How much unemployment will I get if I make $18 an hour?
If you make $18 per hour and lose your job, many states will pay you over $300 per week for up to 26 weeks in unemployment benefits. The exact amount that you receive will depend on the state’s UI benefit guidelines. Your state will look at your recent work history and earnings to determine the amount of your benefit payment.
Check out these examples that show how state unemployment benefits can vary:
Select your state to calculate your weekly unemployment payment:
$18.00 an hour is… |
|
| $18.00 an hour | Income |
| Daily (8 hours) | $144.00 |
| Weekly (40 hours) | $720.00 |
| Biweekly (80 hours) | $1,440.00 |
| Monthly (173 hours) | $3,114.00 |
| Quarterly (3 months) | $9,342.00 |
| Yearly (52 weeks) | $37,440.00 |
How much is $18 per hour?
Are you making $18 an hour? How much are you making every week? Every month? Every year? Knowing these numbers will give you a sense of your personal financial health.
$18 per hour is how much per month?
How many hours are you working per month? If it’s anything like the average American, it’s probably somewhere around 173 on average. How did we get 173 hours in a month?
First, we’ll multiply a 40-hour work week by 52 weeks in a year to get the annual number of hours you work. Then we’ll divide that number by 12 to see how many hours you actually work, on average, each month.
40 hours per week x 52 weeks per year = 2080 hours annually
2080 hours per year / 12 months = 173 hours per month
Now we will bring your $18 wage into the mix:
$18 x 173 hours = $3,114
$18 per hour is $3,114 per month.
Now that you know you make $3,114 per month, you can assess how well you can meet monthly obligations like housing, your car payment, and insurance. If you’re the sole income earner in your household, you’re falling right in between residents of Saint Louis, Missouri ($3,073.52) and Mesa, Arizona ($3,270.42).
$18 an hour is how much per week?
How much are you making at the end of the week? Just multiply your weekly work hours by your hourly wage. Here is the calculation if you work a standard 40-hour work week:
40 x $18 = $720
$18 per hour is $720 per week.
In South Carolina, you could rent a one bedroom apartment, while in Arkansas, you could rent a two bedroom. And in Nevada, you could just about afford a studio apartment with this weekly income number.
$18 an hour is how much per year?
Take your weekly income and multiply it by 52 weeks in the year.
$720 x 52 = $37,440
$18 an hour is $37,440 per year.
If you are the single income earner in your household and you have at least one dependent, in most states you are going to have to be strict with budgeting. And if you are single or live in a dual income household, you will have more flexibility in terms of where you can live and what you can spend.
$18 an hour is how much per day?
How much are you walking away with at the end of the day? All you need to do is figure out how many hours you work in a day. To keep our math simple, we’ll use that 40 hour work week stretched out over the traditional Monday through Friday schedule.
40 hours weekly / 5 days a week = 8-hour work days
$18 x 8 = $144
$18 per hour is $144 per day.
For most Americans, this is the amount of a monthly car insurance payment, or a utility bill (in some states…in others, the average is far less). It can be interesting to think about the purchasing power you’ve generated with one day of work by thinking about expenses like these.
$18 an hour is how much per quarter?
A quarter is three months. Take your monthly income and multiply it by three.
$3,114 x 3 months = $9,342
$18 per hour is $9,342 per quarter.
This quarterly number will tell you how well you can meet financial obligations every three months for special occasions like holidays, travel, and larger household expenses.
$18 an hour is how much biweekly?
Like most Americans, you might be getting paid every two weeks. If you’re wondering why that’s the standard practice, it’s because it saves the HR department of your employer a lot of time. In any case, just take your weekly income and double it.
$18 x 40 hours = $720 per week
$720 each week x 2 = $1,440
$18 per hour is $1,440 bi-weekly.
$1,440 biweekly is your gross income. But is this the number you’re going to see on your pay stub? If taxes have not been taken out of it, then no. FICA taxes of 7.65% are removed to pay for things like your social security (in the future) and medical assistance for those who need it. Incidentally, your employer shoulders the rest of that FICA tax burden for a total of 15% between the two of you. Once those taxes are taken out, your paycheck will be closer to $1329.84.
What Is the “Pay Yourself First” Budget?
Saving for the future is very important. It’s also very important to pay down debt so that interest payments don’t take away your ability to save, or even to spend on things you need. That’s where a budget can help. One popular budgeting method is called the “Pay Yourself First” budget. Essentially, you pay yourself first by proactively setting aside money for saving and growing and/or paying off debt, before using that money for other things. While it’s true that you will still have to pay your rent or mortgage and other fixed expenses, you can pay yourself first, before you pay Starbucks, Chipotle, or Netflix for discretionary purchases.
Here’s an example of the Pay Yourself First budget at work: If you are making $3,114, your housing costs should really not exceed more than $1,000 per month. Given the cost of gas, groceries, and all other goods and services today, that’s going to make the remaining $2,000 need some tight budgeting. To avoid some of that getting lost on things you don’t need, you need to pay yourself first. The easiest way to do this is to set up a direct deposit with your employer into some sort of brokerage or investment account. In some cases, your employer will even match your contribution up to 5%. If you can allocate 10% of your paycheck, you will be putting away around $311 each month and $3,744 per year.
Another component of the pay-yourself-first strategy is paying down debt. What most credit card companies do is make your minimum payment 1% or 2% of the total balance, including interest. This means that the interest is continuing to snowball as you slowly, slowly pay down the debt. What you should do instead is make your minimum payment plus the interest charge so you can make sure that is not added to your monthly balance. By paying yourself first, you will pay down your debt faster.