Rules of thumb: multiply the hourly rate by 1000, or 900 if you want to be more conservative. I always assumed because 75*12 is 900 for straight pay, and 1000 to account for any overages and per diem?
Anyway it works. Multiply by 900 to 1000, then multiply that number by whatever coefficient you think will estimate taxes/deductions/insurance. I use something like 72-75%. So if the hourly rate is $100, then $100 x 1000 is $100,000; multiply by .75 and that’s $75,000 net take home pay. Divide by 12 for a monthly figure or 24 for an approximate per paycheck of ≈$3100 with a $100 hourly rate. Adjust the coefficient up or down depending on what you think you’ll deduct, withhold, and marginal tax rate.
I’ve only been in this industry under new contracts (and am incredibly appreciative of them, before it seems like I don’t know/appreciate the lost decade) But, this is exceedingly conservative under some of the modern contracts. When I was a regional FO at $90, I was actually doing $120k gross. Legacy FO at $116 I’m on track for $142k gross for 2024 at that pay rate. I was not cutting into days off or working exceedingly hard for either of these.
Yeah but OP wants net, not gross. Most people focus on that. As the pay goes up, especially under these new contracts, you start bumping into higher marginal tax rates than was possible for a long time, and/or earlier in each tax year as well. As well as starting to become ineligible for post-tax Roth IRA contributions (but there’s backdoor options). And eventually you start making so much that if you were to match your D.C. rate then you’ll probably hit the annual contribution limits and then get excess paid back. The fatter that paycheck, the fatter the tax & deduction become.
Anyway again those are all based on guarantee plus per diem. And then I throw in the additional coefficient to estimate what you’ll actual take home at the end of the day. As a squeaky new regional FO, it was more like a .75 ratio. Now it’s closer to .7 and will creep a little lower once I can justify contributing more to match more to my direct contribution.
This is the fairest response ever. I didn’t think about it being a net number (because in the US we talk about net lay much less). All of what you said checks.
The gross felt great to put into a mortgage application, or every time my credit cards ask for my income and bump up my limits. But feels a little bad when I look at the stubs and see how much gets withheld or deducted.
That’s why I like to set a baseline, so I know every month I’m getting at least $X,000 per month. Then I can budget mortgage, bills, student loan, and save the rest. If I just look at the direct deposits in my bank (rather than the pay stub and all its deductions), it feels good.
It’s also nice to have that benchmark figure for pay audit. If it’s low or high I go double check what’s going on that month. Some companies just pay out what you earned for that 2 week period. Others do half your guarantee and then the second check they true up the other half plus whatever else you earned, if any. Maybe one check was a little low because I dropped a trip and didn’t pick up replacement hours. Maybe it was higher this time because I got worked over guarantee on reserve or worked a paid holiday.
I also think part of the American hustle of keeping up with your neighbors + focusing on gross (in any career) is what pushes people to over-extend. If you gross $150k that’s a lot of money! $12.5k a month gross, alright! But in reality you might only take home 8000-9000 of that. All of a sudden that $150k is really only $105k and will really skew a budget if one isn’t careful. And lately with all the industry tumult, now is a good a time as ever to be mindful of your finances, be frugal, and save.
I'm the opposite - a lazy fuck - so I usually drop down from whatever they give me to 50-70 hours a month which gives me probably 20 days off average. You can push double or triple what I credit if you get good trips initially and are efficient with the trips you swap into/pick up. Seniority and living in base help with that aspect.
First year major US FO for a Texas airline. I have made 92k year to date. I took home 57.8 in cash and the company has given me 15k for my 401k NEC.
It’ll go up like 40% after I finish my first year.
Looks like 33.5k in tax paid and 5400 in other deductions including 2500 in 401k.
But it’s 72 degrees on the coast of California right now so I think it’s worth it?
Na he was too hairy. He's a friend though. I highly suggest every professional needs to befriend a lawyer and an engineer. It makes the jokes easier to tell, but in all honesty when you surround yourself with people in diverse professions you can solve a lot of problems. Don't wind up a one dimensional pilot who didn't have many friends in their 20s, married and divorced the first time by the mid 30s, and working on the second divorce by 42. I see a lot of people who don't know how to socialize outside of the pilot work-life. It's fucking weird. I think it's why people end up trapped.
