$40000 a Year is How Much an Hour – Ultimate 2024 Guide

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A salary of $40,000 a year is $19.23 an hour before taxes are deducted if you work 52 weeks a year on a full-time schedule, which is typically 40 hours a week. Most people will need to follow a strict budget on this salary in order to pay all their bills, build savings, plan for retirement, and have money left for fun activities.

Breakdown of $40,000 a Year

A salary of $40,000 per year (if working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks per year) before taxes are deducted breaks down to the following income:
Monthly (Annual ÷ 12 months): $3,333.33
Biweekly (Weekly x 2): $1,538.40
Weekly (Annual ÷ 52 weeks): $769.20
Daily (Hourly x 8 hours): $153.84
Hourly (Annual ÷ 2080 hours): $19.23

lady putting money in piggy bank text 40000 a year is how much an hour
$40000 a Year is How Much an Hour

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How much is 40000 a year per hour, week, biweekly, and per month?

A quick breakdown shows the approximate hourly wage, if you earn $40,000 a year, is between $18 and $22 an hour, with $19.23 per hour a close exact amount.

Considering you work 40 hours a week, which is 52 weeks and 2,080 hours, your wage over the year is $19.23 per hour.

If you don’t work 40 hours per week or 52 weeks per year, you need to know the total hours you work per year to calculate this number yourself and make the conversion.

Once you have this number, divide it by 40,000 to get your hourly wage.

Is this enough money to live on comfortably?

How much will you make after taxes are taken out?

A salary of $40,000 per year (if working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks per year) before taxes are deducted is:
Monthly: $3,333.33
Biweekly: $1,538.40
Weekly: $769.20
Daily: $153.84
Hourly: $19.23
Depending on where you live, how many people you support on your income, and how much debt you have, it is possible to live comfortably on $40,000 a year if you spend your money wisely.

Keep reading to get the answers to these questions plus learn everything you want to know about making 40000 a year, including a sample budget so you can make the decision if this wage will work for your personal situation.

$40,000 a year is how much biweekly?

If you are paid biweekly, you get a paycheck twice per month.

Assuming you are working exactly 40 hours per week and 52 weeks a year, with a 40,000 annual salary, your paycheck before tax deductions would be $1,538.40

$40,000 a year is how much a week?

If you make 40,000 per year, your weekly pay, if you are working a 40 hour week, is approximately $625.

$40,000 a year is how much a month?

]If your employer pays you monthly before taxes you would make an income of $3,333.33.

This is assuming you work 8 hours a day and 40 hours per week.

40000 a year is how much an hour after taxes?

Your $19.23 hourly rate is actually much less considering taxes will be deducted from your take-home paycheck on the 40,000 salary.

Once the required federal, state, and local tax is deducted your annual salary will be approximately $33,826.

Free Take-Home Pay Calculator: Check out our free Wages Calculator to figure your take-home Pay (income after taxes are deducted.)

Where You Live Makes a Difference in Taxes

The annual salary after taxes makes a difference depending on where you live.

State taxes vary widely. For example, Colorado taxes are 4.63%, California taxes range between 1% and 12.3%, Georgia taxes range between 1% and 5.75%, Kentucky taxes are 5%.

map of 9 states that do not have tax for 15 an hour is how much a year
States that do not tax their residents

Is $19.23 a good hourly rate?

If you budget properly, you should be able to support yourself and a small family making $19.23 an hour.

In 2020 a single person without any dependents is considered at the federal poverty level if they make less than $12,760.

This number increases to $26,200 being at the poverty level for a family of four.

With the cost of living differences in every state, even different cities, these numbers will vary in real life when computing actual living expenses.

For example, it costs much more to live in New York City than in a small town in Kansas.

 Is $40k a year a good salary?

This is a fairly subjective question because everyone’s lifestyle and cost of living expenses vary.

If you make 40k a year, you fall into the American middle class.

In most places, earning an annual salary of $40,000 is a respectable wage that can support a family with careful planning and a comfortable but not extravagant lifestyle.

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What if you get a paid vacation with your job that pays 40k a year?

Each example above assumes you work 40 hours weekly for 52 weeks.

Many jobs offer a paid vacation, which means you will actually make more per hour.

The actual hourly wage will vary depending on the overall vacation time, but here are a couple of examples:

If you earn 2 weeks of paid time off per year, your hourly rate would work out to $20 per hour.

If you earn 3 weeks of paid time off per year, your hourly salary would be $20.41 an hour.

How much is 40,000 a year salary compared to all Americans?

The following map from the government census shows a comparison of states and the median wages. 

median household income us census bureau for 40000 a year is how much an hour
Comparison of states and their median wages

What professions make $40,000 a year?

There are plenty of work opportunities available for you when you earn $40,000 annual income.

However, you have to be resourceful and you do need a high school diploma in most cases to land one of these jobs.

The following sample list of jobs in this salary range includes the required education level before you can start working.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is the best starting place for your employment search (and where the following information in the table is taken from.)

