2026 Hourly to Salary
$12 an Hour Is How Much a Year?
Full-time here means 40 hours a week for 52 weeks — 2,080 paid hours a year, with no unpaid time off deducted.
Gross pay by period
If you work fewer than 40 hours
| Hours per week | Annual gross | Take-home (year) | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 h | $12,480 | $11,525 | $960 |
| 25 h | $15,600 | $14,407 | $1,201 |
| 30 h | $18,720 | $17,026 | $1,419 |
| 35 h | $21,840 | $19,595 | $1,633 |
| 40 h | $24,960 | $22,164 | $1,847 |
Unpaid weeks work the same way: two weeks off without pay makes the year 50 weeks, or $24,000 at 40 hours.
Overtime at this rate
Time-and-a-half on $12 is $18 an hour. Working 5 overtime hours in a typical week adds $4,680 a year on top of $24,960 — but only $6 of each overtime hour is the premium, the half above your regular rate. That premium comes to $1,560 a year, and it is the only part the 2026 overtime deduction touches.
Total wages of $29,640 stay under the $150,000 phase-out threshold, so the whole $1,560 premium is deductible — worth about $156 off your tax bill at your 10% marginal rate. The deduction runs for tax years 2025 through 2028, is claimed on Schedule 1-A alongside the standard deduction, and your employer reports the qualifying premium in W-2 Box 12 under code TT. Run your own overtime numbers →
Where this wage sits in the tax code
At $24,960 your top federal bracket is 10%, while your effective rate — federal income tax plus FICA, divided by gross pay — is 11.2%. The gap is the point people miss: only the dollars above the bracket threshold are taxed at the marginal rate. The 12% bracket starts at $28,500 of wages, which is $13.70 an hour at 2,080 hours — a raise past that point is taxed at the higher rate only on the part above it.
Notice that FICA ($1,910) costs more here than federal income tax ($886). The standard deduction of $16,100 shelters a large share of this wage from income tax, but Social Security and Medicare apply from the first dollar, so payroll tax is the bigger line.
Nearby hourly rates
| Hourly | Annual | Take-home (year) | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| $13 | $27,040 | $23,878 | $1,990 |
| $14 | $29,120 | $25,579 | $2,132 |
| $15 | $31,200 | $27,250 | $2,271 |
Every rate from $12 to $100: Hourly to Salary Table. Working from a salary instead? 2026 Take-Home Pay Table.
All hourly rates
FAQ
How much is $12 an hour a year?
$24,960 a year before tax — $12 × 40 hours a week × 52 weeks, the standard 2,080-hour full-time year. After 2026 federal income tax ($886) and FICA ($1,910), take-home is $22,164 — $1,847 a month, or $852 per biweekly paycheck.
Is $12 an hour good?
That depends on your hours, location, and benefits rather than the rate alone. The arithmetic is fixed: at 40 hours a week, $12 an hour is $24,960 a year and $22,164 after federal tax and FICA. At 20 hours a week the same rate is $12,480, and in a state with income tax you would keep less than the figures here.
Does this include state income tax?
No — these figures are federal only. State and local income tax ranges from 0% (Texas, Florida, Washington and six others) to over 13% at the California top rate, so subtract your state's rate on top. Pre-tax 401(k) or HSA contributions would move the numbers the other way, since they come out before federal tax and, for HSA payroll contributions, before FICA as well.
Sources
- IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — 2026 inflation adjustments (brackets, standard deduction) ↗
- SSA — 2026 COLA fact sheet (taxable maximum $184,500) ↗
Last verified: 2026-08-27 · We monitor official sources daily and update rates after human review of the originals.