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Are you wondering how much you make in a year earning $30 per hour?
While you could plug the numbers into a salary calculator, the issue is the answer may not be accurate.
For example, assuming you work 40 hours a week, earning $30 an hour means you make $62,400 per year.
But what if you work overtime or aren’t offered paid time off?
If you want to know exactly how much money you will earn when you make $30 an hour, keep reading.
I’ll even share sample budgets with you so you can save as much of your income as possible.
KEY POINTS
$30 an Hour is How Much a Year?
Variables In Income
The assumption that you will earn $62,400 per year on an hourly income of $30 is correct.
But it assumes you work 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year.
But what if you work less than 40 hours per week?
What if you work overtime?
Maybe you don’t get time paid off and have to take unpaid vacation?
And will you see a net income of $62,400 per year?
Here are the answers to all these questions so you can better understand your annual salary.
Turning Hourly Wage Into a Yearly Salary
The first step we need to understand is how to turn your hourly rate into an annual salary.
First, we assume you work 40 hours per week.
If we multiply this by 52 weeks, we get 2,080 working hours.
Simply multiply this number by $30, and you make $62,400 per year.
Understanding this formula is important because we use parts of it for all the other situations.
$30 An Hour Is How Much Part-Time?
To figure out your annual salary here, you need to take the number of hours per week you work and multiply that by 52.
Let’s say you complete 30 working hours per week.
Take 30 times 52, and you get 1,560 hours worked.
Multiply this by $30, and your yearly salary is $46,800.
The only variable in this equation is the number of working hours.
Earning $30 An Hour With Overtime
The math for this one gets a little trickier.
This is because the standard overtime pay rate is time and a half when you work overtime.
It also assumes you are not part of the small group of exempt employees that don’t earn overtime.
So, take your pay rate and divide it in half, then take that amount and add it to your hourly rate.
In this case, we take $15, which is half of $30, and add $30 to get $45.
Now take the number of overtime hours per week you work.
Assuming you work the same amount of overtime hours all year, you take this number and multiply it by 52.
Finally, you add this number to your annual salary of $62,400 to get your yearly salary.
For example, you have 5 hours per week of overtime.
Take five times 52 to get 260 hours. Now multiply this by $45 to get $11,700.
Add this to your $62,400, and your total income is $74,100.
The exception to this is if you work Sundays or holidays when many employers will pay you an overtime premium rate of twice your regular rate.
Paid Time Off
Let’s assume you don’t get paid for vacation time.
You need to subtract these weeks from your calculation.
Assume you get two weeks of no paid time off.
Since every year has 52 weeks, subtract the weeks you don’t get paid from 52.
In this case, take 40 hours and multiply this by 50 weeks.
You get 2,000 hours. Multiply this by your $30 hourly rate to get an income of $60,000.
If you get paid vacation, you don’t have to worry about this since you earn your hourly rate even when not working.
The Most Accurate Estimate Of Annual Income
To get the most accurate answer for turning $30 an hour into an annual salary, you need to look at how many working days there are in a year.
This varies by year based on when weekends and holidays fall and if it is a leap year.
In 2023, there are 260 working days.
We can then multiply your $30 per hour salary by 8, assuming your shift is this long to get $240.
Then, take $240 and multiply it by 260 working days to get $62,400.
This assumes you work 40 hours per week.
Gross Income Vs. Net Income
When you receive a job offer, you’ll probably first ask how much you’ll be paid.
If the employer says you’ll make $30 per hour, you might immediately think you’ll earn $62,400 annually.
However, that’s not always the case. It’s important to understand the difference between gross income and net income.
Gross Income
Gross income is the total amount you earn before any deductions are taken.
It includes your base rate, overtime rate, bonuses, and any other income you receive.
Deductions
Deductions are the amounts taken from your paycheck for taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and any other benefits you may have elected to enroll in.
These deductions can vary depending on location, income level, and other factors.
Understanding what deductions are being taken out of your paycheck is essential so you can budget accordingly.
Because each person’s financial situation is different, the amount of deductions depends on the factors that apply to them.
This is why two people who earn the same salary will not have the same net income per year.
One person may have a higher income because they have fewer deductions.
Net Income
Your net income is the amount of money you take home after all deductions have been taken out of your paycheck.
You can use this amount to pay your bills, rent, and other expenses.
It’s important to understand your net income to ensure you’re living within your means.
$30 Dollars an Hour For Different Time Frames
If you earn $30 an hour, you might wonder how much you will make in different time frames.
Here’s a breakdown of your potential earnings.
$30 an Hour Per Day
To figure out your daily salary, you take $30 per hour and multiply it by your daily working hours.
If you have 8 working hours, you earn $240 per day.
$30 an Hour Per Week
To determine your weekly salary, take $30 and multiply it by the number of hours you worked for the week.
If you worked 40 hours, take $30 times 40 to get $1,200.
