$60,000 a Year is How Much an Hour?

$60,000 a Year is How Much an Hour?

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, PLEASE READ MY DISCLAIMER FOR MORE INFO.

$60,000 a year is how much an hour? While this may seem like a straightforward question, it can get a little complicated based on different factors.

This article will “uncomplicate” everything and give you an answer tailored to your situation.

$60,000 a Year is How Much an Hour?

For someone who has a typical workweek of 40 hours and works all 52 weeks, $60,000 a year is $28.85 an hour.

To calculate this, multiply 40 hours by 52 weeks, which equals 2080 total work hours a year.

Then, divide $60,000 by 2080 hours, which equals $28.85 per hour.

Of course, this is the short answer; a little later, I’ll dive deeper into an easy step-by-step process that’ll simplify calculating your hourly pay,

60k a Year is How Much Daily, Weekly, and Biweekly?

Because there’s a good chance you may want to know some other $60k salary breakdowns, the table below has all these calculations included.

$60,000 a Year Breakdown	Income	How to Calculate
Hourly	$28.85	40 hours × 52 weeks = 2080 $60,000 ÷ 2080 = $28.85
Daily (8 hours per day)	$230.80	$28.85 × 8 = $230.80
Weekly (40 hours per week)	$1154	$28.85 × 40 = $1154
Biweekly (2 weeks, which is 80 hours)	$2308	$28.85 × 80 = $2308
Monthly (160 Hours)	$4616	$28.85 × 160 = $4616

Step By Step Process to Figure Out How Much An Hour is $60,000 a Year

This guide will show you how to calculate 60k a year to an hourly wage. We’ll go over how to do this both before and after taxes.

Before jumping into the process, keep in mind that the basic example above may not apply to you.

Not everyone works 40 hours all 52 weeks of the year, including paid vacation, but don’t worry; we’ll go over this in the next section.

Before Taxes (Gross Pay)

Step 1: Establish how many hours you work a week.

A full-time employee typically works 40 hours a week, but you may work more or less than this.

If your weekly hours vary, go ahead and take the average hours you work in a year.

Step 2: Establish how many weeks you work.

There are 52 weeks in a year, but you may not work all of them.

If you get holiday pay, paid sick leave, paid vacation, time off, etc. (basically anything paid), you’re going to count it towards your total weeks worked.

Basically, you will count all working days together with any paid time off days.

Step 3: Now, we will figure out how many hours you work a year.

• (Total Hours Worked Per Week) x (Total Weeks Worked) = Yearly Hours

Remember, we’re using the example above of someone with a 40 hour work week who works 52 weeks out of the year.

You’ll plug in your weekly hours worked and total weeks worked out of the year.

• 40 hours worked per week x 52 total weeks worked = 2080 yearly hours.

Step 4: Finally, to calculate how much an hour you make when you get paid $60,000 a year, divide 60,000 by the total yearly hours.

Let’s take a look at the math from our example.

• $60,000 ÷ 2080 hours = $28.85 per hour

For a quick summary, here’s a formula for the calculation.

• (Total Hours Worked Per Week) x (Work Weeks In A Year) = Yearly Hours
• $60,000* ÷ (Yearly Hours) = Hourly Rate of Pay

*You can use this same formula for any salary amount.

How to Calculate $60K Hourly After Taxes

There are two methods I’ll go over with you to figure out your income after taxes.

Have you already been working at your job?

The best way is to look at your paystubs and base your calculation on your net pay.

If you haven’t started the job yet, use the tax calculator below. Just know that this is just an estimation and will give you a rough idea of your income after taxes.

The most accurate way would be to use a pay stub, but the calculation may not be exact if you withhold too much or too little from your paycheck.

Just know that no way will tell you 100% until you file your taxes.

Paystubs or Tax Return From Previous Year

Paystubs. Look at your net pay (after taxes) on your paystubs.

From there you’ll use your net pay to figure out your hourly rate.

Previous Year Tax Returns. Take a look at your net income from the prior year’s tax returns.

Use these net wages in your calculations to figure out the hourly rate.

Tax Calculator

If you want a quick calculation, this tax calculator will estimate both your state and federal taxes.

These are just estimations and don’t include deductions you might take.