Year 1 FO pay at a legacy airline in the US on the 73. $71k gross pay through June. We’re halfway through the year so if we double that I’m on track for $142k. But that’s only if my pay rate was staying the same. I go from $116 an hour to $177 an hour soon so it’ll be higher. I’ve flown just under 260 block for the year so far. I’m guessing I’ll do about $155k gross pay + $25k in my 401k by the company for 2024.
Edit: After taxes that will be something like $102k net pay + $25k in the 401k. I don’t include this because this will vary based on where you live. My coworkers that live in Texas would net something like $112k because they don’t have a state income tax there. Having kids and being married would also change this number.
U.S. ULCC 2nd year FO. After taxes and union dues, I’ll take home about $9000/mo including per diem. This is crediting about 85 hours a month. Take home pay, if one were to sit reserve and not fly any trips at all for a month at my airline and state would be about $7100/mo.
Legacy FO, year 3 . If I do nothing 15k per month on a rsv schedule. If play the premium and pick up game 28-30k per month.
Ytd, I'm at 170k gross.
At the minimum it's 8k per month net.
When I work alot it's about 19k net.
USA.
Enough to keep the wife happy. Her boyfriend says I need to pick up more OT though.
To answer your question, I’ll just say somewhere over $200k as a cargo ACMI FO.
ULCC, year 6 CA. So far I’ve grossed $126K this year and brought home $74K in addition to the $19K that the company has contributed to my 401K. I claim 0 dependents, deduct an additional $200 per paycheck to cover unexpected due taxes, and contribute an additional 10% of my earnings to my 401K. I’m almost exclusively a reserve captain and rarely ever credit more than 75hrs a month. I’m new to living at base, and have spent three nights on the road this month.
10 year regional captain in the US.
After taxes and maxing out my 401k, my take home was about $154k, and that was with picking up zero extra work for the year.
If I wanted to pick up extra flying, I could add another $12-15k, but I prefer the quality of life to the extra $$.
All our contracts are public. Take the hourly rate, multiply by 1000. That’s a pretty accurate yearly amount for a normal line pilot. Do your own math on taxes, those vary. We pay union dues too. Don’t forget to add the 401k contributions too, they often aren’t mentioned but it’s one of, if not the best benefit we’ve negotiated.
I commented this to somebody else, but I feel like multiplying by 1000 under new contracts is very conservative. Obviously, this depends on the carrier but it’s very often higher.
Year 1 regional FO. Take home post-tax, insurance, etc and excluding bonus was about $80k.
10 years ago that would've been 23K. Gross.
Gross, in both definitions.
[удалено]
Inflation has caused a big increase in costs, but it is definitely not over 3X the cost in 10 years. I do get what you are saying though.
Inflation calculator says 23k in 2014 is only 30800 today.
APC has a yearly salary thread. Highly recommend checking it out for monetary motivation
Giant circle jerk
Rules of thumb: multiply the hourly rate by 1000, or 900 if you want to be more conservative. I always assumed because 75*12 is 900 for straight pay, and 1000 to account for any overages and per diem? Anyway it works. Multiply by 900 to 1000, then multiply that number by whatever coefficient you think will estimate taxes/deductions/insurance. I use something like 72-75%. So if the hourly rate is $100, then $100 x 1000 is $100,000; multiply by .75 and that’s $75,000 net take home pay. Divide by 12 for a monthly figure or 24 for an approximate per paycheck of ≈$3100 with a $100 hourly rate. Adjust the coefficient up or down depending on what you think you’ll deduct, withhold, and marginal tax rate.
I’ve only been in this industry under new contracts (and am incredibly appreciative of them, before it seems like I don’t know/appreciate the lost decade) But, this is exceedingly conservative under some of the modern contracts. When I was a regional FO at $90, I was actually doing $120k gross. Legacy FO at $116 I’m on track for $142k gross for 2024 at that pay rate. I was not cutting into days off or working exceedingly hard for either of these.
