Is a $30,000 Annual Salary Good and How Much Is It Per Hour? Explained Here.

Last updated on September 21st, 2024 at 10:28 am

 

Earning a $30,000 annual salary could be your target depending on your cost of living but wait, is a $30000 annual salary good for a living? Again is a $30,000 annual salary good and how much is it per hour? let’s explain it in detail in this post.

Whether that’s how much you’re going to be paid or it’s what you’re currently earning you must find out if it’s worth your effort. You need to think about a lot of things that matter in order to get ways to fit within this annual salary or find an alternative that pays well.

However, according to your status, this annual salary could be subject to debate. The expenses of a student in college with a $30,000 side hustle compared to a single person earning this much but with other people to take care of are not the same.

Here you’re going to find out whether this amount can really work for you or not. In case it’s not enough then how best can it be put to good use or if it’s not sufficient what would be the best alternatives?

If I Am Paid $30,000 In A Year, How Much Is It Per Hour, Per Day, Per Week, and Per Month?

In a year there’re 52 weeks in total and working 40 hours per week means you use 2080 hours in a year. A $30,000 annual salary is then equivalent to $14.42 per hour that you work.

Let’s make some calculations right here

How much is $30,000 per hour?

Annual salary / total number of hours used per week in a year = amount paid per hour

$30,000 / 2080 hours = $14.42

How much is $30,000 per day?

Amount paid per hour * number of hours worked in a day

$14.42 * 8 hours = $115.36 per day

How much is $30,000 per week?

Amount paid per day * number of days worked in a week

$115.36 * 5 days = $576.8 per week

How much is $30,000 per month?

Annual salary/number of months in a year = monthly salary

$30,000 / 12 months = $2500 per month

What’s the annual take-home after taxes?

Generally, let’s look at three types of taxes applied

Social security and Medicare – 7.65%

($30,000 of 7.65%) = $2295

Federal tax rate – 12%

($30,000 of 12%) = $3600

State rate – 4%

($30,000 of 4%) = $1200

Total taxes = $(2295+3600+1200) = $7095

Therefore, take home after tax = gross annual salary – annual taxes

$(30,000-7095) =$22,905

In reality, it then changes the amount earned hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.

Hourly = $22,905 / 2080 hours = $11.01

Daily $11.01 * 8 hours = $88.08 per day

Weekly $88.08 * 5 days = $440.40 per week

Monthly $22,905 / 12 months = $1908.75 per month

But also, tax deductions vary depending on the state in which you’re located. Tax charges in New York states are higher compared to the state of Florida.

Is A $30,000 Annual Salary Good for A Living?

Whether a $30,000 salary is good or not depends on where you live. Canada and the United States are among the countries where surely this salary isn’t sufficient for a living.

And if this is your first salary it can be hard to tell that it is a good salary to live off. Everyone wants to earn a salary that is worth his or her efforts and enough for budgeting.

A salary that’s worth your budget is good but is a $30,000 salary good? You need to know who you’re in order to tell whether it is right for you or not annually.

Are you a student, a single parent, or a family earning $30,000 annually? Most students are fine with the amount but for a single parent and a complete family, it’s really not enough despite your location.

A $30,000 Salary, Is It Sufficient for Someone Living Alone?

Honestly, even though you’re living alone this salary isn’t enough. And if it’s what you’re paid you must cut expenses to the bone in the budget.

Sometimes your location and expenditure patterns determine whether a certain salary is worth your lifestyle. If you’re earning a $30,000 salary in the United States, you’re not even half the $63,214 average personal income per annum.

Yes, with this income you must do thorough budgeting in order to meet your needs. But there’re some cheaper states like Lowa where the average cost of living for singles before rent isn’t even half the $30,000 salary.

This means for a single it’s enough to survive compared to states like California. Compare the cost of living to your salary to determine whether a $30,000 salary is sufficient for a decent living.

Can A Family Survive on A $30,000 Annual Salary in The United States?

It’s hard for a family to live life on a $30,000 annual salary in the United States since the cost of living is high. And among the things in a family that take money fast are emergencies.

If you don’t have an emergency fund to cater for unexpected expenses it’s hard to make the most out of your money through budgeting. Currently, research shows that about 11.4% of the population in the United States can’t attain a decent living.

Despite a few places where you can play around with such an amount but in the United States, it’s very hard for a family to survive on a $30,000 salary. Though it would be the annual salary for your family, it means extremely cutting expenses to the bone.

Asking how to do it, right?

• Look out for money-saving apps
• Cut more on grocery expenses
• List your shopping
• Cut back on gifts
• Shopping and cooking in bulk
• Carrying food to work

Yes, these are some of the ways that you can use with your family in order to try to fit into the $30,000 annual salary

How to Live On a $30,000 Annual Salary in The Best Way Possible with Best Practice.

