$17 an Hour is How Much per Year?

$17 an Hour is How Much per Year?

You may be earning $17 per hour from a new job or a raise but how much does $17 an hour equate to over the course of a year?

Let’s assume you work 52 weeks a year to figure out how much you’ll get paid per year (with two weeks of paid time off). If you work a full-time job, you will work an average of 40 hours per week. Keep reading for the calculations.


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How Much is $17 an Hour, 40 Hours a Week?

Working 40 hours a week at $17 an hour equals $680 at the end of each week before taxes. I’m using 40 hours since this is a standard workweek. If you work fewer or more hours or earn tips, then your weekly pay amount will vary.

How Much Is $17 Dollars an Hour, After Taxes?

After taxes, if you earn $17 an hour, working 40 hours per week, you’ll take home $680 each week pre-tax. The amount of taxes you pay is determined by a variety of factors. However, anticipating a tax rate of 25% to 30% is fair if you’re a dual-income household.

If you’re unmarried and this is your sole income, you may fall into the 12% tax bracket according to the IRS. In this case, your $680 pre-tax will become $598.40 after taxes.

This is only for example purposes though since each person’s tax situation can vary wildly. This example also doesn’t take into account state taxes or any deductions you may be eligible for on your taxes.

At $17 an hour, it means taxes will take up around a third to a fourth of your income. There are ways to reduce the amount of money you pay in taxes. However, this amount as a tax rate is reasonable for the ordinary person.

How Much Is 17 Dollars an Hour Monthly?

If you earn $17 per hour, you’d earn $2,720 per month if you work full-time.

A full-time employee or worker puts in at least 40 hours every week. This amount will change significantly depending on whether you work more or fewer hours.

You may be eligible for overtime compensation if you work more than 40 hours each week. Overtime pay is typically 1.5 times your regular wage. As a result, you could make a lot more money than what is mentioned above.

What Salary Equals $17/Hour?

If you earn $17 an hour, your annual pay would be $35,360. If you work 40 hours a week, multiply your base salary by the number of hours, weeks, and months you work in a year to get this figure.

$17 an Hour Is How Much a Year? (Before and After Taxes)

Essentially, if you can earn $17 per hour, you’ll make $35,360 each year. Of course, this assumes a 2,080-hour work year.

$17 an hour = ,680 a year if you work 20 hours per week.

$17 an hour = $26,520 a year if you work 30 hours per week.

If you can raise your hourly wage from $16.83 to $17, you’ll make an extra $354 each year (before taxes)!

Uncle Sam will always want to weigh in on your earnings, so keep that in mind. You’ll have to pay federal income taxes and state income taxes if your state has those.

Taxes are a complicated subject, and it’s difficult to provide tax advice without knowing all the data regarding your income, retirement contributions, employment position, residency state, and other issues. So, I’m not going to!

That’s a massive no-no, especially if you’re a CPA. So to get the actual numbers for your situation, meet up with a certified financial planner or CPA who will have all of your individual tax information.

Now, let’s use a more general example. We’ll also keep things simple. I’m going with Florida because it doesn’t have a state income tax.

After taxes, your $35,360 a year would be as follows:

$35,360 pre-tax income minus $4243.20 in federal income taxes (12% tax bracket), you get after-tax earnings of $31,116.80.

Is $17 an Hour Good Pay?

You are earning a good amount of money if you earn $17 per hour. Hourly pay is calculated based on the number of hours worked. As a result, the larger the compensation, the more hours worked.

Assume you only planned to work a few shifts and ended up putting in a total of 10 hours per week. You would earn $170 per week if you worked 10 hours per week.

Consider what would happen if you worked twice as many hours for a total of 20. You would earn $340 per week if you worked 20 hours per week.

Maybe you’re just working part-time for a total of 25 hours per week. You would earn $425 per week if you worked 25 hours per week.

However, if you worked 30 hours per week, you’d earn $510.

Finally, working full-time for 40 hours per week would earn you $680.

Whether or not you make decent money at 17 dollars an hour is determined by the number of hours you work. It may not be a lot of money if you only work a few hours per week at this hourly rate.

Someone with a lower salary but more hours worked may wind up earning more than you. However, if you work part-time or full-time at 17 dollars per hour, you will be well paid.

Not too long ago, the median household income in the United States was $67,520. This means that every family member’s entire annual household income is considered rather than simply one individual’s income or a per capita metric.

Your household income is $70,720 if you have two earners each earning $35,360 per year. In 2020, your income would be higher than the median American household income. Similarly, if your household only had one earner who earns $35,360 per year, you would have earned less than the median household income for that year.

A living wage of $17 per hour is sufficient to support oneself and a modest family in a low cost of living area. The federal poverty level for a single person without any dependents is $12,760.

This federal poverty limit climbs to $26,200 if you have a modest household of four. After taxes, $35,360 in annual income is around $30,000. This creates a very thin buffer between what the federal government considers to be the national poverty line and your annual income. 

However, depending on the cost of living in your neighborhood and where you live, this federal poverty level assessment may have different results.

Can You Live on $17/hour?

Yes, you can make ends meet at $17 an hour. As long as you don’t have any dependents and live in a city with a low cost of living index.

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Depending on your level of frugalness, you may not have much money left over at the end of the month for many ‘extras.’ In New York City, $35,360 will not get you as far as $35,360 in Houston, Texas.

Before considering whether $17 is a good hourly rate in your location, consider the cost of living in your area. As for most Americans living outside of wealthy metropolitan areas, $17 is a good hourly rate that will cover your living expenses while not letting you live a lavish lifestyle.

To boost your hourly rate, you might consider learning some high-paying skills.

Online universities provide courses that can provide individuals with in-demand work skills. Skill seminars, on-demand training, and job placement chances are all given through the learning platform.

If you live alone and are on your own, $35,360 per year can be a good salary to support oneself. You could also wish to put money aside for your retirement and build up a healthy net worth.

This can be accomplished on $35,360 a year, but it will be more difficult than if you made $50,000 or $60,000. That isn’t to say that you need a six-figure wage to enjoy the American ideal; neither is $100,000 per year.

If your lifestyle isn’t excessive, you can make it in most cities and towns in the United States on less than $35,360 per year. It’s even better to learn how to save, invest, and make more money.

There’s no such thing as being overly prepared financially. However, many people associate “personal finance” with something far more sophisticated than it is.

The reality is that there are a plethora of solutions available to make personal finance easier. These technologies make personal finance so simple that anyone may start today and improve their financial situation from the day before.

$17 Dollars and Hour is How Much a Year?

After taxes, if you earn $17 an hour, you’ll take home $26,520 a year. Your gross salary before taxes would be $35,360. 

This is a livable wage for a single person in a low to moderate cost of living area. It may be tough to save money or pay off debts if you have a family on this wage.

You’re technically above the poverty level at this income but if your housing or other bills take up a significant portion of your paycheck, you may find this hourly rate tight.

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