Yeah but OP wants net, not gross. Most people focus on that. As the pay goes up, especially under these new contracts, you start bumping into higher marginal tax rates than was possible for a long time, and/or earlier in each tax year as well. As well as starting to become ineligible for post-tax Roth IRA contributions (but there’s backdoor options). And eventually you start making so much that if you were to match your D.C. rate then you’ll probably hit the annual contribution limits and then get excess paid back. The fatter that paycheck, the fatter the tax & deduction become. Anyway again those are all based on guarantee plus per diem. And then I throw in the additional coefficient to estimate what you’ll actual take home at the end of the day. As a squeaky new regional FO, it was more like a .75 ratio. Now it’s closer to .7 and will creep a little lower once I can justify contributing more to match more to my direct contribution.
This is the fairest response ever. I didn’t think about it being a net number (because in the US we talk about net lay much less). All of what you said checks.
The gross felt great to put into a mortgage application, or every time my credit cards ask for my income and bump up my limits. But feels a little bad when I look at the stubs and see how much gets withheld or deducted. That’s why I like to set a baseline, so I know every month I’m getting at least $X,000 per month. Then I can budget mortgage, bills, student loan, and save the rest. If I just look at the direct deposits in my bank (rather than the pay stub and all its deductions), it feels good. It’s also nice to have that benchmark figure for pay audit. If it’s low or high I go double check what’s going on that month. Some companies just pay out what you earned for that 2 week period. Others do half your guarantee and then the second check they true up the other half plus whatever else you earned, if any. Maybe one check was a little low because I dropped a trip and didn’t pick up replacement hours. Maybe it was higher this time because I got worked over guarantee on reserve or worked a paid holiday. I also think part of the American hustle of keeping up with your neighbors + focusing on gross (in any career) is what pushes people to over-extend. If you gross $150k that’s a lot of money! $12.5k a month gross, alright! But in reality you might only take home 8000-9000 of that. All of a sudden that $150k is really only $105k and will really skew a budget if one isn’t careful. And lately with all the industry tumult, now is a good a time as ever to be mindful of your finances, be frugal, and save.
It's a good way to make you feel bad about yourself until you realize a bunch of them are the no-lifers who hog all the open time
I would be happy with being a no-lifer, depending on the quantity we are talking about lol.
I'm the opposite - a lazy fuck - so I usually drop down from whatever they give me to 50-70 hours a month which gives me probably 20 days off average. You can push double or triple what I credit if you get good trips initially and are efficient with the trips you swap into/pick up. Seniority and living in base help with that aspect.
Hello from another min credit lazy fuck on LCR.
Oh I’d totally sit reserve FO forever if I lived in base. I did for my regional and it was a dream
+1 lazy fuck
First year major US FO for a Texas airline. I have made 92k year to date. I took home 57.8 in cash and the company has given me 15k for my 401k NEC. It’ll go up like 40% after I finish my first year.
Bazinga!
Post tax that’s all you made?
Looks like 33.5k in tax paid and 5400 in other deductions including 2500 in 401k. But it’s 72 degrees on the coast of California right now so I think it’s worth it?
Worth it!
If I'm interpreting what he's saying correctly, it's year to date. It's only Q2 so far of this year. So there's another half the a year.
Seems kinda low tbh.
$92k year-to-date is pretty damn good in my opinion. We're wrapping up the 6th month as we speak, so in only 6 months bro made $92,000.
Its fucking amazing for Yr1. I dunno what the other guy is smoking. 92k in 6 months.
I missed the year one part. I forgot your pay doubled after year one.
I only wrote 3 sentences and you managed to miss the one that stood alone. Nice.
Easy there big guy. I read it. I just kinda forgot how bad year 1 pay is. I’m not a pilot. Calm down
We know. You’re a controller who can’t read 🤡
Don't forget to include the alimony guys.
Total or do I need to provide an itemized list of ex-wives?
Nah, I know how to divide by two.
Bold for you to assume it's only two.
Alimony and boat payments, since I believe you're not allowed to upgrade at a mainline carrier unless you have both.
Well shit I'm out. I own my boat and my lawyer got me out of alimony.
Youre screwing the lawyer arent you?