$30,000 is not enough to live in most places in the United States since the cost of living is high. But there’re some ways in which you can make good use of the money in order to make the most out of it.

So, let’s look at how some people in the United States can survive on a salary, not even half the average personal salary of $63,214 per annum.

• Cut Back on Bills

Paying bills is a good practice but in case you realize that there’re some items that you don’t need to spend on time you put them off. Look through the budget thoroughly well such that any recurring bills that accumulate in the budget for no good reason are cut.

And this can help reduce how much you spend on bills from the little annual salary. There’s more that you can do on bills like negotiating with service providers to offer better deals to minimize costs.

If you’re a type with a busy schedule or a fan of convenience using automated systems such as trim is a better option.

• Use Cheaper Means of Transport

In case you want to reduce transport costs, the best option would be to use public transport and other cheaper means. It would be hard to maintain a personal car on a salary that is below average personal income in the states.

If where you work isn’t walkable then get a motorbike or bicycle to extremely cut transport costs. Walking and riding a bicycle to work is good at managing transport charges and body health, how cool is that?

• Get A High Yield Savings Account

Earning $30,000 per year is little but it doesn’t mean that you can’t save on it to build wealth. Compared to checking accounts, a high-yield savings account earns better yields, and using such an account is a sound financial practice.

Anyone can use this type of savings account to grow his or her wealth over time consistently no matter the salary. When you set up high-yield savings account it’s one of the best decisions that you could ever make with the little you earn.

Many people earning large amounts of money don’t have a saving culture which it’s not good practice. The hardest thing would be starting the journey to save but the moment you start it is hard to quit saving.

• Rent An Affordable Apartment

Many find themselves struggling financially with rent due to poor financial planning. And it happens to people out there just because they never accept what they’re really going through.

You might have just gotten a $30,000 per annum salary job and you didn’t measure up before getting that nice apartment and now things have changed. It happened to my friend who had just gotten his first job and he actually wanted to have a nice-looking apartment.

It cost him a lot for some time ($950 a month) till when he shifted to an affordable one. And in this so-called affordable one ($650 a month) he shared it with a workmate to cut rent expenses since he also wanted to clear loans in the shortest time possible.

• Check Membership and Subscriptions Charges

It’s hard to deal with, right? But if you’re to cut expenses then you better look into their expenditures. You need to know which ones can still keep on the list as a way to minimize costs.

But to my understanding, these’re not usually basic and we all know that it sometimes depends on how you define a basic need at a time. Whether you can live without an item or not as simple as that then it’s a want or need.

If this is taking much of your time figuring out wants and needs then you better opt to trim services. With trim, all unnecessary charges are worked on, picked out, and canceled which saves a lot of money in the end.

• Schedule No Spend Days

These are days whereby you intend not to spend a penny for some time to cut on your expenditure. It really saves when you commit yourself to do it the right way without fail.

The number of no-spend days will in most cases depend on how much you can apply yourself to the strategy in order to cut costs. When no spend days are introduced it doesn’t mean that you’ll have to bulk shop the needs before the day or days stated if you’re to be realistic.

A lot of money can be saved when no spending days are introduced they enable you extremely cut expenses in order to fit into an annual $30,000 salary. And it’s not about not spending on what you every day spend on; it’s totally not spending on anything.

Is It Possible to Save Money on A $30,000 Annual Salary?

• Avoid Debt

Though at times it’s hard to skip debt depending on the situation honestly a debt can frustrate. And in case you don’t have an emergency fund, it will be hard sorting unexpected incidents that require finances.

When you don’t plan for emergencies, you’re planning to survive on borrowed money hence living in debt. The fact is there’re some debts that are meant to take you a step ahead like student loans and mortgage loans.

Despite some loans that are unavoidable, in order to save you should stop taking unnecessary loans. Loans eat up all the money that you would have saved in terms of interest to the bank.

• Apply The 50% 20% 30% Rule

If this is your first time reading about the rule, you really need to thoroughly understand it. Most people use this type of budgeting system to manage their money effectively.

But the system is applied on the take home that is 50% goes on basic expenses, 30% goes on discretionary, and 20% goes on savings or debts.

Let’s say am earning about $5000 per month after tax with my blog, it means I will spend $2500 on basic expenses like groceries and power, I also spend $1500 on discretionary like perfumes and deodorants then $1000 on savings or clearing debt.

Spending money with a systematic approach like the 50% 20% 30% rule is putting money to good use using a sound practice.

• Use an Effective Budgeting Software

Budgeting helps us manage our finances in a defined manner tracking income and expenditure. However, using budgeting software extremely improves the functionality of a budget.

And if you want the convenience of use or maybe you have a tight schedule budgeting software is a better option to use. There’s no way you’re going to skip budgeting best practices since all can be done even out of your presence, you just have to confirm work is done.

