$35,000 a Year is How Much an Hour?

Knowing your annual salary doesn’t tell you a lot. What you really want to know is how much you make per hour.

In other words, is the job worth your time for $16.83 per hour? It puts things into perspective and helps you decide what you want to do with your life.

So $35000 a year is how much an hour? We show you below. 

Use our salary to hourly calculator to see your exact pay broken down!

$35,000 a Year Is How Much a Month After Taxes?

If you find yourself wondering $35,000 a year is how much a month after taxes, consider this. Your after-tax income is what you bring home, aka the money you have to pay your bills and have fun. This is the most accurate picture of what you earn, but it’s nice knowing the gross amount an employer pays.

Here’s what $35,000 a year looks like after taxes on a monthly basis.

While each state has a different tax rate, we can cover the federal taxes you’d owe. Assuming you’re paid once a month, you’d make $2,917 per month BEFORE taxes. From that amount, you’d pay federal income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax.

In our example, we’ll assume you don’t have any dependents. You’d pay around $296 in federal income tax, $181 in Social Security tax, and $42 in Medicare tax. Those numbers would change if you had dependents or you had any pre-tax deductions such as health insurance or 401K contributions. 

$35,000 a Year Is How Much Biweekly?

If your employer pays you biweekly, you receive 26 paychecks per year. How much you receive depends on a few things. Obviously, your tax rate pays a role, but also the benefits your employer offers. Do you get paid vacation time or is it unpaid?

Your bi-weekly paychecks would be $1,346 before taxes and any other common deductions (pre-tax contributions). Bi-weekly paychecks occur every two weeks. Some months you may get two paychecks and some months you’d get three paychecks. 

The same would be true if your employer paid you twice a month on the same days of the month, such as the 15th and the 30th of each month. 

$35,000 a Year Is How Much a Week?

If your employer pays you weekly, you’d receive 52 paychecks per year. Before taxes and any other deductions/contributions, your paycheck would be $673 per week. You’d receive four or five paychecks a month, depending on the month as some months have five weeks in them.

$35,000 a Year Is How Much a Day?

Sometimes it’s nice to know how much you get paid per day. $35,000 per year is such an ambiguous number. It doesn’t tell you exactly how much your day is worth. On those tough days when your days drag, it may help to know how much you make per day.

In order to calculate this, you must know how many days you work a year. If you work a standard weekday 9 to 5 job, there are 260 working days in 2023. That means you make around $135 per day.

If you work fewer days, but more hours per day or you work more than five days per week, your amount would differ, but the average person makes $135 per day. 

How Much Is $35,000 a Year per Hour?

If you find yourself wondering how much is $35,000 a year per hour, check this out.

Knowing how much you make per hour even if you get paid a salary is important. When you’re looking for a job, it helps to weigh the pros and cons of the job, including the opportunity cost of taking it based on its hourly rate.

If you work a standard 9 to 5 job on the 260 working days in 2023 you’d make $16.83 per hour. This is the same whether you get paid vacation or not – if you don’t get paid vacation, and you work the two weeks, you’d get paid. If you do get paid vacation, you get paid not to work. 

Check Out This Related Article About Earning $17 an Hour

Now if the company pays you benefits, you may want to consider the financial benefit of them. For example, health insurance is a costly benefit. If your employer covers your insurance 100%, that’s a benefit to add to your hourly rate. The same is true if they offer a 401K match or any other financial benefits. 

Even if you don’t receive the pay in hand – you get benefits in lieu of the money, which could help you decide if the job is the right choice. 

$35,000 per Year Breakdown Table

Here’s a quick breakdown of what 35k a year looks like for the average person.

Tools for Living on 35k a Year

How to Make 35k a Year

Today, it’s easier than ever to make $35,000 a year or more if you start a side gig or two. Depending on how busy you want to be, you can add jobs like Uber or Lyft driver, freelance writer, Instacart shopper, or website designer to your repertoire.

If you want something more passive, you can answer surveys on Swagbucks, use cashback sites like Rakuten, or even invest your money. Dividend stocks, ETFs, and even online high-yield savings accounts pay you a little money and every dollar adds up!

Of course, the list is endless, and now that you know the average hourly salary to make $35,000 a year, you can determine which jobs will get you where you want to be. If you find yourself looking for jobs that pay 35k a year, with or without a college degree, look at jobs like:

Retail Store Manager

New retail store managers may start with a $35,000 annual salary, especially if they start as assistant managers. However, it’s easy to work your way up as you gain experience and prove you can run a store, especially as you work your way up to general manager. So when you start, you’ll likely work under another manager to gain experience and learn how to run the store.

Electrician

Electricians often get paid hourly, but the hourly rate can add up to around $35,000 a year in the early days. To work as an electrician, you’ll attend trade school and work as an apprentice, which is when you’ll likely make $35,000 a year, but most electricians quickly make a much higher salary as they work through the program.

X-Ray Tech

X-ray techs work hard in hospitals and other medical facilities. They take patients for their x-rays and provide the films to doctors and medical professionals. Because x-ray techs don’t need a four-year degree, they often start at a lower annual salary of around $35,000 and work up to a much higher salary with experience.

Truck Driver

Local truck drivers that don’t drive over the road (long distances overnight) can make $35,000 to start. However, many truck drivers work overtime and can quickly increase their salary or work their way up to an over-the-road driver, where they can make a higher salary.

