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If you are paid hourly, it is important to know how much money you are making in a year.
To calculate how much $10 dollars an hour is in annual terms, we first have to take into account if you are a full time employee or a part time employee.
Then, we need to look at how many hours you work per week.
If you are working a standard working week of 40 hours per week, we simply take 40 hours and multiply this by 52 weeks to get your total working hours of 2,080 for the year.
Then we simply multiply $10 by 2,080 to get an annual salary of $20,800.
So a $10 hourly wage is $20,800 annually.
But this isn’t the exact answer for everyone reading this post.
There are other factors that come into play.
Maybe you work overtime. Maybe you work less than 40 hours a week. Or maybe you don’t get paid vacation time.
All of these factor into the calculation for turning your hourly pay rate into an annual salary.
In this post, I’ll go over these factors so you can get a better idea of how much you will be earning this year.
ConversionSalaryAnnual Salary$20,800Monthly Salary$1,760Biweekly Salary$800Weekly Salary$400Daily Salary$80
$10 Dollars An Hour is How Much a Year
No Paid Vacation
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.
To figure out your annual salary with no paid time off, you first have to know how much vacation time you get.
Let’s assume it is 2 weeks unpaid vacation.
Since there are 52 weeks in a year, you subtract the 2 weeks you are not paid to get to 50 weeks.
From here, we simply multiply 50 weeks by 40 hours to get 2,000 working hours.
Multiply 2,000 by $10 and you get $20,000 annual income.
How Much Is $10 Dollars An Hour Working Part Time
If you work part time hours, the good news is the math for figuring out your annual salary is simple.
We have done the equation above, we just have to change one number.
To figure out your annual salary working part time for $10 an hour, take the number of hours you work per week and multiple that by 2,080.
This assumes you work all year and if you get vacation time, you are paid for it.
For example, if you work 35 hour work weeks, 35 times 52 is 1,820 working hours.
Take 1,820 and multiply it by $10 and you get $18,820.
If you work less than 35 hours a week, take your weekly work hours and multiply it by 52. Then take that number and multiply it by $10 to get your annual salary.
What If You Work Overtime?
The math for figuring out your income is just as easy if you work overtime.
The problem though is the answer might not be accurate.
I say this because the formula assumes you work the same amount of overtime for the entire year.
If you end up not working overtime for a few weeks, the amount you calculate will be wrong.
In any case, here is the formula.
To start off, we will take 40 hours a week at 52 weeks a year to get 2,080 working hours.
Take 2,080 and multiply it by $10 to get $20,800.
Next, we need to figure out your overtime hours.
Let’s assume you work 10 hours of overtime per week.
10 times 52 weeks is 520 working hours.
Since most overtime pay rates are 1 ½ times your hourly wage, we can’t multiply this number by $10.
We have to multiply it by $15, which is your overtime pay rate.
So 520 multiplied by $15 is $7,800. Take this amount and add it to $20,800 to get an annual salary of $28,600
If on the other hand your company pays an overtime premium rate, like double the pay rate for working Sundays or holidays, then you will have to use $20 per hour instead.
The Most Accurate Estimate Of Annual Income
If you want the most accurate estimate of your annual salary, the best approach is to look at a calendar for the current year and total up the exact number of working days.
Depending on the year, this number can vary slightly.
The reasons for this include holidays, and even leap years.
For 2021, there are 261 work days.
So take $10 and multiply this by 8, which is a standard work shift, to get $80.
Then take 261 and multiply this by $80, assuming you work full time, to get $20,880 annual income.
Earning $10 Dollars An Hour For Other Time Periods
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.
To save you from finding an hourly to salary calculator, here are the more common inputs you would need to calculate your yearly salary.
$10 An Hour Per Day
Earning $10 an hour per day, you would take $10 and multiply it by the hours worked.
Assuming this number is 8 hours, it comes to a daily salary of $80 per day.
$10 An Hour Per Week
There are two ways to figure out your weekly salary.
You could take $10 and multiply it by the hours you work in a week.
So if you work 40 hours a week, you take $10 times 40 to get $400.
Or you could take your daily income of $80 and multiply this by the number of days per week you work.
In this case, assuming you work 5 days a week, you earn $400 per week.
$10 Dollars an Hour Biweekly
To figure out your biweekly salary, you do the same calculation as above, but increase the number of hours worked.
So take 80 hours times $10 and you get $800.
$10 An Hour Per Month
The calculation for your monthly salary is tricky because each months number of work days vary.
The best way to do this is to add up the number of days you will work for the month and multiply this by $80, which is your daily income.
So for a month with 22 work days, your monthly income is $1,760.
You could also figure out the total number of hours per month you will work and multiply this $10, but it will take you longer to figure out.
A Simple Estimate of Annual Income
If you are strapped for time and don’t have access to a salary calculator, you can do some simple math to get a rough idea of your annual salary based on $10 dollars an hour.
Take $10 and double it, then add three zeros.
In this case, $10 becomes $200 and adding three zeros gets you $20,000.
As you can see, this isn’t exactly correct, but it will get you in the ballpark of what $10 an hour annually is.
Hourly Wage to Annual Wage Calculator
If you don’t want to do the math, below is a calculator for you to use to know how much 10 dollars an hour is how much a year.
Simply enter in your numbers to see how much money you make in a year.
Gross Income Versus Net Income
Note that all the examples I gave in this post are calculating your gross income, not your net income.
In other words, you are earning $10 an hour before taxes.
Your net income is what your paycheck is for after you pay Federal income taxes, state income tax, health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, and others.