Effective budgeting is a sound financial practice when it comes to money management. In the market, there’re various examples of budgeting software that you can use say You Need a Budget (YNAB), PocketGuard, EveryDollar, and others.

You’re struggling with budgeting, right? Don’t worry, budgeting software gets work done in the shortest time possible.

Yes, using budgeting software positively impacts your budget making clear your income and expenditure. Therefore, even if you’re making as little as $30,000 per year using effective budgeting software will enable you to save more.

• Create An Emergency Fund

Whether you have a family or not, having an emergency fund saves a lot since we all can’t tell what tomorrow will bring. An emergency fund saves you from overdrawing your other fund categories like sinking funds in case of an unexpected expense.

You can consistently save on other funds yet again sorting any unexpected expenses that arise without using borrowed money. Some people don’t take seriously an emergency fund and when an emergency occurs there’s no way out apart from exhausting savings and using borrowed money.

But if you have children yet you don’t have an emergency fund, you’re at risk of entirely living in debt without savings.

Factors To Consider in Determining If a Salary Is Good or Not

The value attached to money for someone living in New York City is different from that of one who lives in Boston. If you can survive on a $30,000 salary per annum, the other person may not be that type.

Honestly, if you live in New York to fit in a $30,000 budget you have to lower your standards given it’s what it takes to keep up. Now let’s break down a few factors that determine whether a salary is good or not.

• Cost Of Living

In every state, you need to be earning a certain amount of income in order to keep up with the minimum standards of living. It’s a monetary requirement necessary for maintaining a given standard of living measured by the average cost of goods and services required to live within those standards

This generally explains the cost of living in simple terms. Costs of living include basic expenses and discretionary in a monthly budget. If the $30,000 annual salary can’t cover your rent, medical, groceries, and others in a certain state then it’s not a good salary.

• Demography

This refers to a location or state where you reside say, New York, California, Boston, and more. If you’re earning a $30,000 salary per year living in states like New York, it’s quite expensive compared to Kansas.

But in order to cut costs you can shift to a cheaper state or strive to earn more to keep up with the cost of living. Earning $11 per hour isn’t that bad if you’re living in states like Kansas, Georgia, and Michigan.

If the cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment in Kansas is about $650 every month that’s quite affordable compared to a $2500+ apartment in Los Angeles per month. And when you’re earning a $30,000 salary per year Kansas would be the best alternative for effective budgeting.

After finding out that your annual salary is way below the cost of living in the state where you live then it’s not good.

• Marital Status

Are you married or single? Your marital status is also a determinant factor. For a married couple, it’s hard to survive on a $30,000 annual salary compared to someone single.

If you’re single it’s about you alone when it comes to spending. And it’s easier to save on the little you earn than when you’re a couple with a big expenditure.

If you’re a married couple you might at the same time be having children to look after of which it’s not the case with a single person. Surviving on a $30,000 salary per year as a family is hard hence it’s not a good salary.

• Education Level

If a salary is good or not it’s also determined by one’s level of education. Highly Educated people earn a lot of money in their professions compared to others in the same field.

A degree holder’s salary scale is higher than that of a diploma holder in the same profession. But you can also earn more than someone highly Educated and live a good life.

There’re some Youtubers and bloggers who are getting paid more than $10,000 per month. Therefore, your level of Education is one of the factors that imply whether a salary is good or not but it shouldn’t limit your income.

Which Jobs Pay A $30,000 Salary A Year?

There’re several jobs that pay $30,000 a year that you can undertake in case you’re on a job hunt. And some may or mayn’t require professional qualifications in order to get hired.

• Teaching Assistant

Teachers are assisted by teaching assistants in executing their duties. Whether in the absence or presence of teachers, they are responsible for planning and presenting lessons.

Also, students work with teaching assistants in case they need assistance. A teaching assistant should hold a high school diploma in a relevant field or an associate degree in education or a relevant field.

As a teaching assistant expect to earn $25000 to $30,000 on average.

• Nursing Assistant

Patients in recovery are taken care of by nursing assistants in medical centers. There’re different activities performed by nursing assistants say, feeding patients, cleaning patients, giving company to patients, and others.

A nursing assistant should hold a high school diploma in nursing or an equivalent. He or she should also be with a nursing assistant training from an approved program.

Expect to earn between $30,000 to $31000 on average.

Final Thoughts

Whether a $30,000 salary is good or not it’s now up to you to define your position. You can tell how much to earn per hour, per day, per week, and per month.

And depending on several factors still, you can tell whether it’s sufficient according to demography, cost of living, marital status, and educational level. If you’re on a job search and fine with such an income there’re different jobs available say, nursing assistant, teaching assistant, and more.