If you live in one of the states below, there is no state income tax.

• Alaska
• Florida
• Nevada
• New Hampshire*
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Washington
• Wyoming

* While New Hampshire doesn’t have an income tax, it does tax dividends and interest.

There are also other online calculators you can use from the IRS or your state’s website.

$60,000 a Year is How much an Hour After Taxes? (Example)

Let’s look at an example using the tax calculator mentioned above.

While a rough estimate, this will give you a general idea of your $60k income after taxes.

I live in California, so we’ll go with California for this example and select a single filing status to keep it simple.

This example is for a 40-hour workweek for 52 weeks out of the year.

First, enter the information in the calculator.

After entering the information in the calculator, it gives me $11,328 for CA state and federal income tax. So $60,000 a year is $48,672 after taxes.

Then, use this formula:

(Total Hours Worked Per Week) x (Work Weeks In A Year) = Yearly Hours
$60,000* ÷ (Yearly Hours) = Hourly Rate of Pay

Let’s plug in the numbers.

• 40 hours x 52 weeks = 2080 yearly hours
• $48,672 ÷ 2080 = $23.40

Based on this example, $60,000 a year after taxes converts to $23.40 an hour.

Is 60k a good salary?

Whether $60,000 a year is a good salary depends on many factors and is different for each person.

Minimum Wage

According to the US Department of Labor, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Your state minimum wage may be more than the federal minimum wage.

But looking at the federal minimum wage alone, $60,000 is a good salary.

Someone making $60,000 a year will earn roughly $28.85 an hour. That is around a 298% increase from the federal minimum wage.

But the federal minimum wage may not be the best indicator to determine if $60,000 or close to $30 an hour is a good salary.

The indicators below are better for determining if $60k is a good salary.

Here are some factors that determine if 60k is a good yearly salary.

• What state you live in – Cost of living, taxes, utilities, etc. can vary so much from state to state.
• Expenses
• Amount of debt you have
• Lifestyle expectations
• Number of children you have
• How many other incomes contribute to the household

For example, I lived in San Francisco, California for eight years. Based on the cost of living alone, 60k wouldn’t be a great salary while living there.

But, if you live in other areas of the US, $60,000 is an excellent salary and will cover all your expenses with money left over to put into savings.

According to this study, you can live comfortably making $60,000 or less if you live in the states listed below.

Of course, this might depend on the region of the state you live in and your situation and expenses.

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

Example Situations: Is $60k a good salary or not?

Let’s look at some examples highlighting how $60k is a good salary, depending on the situation.

Person A: Person A lives in a relatively cheap part of the US, so the cost of living is reasonable, but they are the only ones contributing to their household and have three kids.

On top of that, they have a minimum payment of $500 a month because they have $12,000 in credit card debt.

Is $60,000 a year a good salary for person A?

No. By the time person A pays all their bills and expenses for the three children, they only have $100 leftover each month.

Person B: Person B’s cost of living is a little higher than person A’s, but they have no credit card debt or children. Someone else in their household contributes their $50k salary as well.

Is $60000 a year good for person B?

You probably answered yes, which is correct. Even though Person B has a higher cost of living than person A, they have no debt.

Someone else in the household makes $50k, so their combined income is enough to pay expenses and have leftover money to save.

Person C: Person C lives in a very cheap part of the US, has two kids, and is the only one who contributes to the household. They have no debt and own their home free and clear.

Is 60000 a year a good salary for person C?

Yes, yes, and yes!

With no debt, including paying off their home, even though person C is the only one making income, they can live very well off of $60k.

Let’s also talk about lifestyle expectations.

What you might consider a comfortable lifestyle may not be enough money for other people.

It’s all relative.

At 60k a year, you don’t have an endless budget; there are still things you might need to sacrifice buying.

For some people that’s fine, for others they would need extra money.

What is a good salary for one person might be bad for another.

How to Figure Out If 60k a year is a good salary For You

Instead of giving you reasons why 60k is a good or bad salary, it doesn’t matter because, as I mentioned, this is a very different answer depending on your lifestyle, spending habits, debt, bills, cost of living, etc.

So, I will tell you how to figure out if 60k a year is a good salary.