So if you look at your last paycheck at the end of the year and see your net income is less than the numbers we calculated here, this is why.
Luckily there are things you can do to lower your taxable income and keep more money.
You work hard for your money, so be sure to take the steps I outline in the above post to keep more of it.
$10 An Hour Sample Budget
Now that we have a good idea about take home pay, let’s look at an example $10 an hour budget so you can get an idea for how to get by on this income.
The example below shows your income broken down into main categories based in 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 off an annual take home pay of $18,802 or $1,567 per month.
Budget CategoryIdeal PercentageBudget AmountHousing25%$392Utilities10%$157Groceries10%$157Insurance10%$157Transportation10%$157Medical5%$78Entertainment5%$78Personal5%$78Savings/Debt10%$157Giving10%$157TOTAL100%$1,567Sample budget for singles
Here is a budget for couples and those filing their taxes as married, filing jointly.
It is based off an annual take home pay of $19,587 or $1,632 monthly.
Budget CategoryIdeal PercentageBudget AmountHousing25%$408Utilities10%$163Groceries10%$163Insurance10%$163Transportation10%$163Medical5%$82Entertainment5%$82Personal5%$82Savings/Debt10%$163Giving10%$163TOTAL100%$1,632Sample budget for couples filing jointly
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 rule of budgeting, here are the percentage breakdowns based on this budget.
First up is an example for single filers, again using the net annual income of $18,802.
Budget CategoryIdeal PercentageBudget AmountNeeds50%$783Wants30%$470Savings/Debt20%$313TOTAL100%$1,567Sample 50/30/20 rule for single filers
And here is the 50/30/20 rule for couples and those married filing jointly.
It is based on the net yearly income of $19,587.
Budget CategoryIdeal PercentageBudget AmountNeeds50%$816Wants30%$490Savings/Debt20%$326TOTAL100%$1,632Sample 50/30/20 rule for couples filing jointly
Can You Live On $10 Dollars Per Hour?
As you can see from the budgets above, living on a yearly salary where you make $10 in hourly pay is not easy, but it can be done.
If you are single, getting by on this hourly wage is easier than if you have a family you are supporting.
Also, it helps to live in a low cost of living area as opposed to an area that costs a lot to live as your money will go further.
If you can increase your income to $20 an hour, this will give you some more breathing room, allowing you to save money or pay down any debt you have.
In any event, it will help if you take steps to improve your financial situation so that you are struggling to put food on the table or pay your bills each month.
Tools And Tips To Help You Live On $10 An Hour
As mentioned, living on this wage is not easy, and because of this, you need to put some effort into improving your finances.
Here are some tips and tools to help you do just that.
#1. Set Up A Budget
A spending plan is helpful no matter your yearly income, or if you are an hourly employee or not.
It will help you to prioritize the bills and monthly expenses you have to pay as well as saving something each month.
The hardest part is figuring out which one to use.
If you never budgeted before, here is a great list of various budgeting methods to consider.
Another option that many people love is using Tiller Money.
It’s a tool that uses a spreadsheet and most of it is automated.
As a bonus, it sends you emails so you always know where you stand financially.
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#2. Save Every Month
It is critical you get into the habit of saving money every month.
The amount you save isn’t as important as creating the habit.
By creating a habit, when you begin to make more money, you will automatically want to save some of it since it is what you do.
In the case of making $10 an hour, try to save $5-$10 a month.
Make sure you put this money into a savings account so you aren’t tempted to spend it.
Work to build up your emergency fund so you can cover any unexpected bills that might come up.
While you could open up a savings account at your local bank, I prefer to use an online bank, specifically CIT Bank.
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The reason why is because they pay a higher rate of interest than most other banks.
This means the money you save grows into larger amounts.
#3. Start A Side Hustle
Take a little time to figure out how you can start earning some extra cash on the side.
You don’t have to commit to a job working 25 hours per week, rather something simple that earns you some cash.
This could be dog walking or getting paid to chat online.
The money you earn can go towards building up your savings more quickly.
Other side hustles to earn extra money include:
Virtual assistant
Working in graphic design
Food delivery
Pet sitting
Freelance writing
#4. Pay Off Debt
If you have debt, specifically high interest credit card debt, you need to work on paying it off.
The sooner you can rid yourself of the debt, the sooner you will free up cash to put towards living expenses or savings.
When you find a side hustle, consider putting all, or the majority of the money you earn towards debt to pay it off quickly.
#5. Get A Raise At Work
Finally, you want to figure out how you can start earning more money at your job.
Schedule a meeting with your manager and ask what the best options are for you to increase your pay.
Is it taking on more responsibility? Getting more education?
When it comes to additional education, don’t think this means getting a degree.
You can take online courses that teach you a skill you use to increase productivity.
For example, if you work with spreadsheets, learn how to use Excel more efficiently.
Whatever you do, don’t go into the meeting and ask for more money. Ask what you need to do to earn it.
Once you have a plan, set up another meeting for six months to review your progress.
It will be at this meeting you will ask for a raise, assuming you are doing what was needed to earn more money.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, there are a few ways hourly workers can do the math to figure out what 10 an hour is how much a year.
And figuring out your annual salary based on your wages is important as there is renewed talks to increasing the Federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
While most of the formulas will give you a close estimate, the one using exact working days will be the best match.
And as I pointed out, make sure you realize this number is your gross income, not your net income.
If you are trying to survive on $10 an hour, I encourage you to read the below posts for ways to cut your monthly expenses and save money.
They will help you get ahead financially and change your financial future.
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.