Is $15 an hour good pay in Maine?

$15 an hour is $31,200 a year at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, before tax. After federal income tax, FICA and Maine income tax a single filer keeps about $2,186 a month — $26,231 a year, or $12.61 for every hour worked.

How much is $15 an hour after tax per hour?

About $12.61 per hour. Gross pay is $15 an hour, and $2.39 of each hour goes to federal income tax and FICA plus Maine income tax — an effective rate of 15.9%. That is the whole-year average; individual paycheques vary with hours and any bonus.

What if I only work 30 hours a week at $15 in Maine?

30 hours a week is 1,560 hours a year, or $23,400 gross. Take-home is about $1,693 a month. Because the standard deduction and the lower brackets are fixed amounts, a part-time schedule keeps a larger share of each dollar than a full-time one at the same rate.

Does overtime change the tax on $15 an hour in Maine?

Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the rate, so 45 hours a week is $37,050 a year at $15: 40 hours at $15 plus 5 hours at $22.50. Take-home is about $2,549 a month. The extra hours are taxed at your marginal rate, not at the average rate, so the net gain per overtime hour is smaller than $22.50.

Why use 2,080 hours instead of 2,000?

Payroll converts hourly pay with 40 hours a week × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours a year. Using 2,000 hours (50 weeks) understates annual pay by about 4%, because paid leave is paid time — it is not unpaid hours removed from the total.

$15 an Hour in Maine — What It Pays a Year

$15 an hour, 2,080 hours a year

Gross pay$31,200

Take-home pay$26,231

Federal income tax$1,5645.0%
FICA — Social Security + Medicare$2,3877.7%
Maine income tax$1,0183.3%
Take-home pay$26,23184.1%

$15 an hour × 2,080 hours is $31,200 gross. A single filer keeps $26,231 of it — $12.61 for every hour on the clock.

At $15 an hour in Maine, a full-time year is $31,200 gross, and a single filer takes home about $2,186 a month — $12.61 per hour actually kept. That is after federal income tax, FICA and Maine income tax.

Hourly wage$15

Annual gross$31,200

Monthly take-home$2,186

Net per hour worked$12.61

$15 an hour, converted

Payroll does not multiply an hourly rate by 2,000 hours. The standard conversion is 40 hours a week × 52 weeks = 2,080 paid hours, which is why $15 an hour is $31,200 a year and not $30,000. Paid leave is why the higher figure is the correct one: vacation hours are paid, so they stay in the annual total.

Period	Gross	Net (single filer)
Hour	$15	$12.61
Week (40 hours)	$600	$504
Biweekly	$1,200	$1,009
Month	$2,600	$2,186
Year	$31,200	$26,231

Weekly and biweekly net figures are the annual amount divided by 52 and 26, not a per-cheque withholding formula. An employer withholding with the IRS percentage method on each cheque lands close to these averages over a full year.

What Maine takes on top of the federal layer

The same $15 an hour would keep $27,249 a year if only federal tax and FICA applied. In Maine it keeps $26,231 — $1,018 less, or $0.49 per hour given up to the state layer.

Maine uses progressive brackets, and at $31,200 of gross pay only the lower bands are touched. Working more hours moves income up through those bands, which is why the net gain per extra hour falls as hours rise.

Maine uses 3 brackets, and the top 7.15% rate applies above 64,849 dollars. By top rate, this state ranks 11th of the 42 taxing jurisdictions compared here.

Part-time and overtime at $15 an hour

Schedule	Hours / year	Annual gross	Monthly net
30 hours a week	1,560	$23,400	$1,693
40 hours a week	2,080	$31,200	$2,186
45 hours a week (5 at 1.5×)	2,340	$37,050	$2,549

Overtime hours are paid at $22.50 under the FLSA time-and-a-half rule. They are withheld at the marginal rate rather than the average rate, so a heavy overtime month withholds more than this monthly average and settles up when the return is filed.