Jobs that Make $40,000 a Year

Position

Education Requirement

at Entry

Work Description

Legal Support Worker

Associate's Degree

Perform various administrative and clerical tasks for attorneys


Real Estate Appraiser

Bachelor's Degree

Place a value on home's based on market research

Telecommunication Line Installer

High School Diploma

Install, repair and maintain the cables and lines used by network companies

Survey Researcher

Master's Degree

Design surveys and analyze data based on factual data

Fundraiser

Bachelor's Degree

Assist organizations in meeting short- and long-term financial goals

Flight Attendant

High School Diploma

Responsible for passengers' safety and taking care of their comfort needs

Physical Therapist Assistant

Associate's Degree

Observe patients before, during, and after physical therapy and make notations about their condition

Property Assessor

Associate's Degree

Determine how properties are used and assign the correct classifications

$40,000 Annual Salary Jobs

smart mom hq 40000 annual salary jobs

What if you want to make more money than 40,000 a year?

There are numerous ways to make extra money. Following are a few ideas to get you started.

Start a Side Gig

Especially with the rise of the internet, there has also been a rise in the availability of side jobs.

Possibilities:

Invest to Earn Passive Income

Investing your money is one of the best ways to watch it increase over time.

You may not have as much to invest as others with a higher salary.

However, investing a small portion of your income with careful planning and diligence is possible when you make 40,000 a year.

Use Your Money to Make More Money for You

Learning to turn your hard-earned money into more money is the best utilization of your income.

Ways to make your money work for you:

Our Most Popular Money-Making Offers

If you’re looking for a side hustle or just a way to make some extra spending money, there are numerous ways you can accomplish this. Here are a few quick and simple ideas for you (I personally use each of them!):

Can you live comfortably on $40k a year?

To live comfortably on 40,000 a year, there are steps to take that are proactive on your part.

The following tips are the first steps to take so you can live within your means on this income:

  1. Create a budget
  2. Lower your expenses
  3. Start saving money
  4. Get rid of debt

Another tip is to learn to live on less than you make, which means you might need to live a frugal lifestyle until you start making more money.

Buying the cheapest groceries is another tip to make your $40,000 yearly income go further, and when it comes time to go shopping for a gift, consider making your own gift basket to cut costs.

We have a complete series of articles on converting your hourly wage to a yearly salary!

Income & Wage Guides

Go to all Income & Wages posts [whole series]

Budget Template

The following budget template is a great place to get started with creating your own budget.

Basic Budget Percentage Breakdown

Budget Category

Percentage

Housing

30%

Transportation

15%

Insurance

15%

Utilities

10%

Food

10%

Personal Items

5%

Entertainment

5%

Savings

10%

Basic Budget Percentage Breakdown

How to Create a Budget for $40,000 a Year

The following sample budget shows how a person could delegate their income making $19.23 an hour/$3,333 per month (keep in mind these numbers are for a sample only, and they are before tax is deducted.)

$40,000 Yearly Salary Sample Budget

Expense

Amount

Rent/Mortgage

$1,000

Utilities

$333

Transportation

$499

Groceries

$334

Insurance

$500

Personal Items

$167

Entertainment

$165

Savings

$335

$40,000 Yearly Salary Sample Budget

smart mom hq sample budget 40000 year salary

Plug your own numbers into this template to get an idea of how you can live on this income by allocating money properly in each category.

This example is following the budgeting guidelines of spending 70% of the income on living expenses, 10% on savings, and 20% on the remaining living costs.

For any categories you can spend less than the guideline percentage, it is recommended to add that money into savings.

When you are making your own list, start with each month and move to annual costs. Not all of your bills will happen monthly, as some may be paid quarterly or even one time per year.

Similar Wages

What is $20 an hour annually?

Your annual salary would be $41,600 before taxes. After the tax is deducted, you would take home between $31,900 and $35,000 per year.

You might also be interested in the post on how much 18 dollars an hour is and the budget sample for how to live comfortably on this hourly wage.

$38,000 a year is how much an hour?

Earning $38k a year would give you an hourly rate of approximately $18. This is not the take-home pay since it is not calculated with taxes being deducted.

$41,000 a year is how much an hour?

If your annual salary is $41,000 a year, your hourly rate would be around $19 (before tax.)

How much is $42,000 a year per hour?

Before taxes are deducted, $42,000 a year is approximately $20 an hour.

How much is $44,000 a year per hour?

If you make $44,000 a year and the federal, state, and local tax is not taken out, you would make approximately $21 per hour.

How much is $45,000 a year per hour?

Before taxes are taken out of your paycheck, a yearly salary of $45k would be in the ballpark of $22 an hour.

Once you land a job earning 40000 a year, be prepared to make a decision on how you will spend your money.

The first thing to do is build a budget, and your second plan of action should be to follow the budget. (Hint: This is where most people trip up their plan and fall behind or fail to build their savings.)

If you need ideas for creating your budget, hop over to 20 free printable budget templates for a headstart!

Interested in other job-earning scenarios?

Read the entire series on wages to get your questions answered about how to live comfortably on any income and make extra money if you don’t make enough.

You might also like What is Considered a Good Hourly Wage Today and How Many Work Hours in a Year.

Ready to start a budget you’re excited to follow? You don’t want to miss out on how to make budgeting simple and fun!

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