Dental Technician

The dental technician position can be a part or full-time job assisting the dentist. Technicians do a lot of the preparation work for dentists, including the cleanings. As you gain experience, you can likely make a higher salary, especially if you become the head dental technician in the office.

Factors That Affect Your Take-Home Pay

Your take-home pay is the money you get when you receive your check. For example, if your annual salary is $35,000, you won’t take home $2916 a month. Instead, you’ll take home your net pay, which is your pay after your deductions. However, some employees may have one benefit that increases their pay.

Cost of Living

A cost of living benefit (COLA) may increase your take-home pay if your employer offers it. COLA benefits increase employees’ pay when the cost of living increases and decreases the power of your dollar.

Every company has a different threshold regarding when the COLA benefits kick in and how they pay it. For example, some companies pay a lump sum to help offset the higher cost of living, and others give employees a raise to account for the higher living costs.

Taxes

Taxes are something every employee must pay. When you work for someone, whether part-time or full-time, your employer pays the employer taxes, and you pay your federal and state income taxes (if applicable in your state). There may also be local taxes, plus everyone pays Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA).

You can adjust the amount of taxes withheld from your check by adjusting the number of dependents you claim on your W-4.

PTO

If your employer offers vacation or paid time off, you get paid even when you don’t work. So, for example, if you get two weeks of paid vacation, you can take those days off, and your take-home pay will remain the same.

However, if you don’t have PTO or you exceed it, your check will be lower during the weeks you take time off without pay.

Insurance

Your employer may offer medical, life, and disability insurance as a benefit. You may be responsible for some or all of the premiums. For example, some employers cover employees’ medical insurance premiums, not their dependents’ premiums. Others cover a percentage of the employee’s premium, leaving the rest up to you. Your employer will deduct the premiums from your gross income before taxes. This reduces your tax liability while also lowering your take-home pay.

Additional Ways to Boost Your Annual Salary

A $35,000 annual salary may be good to start right out of college or high school, but it’s not livable for long. So to increase your income to make ends meet, here are some ways to make more money.

Negotiate a Raise

If you’ve worked the same job for a while, you might consider asking for a raise. Get to know the company’s track record with giving out raises first and then prepare your request. You should ask your boss for a raise in person and have data to support your reasons.

Think about how you’ve helped the company or exceeded the expectations of the job. You might also consider researching what other companies pay their employees for the same job to negotiate with your boss.

New Job

If your company doesn’t give out raises, or they don’t feel you deserve one, consider looking for another job. Use sites like Indeed and Glassdoor to find companies that pay more for the same or similar position so you can jump in and feel comfortable at your new job.

New Career

Consider a new career if draining your bank account to make ends meet every month isn’t appealing. Depending on what you want to do, you might have to return to school or undergo training. Determine what’s necessary to change careers and do it while at your current employer. This way, you don’t have an income gap, making it harder to cover your bills.

Side Hustles

Side hustles help you make more money without leaving your job. We love them because they offer a creative outlet and let you make money while having fun. The sky’s the limit with side hustles, whether you want to do something professional, such as consulting in your business, or something fun like retail arbitrage, selling arts and crafts, or pet sitting.

Passive Income

Everyone should have multiple income streams to make ends meet and save for the future. Passive income streams offer more money without requiring too much effort from you.

You can earn passive income by investing when you earn capital gains or start a side hustle that offers passive income, such as selling stock photos or creating an online course that you can sell as many times as people will buy them.

Sample Budget for $35,000 a Year

Most people can’t live on $35,000 a year; if they do, they must live a frugal lifestyle. So if you don’t have any other income streams, consider this slimmed-down budget to help make ends meet.

• Keep fixed bills at 50% or less of your income. Focus on your housing payment, keeping it as affordable as possible. You’ll likely have to rent with this salary, so look around for affordable rent in livable areas, and keep your other fixed bills like utilities, food, and clothing as frugal as possible.
• Keep your unnecessary spending to 20% or less of your income. This includes dining out, unnecessary clothing, and entertainment.
• Try to save up to 20% of your income. When you have an annual salary of $35,000, you’ll need an emergency fund to cover car repairs or medical emergencies.
• If you have any money left, consider small charitable donations that don’t exceed 10% of your income. 

$35000 a Year Is How Much an Hour FAQs

Can I Live Off $35,000 a Year?

If you’re a single person, you might live off $35,000 a year if you rent and live a frugal lifestyle. However, if you’re married or have any dependents, it can be a tough salary to live off of alone.

Can You Make $35,000 a Year Without a Degree?

There are many ways to make $35,000 a year without a degree. Depending on how much you make hourly or in tips, you might make $35,000 a year working retail or as a restaurant server. Many careers have a starting salary of $35,000 yearly, including dental technicians, x-ray techs, and retail store managers.

What’s the Total Number of Working Days in 2023?

There are 260 working days in 2023.

How Do You Calculate Hourly Rate From Annual Salary? 

If you want a perspective on how much your annual salary pays you hourly, take the total salary and divide it by 52 weeks. Next, divide that number by 40 hours (or the hours you work). The result is your hourly salary. 

Is $35,000 a Year a Good Salary?

If you wonder is $35,000 a year is a good salary, consider this. The minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 an hour. If you make $35,000 a year, you make $16.83 per hour – you make more than twice the minimum wage.

Now let’s look at the average weekly salary. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the average American makes $865 a week working full-time. That comes out to $44,980 per year. If you’re making $35,000 you are below the average American. Depending on your financial goals, you may or may not consider adding additional streams of income.