Have you wondered, $60k a year is how much per hour? If so, you’re not alone. It’s a good question because there are many variables you need to consider when calculating this number.
In this article, we cover:
- How much is 60k when you convert it to an hourly rate?
- Can you live comfortably with a salary like this?
- What is left after taxes?
So without further ado, let's begin!
How Much Is $60,000 an Hour?
If you make $60K a year, how much is that an hour? Calculating a $60,000 salary to hourly rates depends on the number of hours you work.
$60,000 divided by 12 is $5,000, meaning that you need to earn at least $5,000 per month to make $60,000 in a year.
The average person works around 40 hours per week, 48 weeks per year (taking approximately four weeks for annual leave). Therefore, the total number of hours worked per year is 1,920.
To calculate the hourly rate, you divided the total pay—$60,000—by the number of hours worked— 1,920. The answer to this calculation comes out as $31.25 per hour.
However, you may also be wondering, $60k a year is how much a week? To get the weekly rate, multiply the hourly rate by the number of hours worked. This yields $1,250.
Another frequent question is, $29 an hour is how much a year? It works out to roughly $60,000 per year (The actual figure depends on the number of hours you work in a week. For example, if you work 42.5 hours per week, your annual earnings will be $59,160 at $29 per hour).
So, is $60k a year good for a single person? Generally speaking, $60k a year is excellent for a single person. It is a highly affluent middle-level of income that allows those who earn it to afford high-quality homes, particularly outside of high-demand areas.
Jobs Where You Can Make $60,000 Per Year
There are many jobs that pay $60k to $80k a year. What’s more, many of them are freelance and provide growth opportunities.
Some professional jobs with $60k plus salary include:
- Respiratory therapist— a healthcare job that assists in helping patients with breathing issues.
- High school teacher— a job requiring a bachelor’s degree that allows you to teach in public schools.
- Registered nurse— a general healthcare practitioner role that involves daily interaction with patients, sometimes with diagnosis and treatment provision.
- Environmental scientist— somebody who analyzes ecological issues and offers reports and solutions.
- Accountants— specialists who prepare company or individual accounts for statutory and tax purposes.
- Web developer— a job that you can do remotely which involves creating websites and apps for clients.
- Industrial designer— a person who creates eye-catching designs for products, trying to marry aesthetics, functionality, and production costs.
- Avionics technician— FAA-approved maintenance technicians who work on aircraft or military projects.
- Market research analyst— a professional who uses statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of various marketing activities.
Some Entry-level jobs with a $60k salary include:
- Actuary— a professional who provides pricing and risk assessment for financial outcomes.
- Materials engineer— professionals who plan to reduce the utilization cost of materials used in production processes.
- Project manager— a person who provides broad direction for projects they oversee
- Economist— a corporate role that involves analyzing economic data trends to provide forecasting information.
- Staff nurse— an entry-level role to provide nursing care to assigned patients.
- Civil engineer— an early-career job that involves designing and supervising civil engineering construction projects, such as channels, bridges, railroads, and airports.
- Data architect— a role that involves the development of strategies for data acquisition and access.
As surprising as it may sound, there are many jobs with starting salary of $60k. Additionally, many of them progress to pay considerably higher. For instance, it is not uncommon for an experienced actuary to earn over $120,000 per year.
There are also methods to generate passive income besides your conventional salary to help you reach a $60k per year target. Some ideas include:
- Investing in stocks that pay dividends (or drawing down annually on your existing capital if your assets are “accumulating”)
- Investing in rental real estate
- Putting money into high-interest savings accounts
- Starting a blog and generating money from product placements, advertising, and affiliate marketing
- Writing an ebook and posting it on Amazon for anyone to download for a fee
- Create an online course via a platform such as Mastermind of Kajabi
$60k After Taxes
Another common question people often ask is “If I make $60,000 a year, how much is that after taxes?”
The federal tax on $60,000 is approximately $6,262, implying a marginal tax rate of 22%. However, the amount of tax that you pay differs depending on the state you live in.
A $60,000 salary after taxes in Illinois is different from $60k after taxes in NYC, and $60k after taxes in Georgia.
For instance, if you live in NYC, you will pay a total income tax of 26.08%, implying total taxes of $15,648. However, if you live in Chicago, your total income tax burden (the effective tax rate) is 22.84% or just $13,707— $1,941 lower than NYC.
