average salary of an administrative assistant is $37,849 and the hourly salary is around $18.

9. Mail Handler

A mail handler job location is in a postal office. The daily duty routines are sorting out mails for carriers to deliver to different locations and also re-wrap scratched parcels.

A mail handler earns an average salary of $35,228 annually and $17 per hour which is equivalent to $682 per week.

10. Medical Assistant

A medical assistant is more of an administrative assistant only than you’ll work in a clinic, hospital, or health care center. The duties of a medical assistant vary depending on specialty.

To become one, you need a high school diploma and to complete a medical assistance program.

A certified medical assistant earns $31,278 per year. This payment is just a little over $15 per hour.

11. Veterinary Technician

A veterinary technician performs similar duties as a nurse but instead of people, they deal with animals. They fully assist licensed veterinarians in the treatment of sick animals.

The annual salary of a registered veterinary technician is $35,579, about $17 per hour.

12. Barber

A barber grooms men’s hair and beards. This is one of the best jobs paying $15 per hour because apart from the initial capital, you don’t need much money to run a barbershop.

The annual average pay of a barber is $43,119, approximately $20.73 per hour.

13. Couriers and Messengers

Couriers and messengers pick and deliver documents, packages, and also messages. You can walk or use a van, motorcycle, public transport, or even a bicycle depending on where you are delivering or picking up.

The average weekly pay of couriers & messengers is $1,039 per week.

14. Medical Transcriber 

A medical transcriber listens and transcribes the doctor’s voice-recorded medical reports. You can earn around $32,376 per year on average which is around $15.57 per hour.

The field, together with legal transcription, has the potential of employing you full-time.

No certificate or license is required to become a medical transcriber. Nevertheless, you need formal training to break into this highly competitive gig market.

With this in mind, I suggest you sign up for Janet Shaughnessy’s Free 7- Lesson Transcription Mini-Course. Further, you can opt into Janet’s full course that covers both general and specialized transcription. 

As a pro working on sites such as Rev Transcription, you can make up to $30 per hour! On the other hand, with DT and Tiger Transcription sites you can work from home and earn $15 per hour remotely.

Also Read: Jobs That Pay $30 an Hour

15. Work with Amazon

I bet you didn’t know that Amazon runs a jobs platform. This is a site where you can get online work-from-home jobs that pay $15 an hour.

Some of the jobs listed on the site include administrative support, audiovisual media production, content management, and security engineering.

According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual pay for Amazon jobs is $38,864 which is equivalent to $18.68.

This is way above $15 per hour pay and with experience, you can make over $60,000 per year here.

Also Read: How to Make up to $15 an hour as a Coffee shop Barista

Tips to Live on $15 an hour wage

When living on a limited budget, it can be challenging to cover all of your expenses and still have enough left over for savings or other important items.

However, by following a few simple tips, it is possible to make your money stretch further and live comfortably on a 15 dollar an hour salary.

  1. Create a budget and stick to it: This will help you to track your expenses and ensure that you are not overspending in any one area.
  2. Follow simple frugal living habits.
  3. Curb unnecessary expenditure: For example, if you eat out often, consider cooking at home more.
  4. Prioritize paying off debts with higher interest rates at first.
  5. Sign up for cashback offers to save on gas, merchandise, food, etc.

Make efforts to increase your take-home pay. Depending on your work schedule, you can choose to work overtime, ask your employer for a raise, or take up a side hustle paying just as much.

Also Read: How to make 40 dollars an hour on the side

Quick Breakdown Of the Other Wages:

$16, $17, $18, $19 an hour is how much per week, daily, biweekly, and monthly?

Let us use the assumption that you are working for 40 hours a week and working for 52 weeks. We will calculate how much you earn daily, weekly, monthly, biweekly, and annually for each of the above wages.

Note: When working on a job that you clock in and out of, your weekly work hours usually add up to 40. Employers dock you 30 minutes every day for the lunch break, which amounts to 2.5 hours off a 40-hour week. 

1. $16 An Hour Is How Much Per Year?

At $16 an hour, you’ll be making $33,280 per year before taxes.

Yearly, Monthly, Weekly, Bi-weekly, and Daily Salaries (before taxes) for $16 an hour are as follows:

    • Annual salary: $16 x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks = $33,280 per year
    • Monthly salary: $35,360 divided by 12 months = $2,774 per month
    • Biweekly salary: (40 hours per week x 2) x $16/hour = $1,280 biweekly
    • Weekly salary: 40 hours/week x $16 per hour = $640 per week
    • Daily salary: 8 hours a day multiplied by $16/ hour = $128 per day

2. $17 An Hour Is How Much Per Year?

At $17 an hour, you’ll be making $35,360 per year before taxes.

Yearly, Monthly, Weekly, Bi-weekly, and Daily Salaries (before taxes) for $17 an hour pay are as follows:

  • Annual salary: $17 x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks = $35,360 per year
  • Monthly salary: $35,360 divided by 12 months = $2,946 per month
  • Biweekly salary: (40 hours per week x 2) x $17/hour = $1,360 biweekly
  • Weekly salary: 40 hours/week x $17 per hour = $680 per week
  • Daily salary: 8 hours a day multiplied by $17/ hour = $136 per day

3. $18 An Hour Is How Much Per Year

At $18 an hour, you’ll be making $37,440 per year before taxes.

Yearly, Monthly, Weekly, Bi-weekly, and Daily Salaries (before taxes) for $18 an hour pay are as follows:

  • Annual salary: 40 hours/week x $18/hour x 52 weeks = $37,440 per year
  • Monthly salary: $37,440 per year divided by 12 months = $3,120 per month
  • Biweekly salary: (40 hours per week x 2) x $18 per hour = $1,440 biweekly
  • Weekly salary: 40 hours per week x $18 per hour = $720 per week
  • Daily salary: (40 hours per week divided by 5) x $18 per hour = $144 daily

4. $19 An Hour Is How Much Per Year?

At $19 an hour, you’ll be making $39,520 per year before taxes.

Taking work hours as 40 per week while working for 52 weeks, here are the PAY conversions (before taxes) for a $19 per hour rate:

  • Annual salary: 40 hours per week x $19 per hour x 52 weeks = $39,520 per year
  • Monthly salary: $39,520 divided by 12 months = $3,293 per month
  • Biweekly salary: (40 hours per week x 2) x $19 per hour = $1,520 biweekly
  • Weekly salary: 40 hours per week x $19 per hour = $760 per week
  • Daily salary: (40 hours per week divided by 5) x $19 per hour = $152 daily

$15 an Hour: Bottom Line

Now that you already know what jobs pay 15 an hour, how about you start sending out applications ASAP!

Nowadays many people pick up additional jobs along with their 9-5 job just to boost their earnings slightly higher (sometimes significantly). I would also recommend you pick up a side hustle or a passive income gig to supplement your earnings.

The extra cash will also be handy in offsetting your taxes.

All that’s required is an hour of your day and I’ll show just how fast (and effortlessly) making fifty bucks can be done with little tactics…

Even better, learn how to make $300 in an hour or less.

So, that’s it, guys. What do you think about getting paid $15 an hour?

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