$13 an Hour is How Much Per Year? [Before and After Taxes]
Reading Time: 7 minutes 
Everyone needs to work so it’s crucial to assess your earnings critically to avoid working at a job that doesn’t give you what you deserve to earn.
Many people think they have excellent jobs because of how much they get per week, and then after some quick math realize their yearly earnings are not enough for what they need to live.
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Reading this can make you think: “Is $13 an hour enough to live on?”
I’m here to answer that question, so keep reading if you’re earning $13 an hour and need to know how much you are going to get after a year. I’ll also cover what you may earn monthly and how taxes affect your revenue.
How Much Is $13 an Hour for 40 Hours a Week?
Getting $13 an hour while working 40 hours a week gives you $520 at the end of the week. However, this doesn’t apply to people working part-time jobs since only full-time employees work 40 hours a week.
Naturally, this doesn’t include things such as tips when talking about waiters and waitresses.
While some states don’t have any regulations on how many hours employees can work a week, it can quickly wear you down if you work more than 40 hours a week, even if it’s a full-time job.
If you want to earn more monthly, think about getting a higher-paying job instead of working more than what it’s healthy for you. Or try to build up income you can earn passively after a little work upfront.
How Much Is $13 an Hour, 40 Hours a Week After Taxes?
It depends on your situation and the taxes you have to pay. This is when things get more complex since you are not going to get the exact amount of money you earned at the end of the month or year. You have to pay a significant part of it as taxes.
Everyone’s situation is different from others, so it’s difficult to find someone who has to pay the same things in taxes as you.
If you want to know exactly how much you are going to make weekly after taxes, you should speak with your financial advisor. Or you can wait until after your first paycheck to see how much you were paid.
While you can’t know how much you are going to get after taxes if you don’t know what taxes you need to pay, many people take specific percentages as a reference. You, for example, may assume you are going to be in the 12% tax bracket if this is your only income.
So in that scenario, you’d earn $520/week pre-tax but after 12% federal taxes are taken out, you’re left with $457.60 per week. Again, this is just an example because your specific taxes will be different and this doesn’t account for state taxes.
How Much is 13 Dollars an Hour Monthly?
If you work 40 hours a week and earn $13 per hour, you get $2,253 a month. Many people get a different number, but it’s because they use the wrong mathematical operation for it.
What some do is $13 x 40 hours a week x four weeks in a month, and while that’s not mathematically incorrect, it doesn’t tell you the precise amount of money you are going to get at the end of the month.
The best way to get to the money you can get at the end of the month is by taking the money you earn in 12 months.
Starting with a $13 x 40 hours operation is okay, but now, multiply it for the 52 weeks a year has. After that, divide that number by the 12 months of the year, and you get $2,253 monthly.
Monthly income before taxes and other deductions is called gross monthly income. This also applies to your weekly and annual income, so you can use this term when talking about those things. Knowing your gross monthly income helps you when buying something big or getting a loan.
What Salary Equals $13/Hour?
$27,040 is the yearly salary for working 40 hours a week and getting $13/hour. That’s the answer to the “13 dollars an hour is how much a year?” question I mentioned at the beginning of this page. This number doesn’t include taxes, either.
The mathematical operation you need to get to this number is not that complex. You first need to get to how many hours you work a year by multiplying the hours you work weekly for 52 weeks.
In this case, you would make a 40 hours x 52 weeks operation, which gives you 2,080 hours a year. Now, you only need to multiply 2,080 hours for $13 an hour, and you get $27,040 a year.
People working overtime, taking on extra work, or receiving tips need to add them to the total number. Adding those extra work hours or tips can drastically increase your yearly income.
$13 an Hour Is How Much a Year? (Before and After Taxes)
You earn $27,040 a year after working 40 hours a week for $13/hour before taxes. Things change when you add taxes to the mix, and you have to do it to know the amount of money you can use after each year.
The problem is that everyone has different taxes to pay. Your taxes depend on your financial situation, monthly income, the properties you have, and many other things.
If we use the 12% federal income tax rate, that means you’d pay around $3,244.80 in taxes which means you’re after-tax income is $23,815.20.
As I mentioned before, it’s best for you to hire a financial advisor or CPA who checks your taxes and keeps them up to date or to use a tax calculator to get an estimate of your after taxes income.
All the estimates you can read on this page are based on the assumption that you are working 40 hours a week. Don’t take them to be accurate if you are working 38 hours a week, 42 hours a week, or any other number that is not 40.
The estimates don’t take into account any state taxes or deductions or tax credits you may be eligible for depending on your tax situation. But this basic example can give you an idea.
Is $13 an Hour Good Pay?
Earning $13 an hour is not that good of pay, even if you work 40 hours a week. The reason for that is all the things you have to pay for in a given month.
Things can change depending on your age and what your monthly expenses are, but there are many higher-paying jobs out there.
While some cities have a minimum hourly wage of $7.25 an hour, it’s too difficult to live off that. You can see that in how California set a minimum wage of $15 per hour for businesses with more than 26 employees.
College students working a part or full-time job can see the benefits of $13 per hour paying jobs. The reason for that is they often don’t have as many responsibilities as an adult has.
Students can even live inside school facilities, which makes things easier for them. But they also may be living off student loans which is just kicking the can down the road by racking up lots of debt.
Related: How to Go to College Without Student Loans
Many college students spend some years living with their parents until they can find a place of their own, so they can save that money for other things and can split expenses with their parents. A $13 salary is also decent for people working under those circumstances but isn’t a wage you want to stay at for long.
Adults have a harder time when working on $13/hour paying jobs. They often have more things to pay for, and things worsen when they have children, pets, or anything else they have to take care of.
Some would say you can take a part-time job and do both, but it’s almost impossible to do that if your $13 salary comes from full-time employment.
Can You Live on $13/Hour?
You can live on a $13/hour salary, but it’s difficult to do so, and you would need to look at your expenses and be completely frugal about them. Most adults with children and pets can’t live off with a $13/hour salary, but it’s something you can do if you only spend money on bare necessities.
People living off that salary need to take electricity, water, and gas usage to a minimum. It’s also helpful to buy the most inexpensive food you can find on the market and avoid making any additional expenses out of indispensable things.
I only recommend you take a job that pays you this if you are a student, someone with the financial help of their parents or any other roommates, or in a financial situation that makes you unable to reject the job.
If you can look for other options, do it.
People who are already working on a $13/hour salary don’t have to quit but should actively look for a higher-paying job. Things change when getting tips for the job you have, as it happens with waiters and waitresses. You can make a lot of money out of tips.
Related: How to Live with No Money or a Job
$13/Hour Is $27,040 Before Taxes
If you think you can comfortably live with a $27,040 before taxes income, you don’t have any reason to look for another job, it’s not necessarily bad to take that hourly wage. The best way to know if your job is enough for you is by calculating the yearly income you get for it and see if it’ll cover your monthly expenses with some wiggle room for savings.
It’s difficult to know if your salary is enough for you by using what you earn per week or month. When you get your gross yearly income, you can compare it to all your yearly expenses and see if that works for you.
Related Articles:
- Is $15 an Hour a Liveable Wage?
- $30,000 per Year is How Much per Hour?
- How Much an Hour is $65,000 per Year?
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