Your total income tax on $60k per year breaks down into three main parts: federal, FICA and state taxes (some locations also have local taxes). The marginal tax rate on federal taxes is generally the highest (22% for a $60K salary), followed by FICA, (usually around 7% to 8%), and then state taxes (between 3% and 7%).
So, $60,000 a year is how much a month after taxes? After taxes, you’ll take home approximately $3,800. However, your total tax burden is likely to be significantly higher due to sales, fuel, and property taxes.
Another good question is, $60k a year is how much an hour after tax? So the real hourly pay is around $24 per hour.
Similar Wages
This section looks at similar wages that you can earn, which are close to $60,000 per year.
If you earn $29 an hour, that works out to $59,160 per year if you work 48 weeks at 42.5 hours per week. On the other hand, if you do the same hours but earn $30 per hour, your take-home pay is $61,200 per year. Hence, most people can earn $60,000 a year if they earn between $29 and $30 per hour.
- $25 per hour is how much per year? The calculation works out at $51,000 per year (under the assumption that you work 42.5 hours per week, 48 weeks of the year).
- $63,000 a year is how much an hour? Using the same assumptions as above, you’ll need to earn $30.88 per hour to get to this level.
$60k Salary Lifestyle
A $60k salary lifestyle is generally reasonable. You’ll be able to buy most of the things that you need to survive plus a range of luxuries as well; including vacations, a good car, meals out at restaurants, and parties.
In general, necessities (such as housing, food, and other items) should not exceed 50% of your monthly net income (what you get after taxes). A $60,000 income ($3,800 after tax) translates to $1,900 a month on necessities with $1,900 leftover for other items, such as savings, investments, entertainment, socializing, and travel.
If you’re still unsure, we answered some additional doubts you may have:
Is $60k a year good in 2021? A single person earning this salary has enough to rent an apartment in a good part of town, have a car, and put away cash into a Roth IRA/401(k) every month.
Is $60k a year good for a family of four? Perhaps not. While $60,000 is enough for a single person or a person living with a partner, it might not be sufficient for a family of four in some parts of the country. This is particularly true in areas with high housing costs and taxes, such as NYC and San Francisco.
Is $60k a year good in California? It depends on the type of lifestyle that you want to live. Making $60k per year in California will deliver all of the essentials that you need to live comfortably.
However, you may need to make compromises that you wouldn’t need to make if you lived in other parts of the country. For instance, you might need to cook your own meals, take public transport, and live in a smaller home than you would like.
Budgeting Tips for a $60k Lifestyle
Coming up with a budget for a family of four making $60k is essential to avoid going into debt and risking your future stability. You need to behave prudently financially for several years until you can build a passive income to live more freely.
When budgeting a $65k salary, you can do the following:
Allocate Percentages to “Wants” and “Needs”
It can be tempting to believe that you need everything that you want. But, if you’re on a limited budget, you have to be careful. You won’t be able to buy everything you want immediately. In some cases, you’ll need to wait.
If I make $60k a year, what house can I afford? When asking yourself this question, be realistic about the lifestyle that you can have. Try not to spend too much on housing as this will have knock-on effects on the rest of your lifestyle.
Get a Low-Rate Mortgage
On a $60k salary, your mortgage will be one of the biggest expenses that you face. For that reason, it’s critical to lower it as much as you can.
You can find the best deal for you by comparing rates on a comparison site or going to a mortgage broker who can guide you through the process. Generally, the mortgage rate shouldn’t be more than a couple of percentage points above the base rate.
Shop at Dollar Stores
Don’t make a habit of shopping at premium stores. Instead, go to dollar stores primarily and then occasionally splurge on special occasions. Additionally, take advantage of discounts and deals when shopping.
Get Discounts on Your Insurance
Don’t pay a fortune for insurance. Instead, look for discounts when they become available and hire an agent while buying. Don’t forget that you can always upgrade your insurance in the future if you require extra coverage. So you don’t need to get everything upfront.
Time Your Purchases
Can a couple live on $60,000 a year? Of course, it is possible, but it requires that couples time their purchases. For instance, buy clothes during holiday weekends when there are sales or wait until the end of the model year to buy a car (when discounts might be available).
In Conclusion
We answered a simple question in this article: $60k a year is how much an hour? We discovered that the answer is somewhere between $29 and $31 for the average person working a 40 to 42.5-hour week.
So naturally, if you work less than this, you’ll need a higher hourly rate to earn the same income. For instance, somebody working 35 hours per week needs to earn about $35.70 per hour to get the same income.
