$12 an Hour Is How Much a Year?
$24,960a year · $12.00 an hour, 40 hours a week
Adjust weeks, unpaid leave and paid holidays
53 in some payroll calendars
Reduces hours paid
Days paid but not worked
| Period | Amount | Periods |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly | $12.00 | per hour worked |
| Daily | $96 | per working day |
| Weekly | $480 | 52 a year |
| Biweekly | $960 | 26 a year |
| Semi-monthly | $1,040 | 24 a year |
| Monthly | $2,080 | 12 a year |
| Yearly | $24,960 | gross |
| Hours a week | Weekly | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | $480 | $2,080 | $24,960 |
| 37.5 | $450 | $1,950 | $23,400 |
| 35 | $420 | $1,820 | $21,840 |
| 30 | $360 | $1,560 | $18,720 |
| 20 | $240 | $1,040 | $12,480 |
$12 an hour is $24,960 a year before tax, based on a 40-hour week and 52 paid weeks — 2,080 hours in total. The same rate comes to $2,080 a month, $960 every two weeks, $1,040 twice a month, and $480 a week.
Part-time hours at $12 an hour
Rates in this range often come with a schedule rather than a contract, and the hours decide the year more than the rate does. At 40 hours a week $12 an hour is $24,960; at 30 hours it is $18,720, and at 20 it is $12,480.
That is why the hours-a-week table matters more here than the headline. A shift pattern that averages 28 hours instead of the 40 an offer implies changes the annual figure by thousands, and nothing about the hourly rate signals it.
How $12 an hour compares
- It is 1.7x the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which is $9,880 more a year at the same hours.
- It is below the US median, at 38% of the median full-time wage.
- It is under Washington’s minimum wage of $17.13, the highest state floor in the country, so this rate would not be legal there.
Federal minimum wage $7.25, in effect since July 2009 (U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division). Median earnings from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings, second quarter 2026 — median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers. The hourly equivalent of $31.28 is that weekly figure over 40 hours, which is a derivation rather than a separately published median hourly wage. Highest state minimum: Washington, effective 1 January 2026.
How this is worked out
The default assumes 40 hours a week over 52 weeks, which is 2,080 paid hours a year. Yearly pay is the hourly rate multiplied by those hours; monthly is the year split twelve ways.
Biweekly and semi-monthly are not the same thing. Biweekly means every two weeks, which is 26 pay periods a year. Semi-monthly means twice a month, which is 24. That is why those two rows differ above, and why two months of the year carry a third biweekly cheque.
Every figure here is gross — before income tax, payroll tax and deductions.
Common questions
How much is $12 an hour a month?
$12 an hour is $2,080 a month before tax, at 40 hours a week. That is the yearly total of $24,960 divided by twelve, not four weekly cheques — a month averages about 4.33 weeks, so four weeks of pay at $480 comes to less than a month's share.
What is $12 an hour after taxes?
Every figure on this page is gross, before income tax, payroll tax and deductions. Take-home from $24,960 depends on your state, filing status, pre-tax deductions and local taxes, and those move the result by thousands — so no single after-tax number would be true for most readers. Social Security and Medicare alone take 7.65% of wages from an employee before any income tax applies.
Is $12 an hour a living wage?
That depends entirely on where you live and who depends on the income; $24,960 a year goes a long way in some metros and does not cover rent in others. What can be said precisely is that $12 an hour is 38% of the US median full-time wage.
How much is $12 an hour part-time?
At 30 hours a week $12 an hour is $18,720 a year, and at 20 hours it is $12,480. The hours matter more than the rate here: a schedule averaging 28 hours instead of the 40 an offer implies changes the annual figure by thousands.
Is $12 an hour more than $15 an hour?
$12 an hour is below $15, which would be $31,200 a year at the same hours against $24,960 here.