Another way to figure out your weekly salary is to take what you earn per day from above and multiply this by the number of days per week you worked.
For example, if you worked 5 days this week, take $240 times 5 to see you earned in $1,200 weekly earnings.
$30 an Hour Bi-Weekly
To determine your biweekly salary, you do the same calculation as above but increase the number of hours worked.
So take 80 hours times $30, and you get $2,400.
$30 an Hour Per Month
To determine your monthly salary, multiply the number of days you worked for the month by your daily income.
If you count 24 work days for the month, take 24 and multiply this by $240, and you get a $5,760 monthly salary before taxes.
$30 An Hour Sample Budget
Now that we have a good idea about net income let’s look at an example $30 an hour budget so you can get an idea for how to get by on this income.
The example below shows your income divided into categories based on ideal percentages.
For example, utilities should make up around 10% of your monthly budget.
You can break this down into electric, cable, water, and sewer.
Here is a budget for single tax filers.
It is based on an annual take-home pay of $51,638 or $4,303 per month.
Budget Category | Ideal Percentage | Budget Amount |
---|---|---|
Housing | 25% | $1,076 |
Utilities | 10% | $430 |
Groceries | 10% | $430 |
Insurance | 10% | $430 |
Transportation | 10% | $430 |
Medical | 5% | $215 |
Entertainment | 5% | $215 |
Personal | 5% | $215 |
Savings/Debt | 10% | $430 |
Giving | 10% | $430 |
TOTAL | 100% | $4,303 |
Here is a budget for couples and those filing their taxes as married, filing jointly.
It is based on an annual net income of $53,902 or $4,492 monthly.
Budget Category | Ideal Percentage | Budget Amount |
---|---|---|
Housing | 25% | $1,123 |
Utilities | 10% | $449 |
Groceries | 10% | $449 |
Insurance | 10% | $449 |
Transportation | 10% | $449 |
Medical | 5% | $225 |
Entertainment | 5% | $225 |
Personal | 5% | $225 |
Savings/Debt | 10% | $449 |
Giving | 10% | $449 |
TOTAL | 100% | $4,492 |
The reason for the difference in income is that married couples tend to get a tax break and, as a result, pay lower taxes.
This isn’t always the case, as each situation is different.
But on average, this tends to be the case.
If you would rather follow the 50/30/20 budgeting rule, here are the percentage breakdowns based on this budget.
First up is an example for single filers, again using the net annual income of $51,638.
Budget Category | Ideal Percentage | Budget Amount |
---|---|---|
Needs | 50% | $2,152 |
Wants | 30% | $1,291 |
Savings/Debt | 20% | $860 |
TOTAL | 100% | $4,303 |
And here is the 50/30/20 rule for couples and those married filing jointly.
It is based on a net yearly income of $53,902.
Budget Category | Ideal Percentage | Budget Amount |
---|---|---|
Needs | 50% | $2,246 |
Wants | 30% | $1,348 |
Savings/Debt | 20% | $898 |
TOTAL | 100% | $4,492 |
Is $30 an Hour a Good Salary?
If you’re making $30 an hour, you’re earning more than the median hourly wage in the United States.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median hourly wage across all occupations in the country is $22.26 as of May 2022.
This means that half of all workers earn less than this amount, while the other half earn more.
It’s also worth considering the minimum wage when comparing a $30 per hour wage to national averages.
The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, although many states have their own minimum wage laws that exceed this amount.
For example, the state of California has a minimum wage of $15.50 per hour.
Can You Live On $30 An Hour?
Living on an income of $30 is possible for a single person.
You will be able to pay your bills and save a little money, but you will want to increase your income so that you cannot only save more but will help you as inflation increases the cost of the things you need to buy.
If you are married and supporting a family, getting by on this yearly salary will have its challenges.
Living in a low-cost-of-living area instead of an area that costs a lot to live in will be a significant factor in how difficult it is to get by.
In any event, it will help if you take steps to improve your financial situation so that you aren’t struggling to put food on the table or pay your bills each month.
For example, if you can figure out how to increase your income to $50 an hour, your yearly salary will increase to over $80K for a single person and over $87K for a married couple.
Jobs Where You Can Earn $30 an Hour
Many good jobs offer an hourly wage of $30.
Here is a short list to help you find one:
- Delivery driver
- Automotive tech
- Dental hygienist
- Physical therapist
- Graphic designer
- Web developer
- Registered nurse
Final Thoughts
There is how you figure out $30 an hour is how much a year.
Living on this salary is possible but still challenging for most people.
Of course, you should strive to increase how much you make since the larger the buffer between what you make and spend means more money to save and invest.
I have over 15 years experience in the financial services industry and 20 years investing in the stock market. I have both my undergrad and graduate degrees in Finance, and am FINRA Series 65 licensed and have a Certificate in Financial Planning.
Visit my About Me page to learn more about me and why I am your trusted personal finance expert.