There’s only one step to figure this out.

Create A Budget

Yes, I know this isn’t the most exciting answer and is something we all try to avoid making but creating a budget will show you if a $60,000 salary is good for you.

You can then clearly see if you are in the red every month making this amount of money or if you have enough money left over to live comfortably.

How To Create a Budget

There are many ways to create a budget, but I’ll walk you through the most basic way of coming up with a budget to see if you can live on 60K.

Either take a pen or paper or type out in a Google Doc every one of your monthly expenses.

Even the tiny expenses, literally everything.

Add up all your expenses for the year.

Subtract these expenses from the 60k salary. Make sure you use your take-home pay, which is the amount you make after taxes are deducted.

Do you have enough left over to save every month?

Doing this will show you if $60k a year is a good salary for you.

After you make your budget, if you need to stretch your $60,000 income even further, the next section will give you plenty of savings tips.

Saving & Budgeting Tips When You Make $60,000 A Year

1. Make your lunch and drinks to take to work.

If you’re ordering lunch out or hitting up the Starbucks drive-through every day, that’s just eating into your $60,000 salary.

Instead, pack your lunches, snacks, and drinks. Buying groceries doesn’t have to be expensive, these helpful tips will help you save money.

If you work remotely, make all your food and drinks at home and avoid restaurant takeout and drive-throughs.

You don’t have to cut eating out altogether; just don’t make it a daily habit.

2. Evaluate your monthly subscriptions.

While $4.99 a month may sound cheap, that’s almost $60 a year and imagine if you have a bunch of these subscriptions.

As you can see, it’s easy to rack up subscription fees.

Now I’m not saying cancel Netflix or your favorite monthly subscriptions just yet. Instead, evaluate all your subscriptions and see if you need them.

I’ll give you an example. Recently my husband and I realized we don’t watch cable that much. We have Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, and a few other streaming apps to watch movies and shows.

We realized we could live without cable since most of our favorite things were on streaming apps. So we cut cable and saved $75 a month; that’s $900 a year!

Go through all your monthly subscriptions and see if you could live without anything.

3. Check out discounts and free stuff that your employer offers.

Many workplaces offer their employees some great perks like free classes, discounts at the gym, wellness activities, and more.

If these are things you would spend money on anyway, this can save you a ton of money.

People often aren’t even aware of some of the perks their company offers.

Finding out what perks your company offers varies depending on where you work.

If you’re unsure, you may want to check the company website, handbook, HR, or management.

4. Take a savings challenge.

When you turn saving money into a game, suddenly, it becomes easier.

Take a savings challenge to push yourself to save money in a certain amount of time.

All the savings challenges below come with free printables to keep track of your progress.

Here are a few challenges for you to try:

• $500 Money Saving Challenge: Save $500 in 30 days.
• $5 A Day Challenge: Save $1820 in a Year.
• Holiday Savings Challenge: Save $500 for holiday gifts.

5. Use the 50/30/20 budget rule.

The 50/30/20 budget rule divides your monthly income after taxes into needs, wants, and savings.

This rule is from the book “All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan,” written by Elizabeth Warren and her daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi.

Your monthly net income after taxes would be broken down like this:

• 50% Needs: Needs are the essentials like housing expenses, groceries, utilities, minimum debt payments, etc.
• 30% Wants: These are all the little “extra” things that aren’t essentials like eating out, entertainment, vacations, etc.
• 20% Savings & Paying Debt: Saving includes building an emergency fund, savings account, or adding money to your retirement. Paying debt also falls into this category.

More about debt.

Any minimum payments fall under the “needs” category. Any extra payments to debt fall under the “savings and paying debt” category.

If you have a lot of debt, you may even want to spend less in the “wants” category and put that amount towards debt.

A monthly breakdown of a $60,000 salary after taxes uses the 50/30/20 budget rule.

For this example, the gross annual income is $60,000, and the income after taxes is $48,672 per year, which ends up being $4056 net monthly income.

You may make more or less after taxes, but this is still a helpful example.

50/30/20 Budget Rule	$4056 Net Monthly Income For 60K Gross Salary
50% Needs	$2028
30% Wants	$1216.80
20% Savings	$811.20

Some Things To Remember

This one rule will not work for everyone; it’s just a general guideline.

