From the clock to the bank
How to turn an hourly rate into real take-home pay
The number on your hiring letter — $25, $32, $40 an hour — is gross pay, before anything. Every hour you work also carries federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, Oregon income tax, the statewide transit tax and Paid Leave Oregon. In Portland at higher incomes, add local taxes on top. By the time those are taken, an $18-an-hour wage keeps about $14, and a $40-an-hour wage keeps roughly $29.
This calculator converts your rate and weekly hours into an annual wage, runs it through Oregon's actual 2026 withholding formula (which subtracts federal tax withheld before applying state brackets — the step generic tools skip), and then divides the result back into the units that matter on a pay stub: per hour, per day, per week, biweekly and per year. The frequency tabs in the results panel flip between all of them.
Per hour
What common hourly rates actually keep
Single filer, one allowance, no pre-tax deductions, outside the Portland local-tax districts, working 40 hours a week:
| Hourly rate | Annual gross | Net per week | Net per hour | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $18.00 | $37,440 | $556 | $13.90 | 22.8% |
| $25.00 | $52,000 | $774 | $19.35 | 22.6% |
| $32.00 | $66,560 | $975 | $24.38 | 23.8% |
| $40.00 | $83,200 | $1,175 | $29.38 | 26.6% |
| $55.00 | $114,400 | $1,535 | $38.38 | 30.2% |
Two patterns jump out. First, the effective rate climbs with earnings — every bracket you enter taxes the new dollars at a higher rate, and Oregon's federal tax subtraction phases out entirely above $125,000. Second, the dollar gap between the two columns widens fast: the difference between $18 and $55 an hour in gross is $73,120 a year, but the difference in take-home is only about $51,000.
The 40-hour math
Why per-hour take-home isn't just your rate minus 25%
Most people estimate take-home by lopping a rough percentage off their rate. That works poorly in Oregon for one big reason: the federal tax subtraction. Oregon lets you subtract federal income tax withheld before applying state brackets, capped at $8,750 for 2026. Generic calculators ignore it, which makes them overstate Oregon tax — and understate your take-home — by roughly $500 to $770 a year for a typical full-time worker.
The calculator above models the subtraction automatically. If you want the rough mental math instead: for a 40-hour week, Oregon hourly workers typically keep between 73% and 77% of gross at median incomes. Above $100,000 a year the percentage slides toward 68–70% as the top bracket and subtraction phase-out kick in.
Overtime
How overtime changes the math
Oregon follows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act for most workers: time-and-a-half — 1.5× your regular rate — for every hour over 40 in a workweek. There's no daily overtime trigger and no double-time mandate under Oregon law.
Overtime isn't "taxed more" in the sense of a special rate, but those hours land at your marginal rate: the top bracket your income already reaches. A $25-an-hour worker in the 22% federal and 8.75% Oregon brackets who works overtime gives up about 22% + 8.75% + 7.65% + 0.7% to taxes on the extra hours — roughly 39% — keeping about 61 cents of every overtime dollar. That's still more than their regular dollars keep, which is why overtime almost always pays off; it's just not as much as the 1.5× multiplier suggests.
For a precise breakdown with your rate and hours, use the overtime calculator.
Weekly reality
Variable hours and irregular schedules
Hourly workers rarely work exactly 40 hours every week. If your schedule swings, treat the calculator as a snapshot of a typical week: enter your usual hours, read the per-week take-home, and multiply by the number of weeks you actually work. Two things matter for accuracy:
- Annualization. The calculator assumes 52 working weeks. If you're seasonal, are laid off, or take extended unpaid time, scale the per-week figure to your real working weeks.
- Withholding isn't per-check. Employers compute withholding from each paycheck, so a light week withholds less and a heavy week withholds more. The annual total converges to the calculator's figure; individual checks vary.
State minimums
Oregon minimum wage and where your rate sits
Oregon's minimum wage is set in three tiers, recalculated each July with inflation: the Portland Metro tier (Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas and the urban part of Columbia County), the standard tier for most of the state, and the non-urban tier for rural counties. Tipped workers have a sub-minimum in some tiers. Whatever your rate, the tax math is identical — this calculator works from any number you enter.
More or fewer hours
Part-time, full-time and the benefits trade-off
Taxes are the same per dollar whether you work 20 or 40 hours, but the calculator's effective rate differs slightly because your annual income lands in different brackets — and because the Oregon standard deduction and federal tax subtraction are fixed amounts that cover a larger share of a smaller income. Working fewer hours usually raises your keep percentage (effective rate falls) even though total take-home falls. That's why part-time workers often report "feeling taxed less": the fixed deductions shrink their taxable base more than proportionally.
Using the results
How to read the hourly results panel
Set pay type to Hourly, enter your rate and hours, and the calculator shows take-home at every frequency. The per-hour tab divides your annual net by 2,080 hours (40 × 52); if you work different hours, use the weekly number and divide yourself. The breakdown lines show each deduction per period, and the bracket ladder visualizes how much of your base wage sits in each Oregon bracket. Adjust the allowances field to match your Form OR-W-4 — each allowance is worth a $263 credit against your 2026 Oregon tax.