$15 an hour after taxes in Illinois
$15.00 an hour is about $25,850 a year after federal taxes and Illinois state tax — roughly $2,154 a month take-home. That's an estimated 17.1% of gross pay going to income tax, Social Security, and Medicare.
Take-home from $15/hour
$25,850 / year
$2,154 a month · $994.22 per bi-weekly paycheck
| Gross pay | $31,200.00 |
|---|---|
| Federal income tax | −$1,564.00 |
| Illinois income tax | −$1,399.61 |
| Social Security | −$1,934.40 |
| Medicare | −$452.40 |
| Net (take-home) | $25,849.59 |
Effective tax + FICA rate: 17.1% · Assumes 40 hrs/week, single filer, Illinois.
Estimate only. Excludes local/city taxes, W-4 adjustments, and other withholdings. This is not tax advice.
$15.00 an hour is close to what a typical U.S. full-time worker earns. Over a year of 40-hour weeks that is $31,200 before taxes.
At this level most of your income falls in the 10% and 12% federal brackets after the standard deduction. Contributing to a 401(k) or HSA lowers the income that's taxed (though not the Social Security and Medicare portion), so pre-tax deductions are one of the few levers that noticeably change take-home pay here.
Illinois note: Flat 4.95%. Illinois has no standard deduction; it applies a personal exemption allowance of $2,925 per person for tax year 2026 (modeled here as a single-filer allowance).