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Straight to it: $83,200 gross, and this one works in this city. Here's what actually lands in the account, and what it buys locally.
$40.00 an hour is $83,200 a year gross at 40 hours a week. After federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, and Arizona income tax you keep $65,490, which is $5,457 a month or $2,519 every two weeks. Against Phoenix prices running 3.3% above the national average, that spends like $63,398 would somewhere average.
$40.00 an hour works out to $83,200 a year, and Phoenix sits 3.3% above the national average on prices. That's the kind of premium that doesn't make headlines and does reshape a budget.
So here it is properly, with the tax taken out.
Everything here assumes 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, which is 2,080 hours a year with no unpaid time off. If your hours get cut, or the schedule dips in a slow month, scale it down from here. Single filer, standard deduction, 2026 brackets.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross pay (2,080 hours) | $83,200 |
| Federal income tax | −$9,474 |
| Social Security and Medicare | −$6,365 |
| Arizona state income tax | −$1,871 |
| Take-home pay | $65,490 |
| Take-home a month | $5,457 |
| Take-home every two weeks | $2,519 |
| Take-home a week | $1,259 |
| Take-home an hour | $31.49 |
| Adjusted for Phoenix prices (3.3% above average) | $63,398 |
Tax takes $17,710 of that $83,200, or 21% of it. What's left is $65,490 a year, which is $5,457 a month, $2,519 every two weeks, or $1,259 a week.
Put another way, your $40.00 an hour is really $31.49 an hour once withholding is done. That's the number to use when you're deciding whether an extra shift is worth it.
That last row is the one nobody shows you. The federal government scores every metro against a national average of 100, and Phoenix scores 103.3. Living here costs you roughly $2,100 a year of buying power before you've bought anything, purely for buying it here.
State tax is the line people forget until the first check lands.
Arizona takes about $1,871 a year at this wage, an effective rate of 2.2% once brackets, deductions and exemptions have all been applied. On a weekly check that's roughly $36.
Federal tax and FICA come off the same money, which is why multiplying hours by your rate always overshoots what arrives.
A one-bedroom at Phoenix's fair market rent runs $1,583 a month, $1,839 for a two-bedroom. Against take-home of $5,457 a month, the one-bedroom eats 29% of it.
That lands right on the 30% rule, the traditional line for affordable. It works, and it leaves $3,874 a month for everything else, which is enough but not generous.
Phoenix being 3% above average is a blended figure, and blending is exactly what you don't want here. Groceries and everyday goods run 5% below average. Housing runs 21% above it.
So the premium is rent. Your weekly shop will feel much like it did wherever you came from. Your rent won't, and it's the line that moves.
Phoenix has been on both sides of the national average. It spent 9 of the last 17 years above it, and it's above it now at 103.3.
That crossing is why Phoenix gets described as both cheap and expensive depending on who you ask and when they last looked.
Worth noting that the recent direction is the opposite one. It has gained 3.3 points in the last five years, so the longer trend is not the one you'd be moving into.
Turn it around. To hold the buying power $40.00 an hour gives you in an average American city, Phoenix has to pay $41.32 an hour.
And rent already works at this wage. A one-bedroom at $1,583 a month hits the 30% line at about $38.46 an hour, which you're already past.
| Metro | Price level100 = US avg | Take-home a month | Real value a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix, AZ | 103.3 | $5,457 | $63,398 |
| St. Louis, MO | 95.1 | $5,366 | $67,706 |
| Dallas, TX | 103.1 | $5,613 | $65,336 |
| Seattle, WA | 111.1 | $5,613 | $60,631 |
Your pay, your two cities, real federal price data. It takes about fifteen seconds.
Compare my citiesYes, with room. After tax and Phoenix prices you're holding $63,398 of real purchasing power, which is above what most hourly work in this country pays.
Phoenix still costs you about $2,100 a year against the national average. At this wage that's a drag rather than a wall.
Send the whole thing to your inbox so you can come back to it, or forward it to whoever you're deciding this with. We'll also tell you in January when the 2027 tax brackets and federal price data land and every number here changes.
The breakdown, then about one email a year. No sales pitch, unsubscribe any time.Gross, it's $83,200 a year at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. After federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and Arizona income tax, you keep about $65,490. That's a single filer taking the standard deduction under 2026 rates.
About $5,457 a month in Phoenix, which is $2,519 on a biweekly schedule or $1,259 a week. Your actual check depends on hours worked, benefit deductions and what you claimed on your W-4.
In Phoenix it comes to $65,490 of take-home against a price level of 103.3, where 100 is the national average. That's the same buying power as $63,398 somewhere average. The price premium costs you roughly $2,100 a year against the national average.
At the standard 30% of take-home, $1,637 a month. A one-bedroom at Phoenix's fair market rent is $1,583, which is 29% of your monthly take-home, so that clears the line. Fair market rent is HUD's 40th-percentile figure including utilities, so it reads as the realistic floor rather than a typical listing.
Price levels are Regional Price Parities from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the federal government's official measure of geographic price differences. Rent is HUD fair market rent for fiscal year 2026. Tax figures are 2026 federal brackets and Arizona state rates. The data vintage is shown on every page.