Adjust it to your own numbers

Annual gross salary

Drag to see the curve move. Numbers update as you type. Above $250,000 the slider stretches to your entry instead of pinning to its old cap.

State

Filing status

401(k) contribution (annual)

Cap $24,500. Pre-tax 401(k) lowers income tax but not FICA — that is why this number moves less than people expect.

$2,186/ month

$26,231 a year after tax · $1,009 per biweekly check

This is the full-year tax liability on that salary, not an employer's per-period withholding table. Payroll withholding can land a few percent away from the annual figure, so another calculator may show a slightly different number.

Effective tax rate15.9%

Marginal rate25.4%

Total withheld$4,969

FICA$2,387

Line item	Annual	Monthly
Gross pay	$31,200	$2,600
Pre-tax deductions (401k / HSA)	-$0	-$0
Federal income tax	-$1,564	-$130
Social Security	-$1,934	-$161
Medicare	-$452	-$38
Maine state income tax	-$1,018	-$85
Take-home pay	$26,231	$2,186

Gross incomeTake-home payThe gap widens as income climbs — that is the marginal rate at work.

Other hourly rates in Maine

Hourly rate	Annual gross	Monthly net	Net per hour
$15/hour	$31,200	$2,186	$12.61
$18/hour	$37,440	$2,574	$14.85
$20/hour	$41,600	$2,832	$16.34
$25/hour	$52,000	$3,469	$20.02

Net per hour is take-home divided by 2,080 hours, so it drops more slowly than the effective rate rises — the standard deduction covers the first slice of income at every rate.

Questions this page answers

Is $15 an hour good pay in Maine?: $15 an hour is $31,200 a year at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, before tax. After federal income tax, FICA and Maine income tax a single filer keeps about $2,186 a month — $26,231 a year, or $12.61 for every hour worked.
How much is $15 an hour after tax per hour?: About $12.61 per hour. Gross pay is $15 an hour, and $2.39 of each hour goes to federal income tax and FICA plus Maine income tax — an effective rate of 15.9%. That is the whole-year average; individual paycheques vary with hours and any bonus.
What if I only work 30 hours a week at $15 in Maine?: 30 hours a week is 1,560 hours a year, or $23,400 gross. Take-home is about $1,693 a month. Because the standard deduction and the lower brackets are fixed amounts, a part-time schedule keeps a larger share of each dollar than a full-time one at the same rate.
Does overtime change the tax on $15 an hour in Maine?: Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the rate, so 45 hours a week is $37,050 a year at $15: 40 hours at $15 plus 5 hours at $22.50. Take-home is about $2,549 a month. The extra hours are taxed at your marginal rate, not at the average rate, so the net gain per overtime hour is smaller than $22.50.
Why use 2,080 hours instead of 2,000?: Payroll converts hourly pay with 40 hours a week × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours a year. Using 2,000 hours (50 weeks) understates annual pay by about 4%, because paid leave is paid time — it is not unpaid hours removed from the total.

Continue from here

$18 an hourin Maine $20 an hourin Maine $25 an hourin Maine $30,000 a yearafter tax in Maine $35,000 a yearafter tax in Maine All salaries in Mainestate brackets, median earner, local levies $15 an hour, federal viewno state tax, all 51 jurisdictions compared

Same hourly rate, other states

Alabama$15 an hour · state income tax Alaska$15 an hour · no state income tax Arizona$15 an hour · state income tax Arkansas$15 an hour · state income tax California$15 an hour · state income tax Colorado$15 an hour · state income tax

Where these federal figures come from

The federal side of this page is not an estimate of an estimate. The brackets and the standard deduction come from the IRS annual inflation notice, the Social Security wage base from the SSA, and the 401(k) deferral limit from the IRS contribution-limit notice. Each link below is the document the dataset was read from for tax year 2026.

Dataset status VERIFIED · reviewed 2026-11-07. The full cross-market list lives on the sources page; the computation chain is on the methodology page.

Tax year 2026 · Data reviewed 2026-11-07 · Source: Maine revenue department · Financial disclaimer