It’s a jumping-off point, but if you try it and it doesn’t work for your situation, you can tweak the percentages to fit your situation.

Jobs That Make 60k A Year

If you’re wondering what jobs pay 60k a year, the list below will give you some job ideas.

Salary can vary based on the location of the job and company; these are just average wage amounts.

$60,000 A Year Jobs

The table below shows some jobs that pay an average yearly wage of $60,000*. This data was provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2021.

* These are estimated wages taken from all states and the District of Columbia. Therefore, the annual salary amount of these occupations could be more or less depending on where you live.

60k a Year Jobs	Average Yearly Salary
Computer Support Specialist	$60,550
Architectural and Civil Drafters	$60,620
Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors	$60,650
Physical Therapist Assistants	$60,740
Private Detectives and Investigators	$60,970
Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators	$60,770
Underground Mining Machine Operators	$60,290
Radio and Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers	$60,510
Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers	$60,350
Rail Car Repairers	$60,400
Model Makers, Wood	$60,040

61k-64k A Year Jobs

Because 60k is so specific, the jobs below make a salary range of $61,000*-$64,000* per year.

* These are estimated wages taken from all states and the District of Columbia. Therefore, the salary amount of these occupations could be more or less depending on where you live.

Job	Average Yearly Salary
Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars	$61,410
Real Estate Sales Agents	$61,480
Drafters	$61,680
Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film	$61,740
Occupational Therapy Assistants and Aides	$61,760
Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians	$62,020
Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors	$62,080
Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$62,140
Miscellaneous Legal Support Workers	$62,170
Teachers and Instructors, All Other	$62,200
Flight Attendants	$62,280
Healthcare Social Workers	$62,310
Drafters, Engineering Technicians, and Mapping Technicians	$62,420
Interior Designers	$62,570
Judicial Law Clerks	$62,730
Social Workers, All Other	$63,010
Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors	$63,090
Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents	$63,200
News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists	$63,230
Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists	$63,290
Electricians	$63,310
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters	$63,350
Occupational Therapy Assistants	$63,560
Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers	$64,070
Survey Researchers	$64,690
Health Education Specialists	$64,930

$60k Salary Q & A

Below are some common questions relating to a $60k salary.

Have any other questions? Be sure to comment below at the end of the post.

How much rent can I afford on 60k?

Since how much rent you can afford can vary based on how much debt or savings you have, the easiest way to figure this out is to use a rent affordability calculator.

While the calculator gives you an estimate, it at least will provide you with a general idea of how much rent you might afford.

Can a single person live on $60,000 a year?

Earning $60,000 may be enough for a single person to live on depending on the cost of living, expenses, and total debt the person has.

For a single person living in New York City, $60k is not enough but for someone living in an affordable city in Iowa, this salary would be plenty.

Summary: 60k a Year is How Much an Hour?

To quickly recap, someone who earns $60,000 a year makes $28.85 an hour. This is assuming their hours actually worked plus any paid time off comes to 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks.

You might work more or less than 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks, so your answer might vary.

If you were wondering, “Is 60k a year good?”.

To sum up the previous sections, the answer is not cut and dry. It does depend on your situation.

Factors like cost of living, expenses, how many other incomes contribute to your household, etc., can play a huge role in determining if $60,000 is a good salary.

You may live in a relatively cheap part of the U.S. with low expenses, and for you, $60,000 is a good salary.

However, if you live in a state where the cost of living is high, or you struggle to save any money at all, $60k may not be enough.

But don’t worry just yet if you live in an expensive part of the country, have a lot of debt, or struggle financially.

With all the budgeting and savings tips mentioned in this post, you can make your $60k salary go further, no matter what your situation is.

Below are some posts that will help you save and budget that’ll stretch your $60,000 income even further:

Another option might be to try a side hustle or find ways to make extra money on top of your job that pays $60k.

These posts will help you make more money:

More Posts About Salaries:

About the Author

Annie Brown is a frugal living expert and the founder of Savvy Honey.

Her expert advice has also been featured in Yahoo Finance, BuzzFeed, GOBankingRates, Woman’s Day, MSN, The Spruce Crafts, and more.