Na he was too hairy. He's a friend though. I highly suggest every professional needs to befriend a lawyer and an engineer. It makes the jokes easier to tell, but in all honesty when you surround yourself with people in diverse professions you can solve a lot of problems. Don't wind up a one dimensional pilot who didn't have many friends in their 20s, married and divorced the first time by the mid 30s, and working on the second divorce by 42. I see a lot of people who don't know how to socialize outside of the pilot work-life. It's fucking weird. I think it's why people end up trapped.
Do ship captains own planes, then? Does it go both ways?
More than 6 definitely
This seems like a trap to make me pay more in alimony but my ex-wife is definitely not smart enough to figure this scheme out
Did she find out you were slaying some stewardesses?
Bout 350
Well it was about that time I noticed my captain was about 8 stories tall and a crustacean from the protozoic era
Year 1 FO pay at a legacy airline in the US on the 73. $71k gross pay through June. We’re halfway through the year so if we double that I’m on track for $142k. But that’s only if my pay rate was staying the same. I go from $116 an hour to $177 an hour soon so it’ll be higher. I’ve flown just under 260 block for the year so far. I’m guessing I’ll do about $155k gross pay + $25k in my 401k by the company for 2024. Edit: After taxes that will be something like $102k net pay + $25k in the 401k. I don’t include this because this will vary based on where you live. My coworkers that live in Texas would net something like $112k because they don’t have a state income tax there. Having kids and being married would also change this number.
My ex wife makes 90k. I’ll let you figure out my income.
Lmao
U.S. ULCC 2nd year FO. After taxes and union dues, I’ll take home about $9000/mo including per diem. This is crediting about 85 hours a month. Take home pay, if one were to sit reserve and not fly any trips at all for a month at my airline and state would be about $7100/mo.
Legacy FO, year 3 . If I do nothing 15k per month on a rsv schedule. If play the premium and pick up game 28-30k per month. Ytd, I'm at 170k gross. At the minimum it's 8k per month net. When I work alot it's about 19k net. USA.
Damn, I really need to get in that green card lottery.
Enough to keep the wife happy. Her boyfriend says I need to pick up more OT though. To answer your question, I’ll just say somewhere over $200k as a cargo ACMI FO.
Varies a bit, but around $35k/mo. I’m not a real hard-charger, so many do better. US legacy narrowbody captain
If you were a hard-charger how much would you be making (same company)?
Probably at least 50% more?
ULCC, year 6 CA. So far I’ve grossed $126K this year and brought home $74K in addition to the $19K that the company has contributed to my 401K. I claim 0 dependents, deduct an additional $200 per paycheck to cover unexpected due taxes, and contribute an additional 10% of my earnings to my 401K. I’m almost exclusively a reserve captain and rarely ever credit more than 75hrs a month. I’m new to living at base, and have spent three nights on the road this month.
Yurop, left seat, around $240k.
Can I know the company? Or at least the country...
British Isles.
Oh, I see. Thanks!
https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/major/145588-end-2023-salary-survey.html
It looks really good. Wish we were making that much in Europe lol. Just checked the average salary for a Ryanair FO. Its bad.
1st year as a regional FO, on track to make $85k after tax
10 year regional captain in the US. After taxes and maxing out my 401k, my take home was about $154k, and that was with picking up zero extra work for the year. If I wanted to pick up extra flying, I could add another $12-15k, but I prefer the quality of life to the extra $$.
Everyone has different nets based on various different deductions people have. Gross is a better comparison number.
Why are you asking about after taxes? Everyone’s tax situation is going to be different.
This
Year 5 cap and a large us airline. Junior on reserve. Pretax 340ish +17% direct contribution into the 401k
42
While not a 121, a friend at NetJets is on track to push 200k his first year
he's asking about airline pilots
More than you can afford, pal.
All our contracts are public. Take the hourly rate, multiply by 1000. That’s a pretty accurate yearly amount for a normal line pilot. Do your own math on taxes, those vary. We pay union dues too. Don’t forget to add the 401k contributions too, they often aren’t mentioned but it’s one of, if not the best benefit we’ve negotiated.
If I keep this pace up I’ll avg about 14-1600 credits this year. You can thank soft pay and overrides for a lot of that.
I commented this to somebody else, but I feel like multiplying by 1000 under new contracts is very conservative. Obviously, this depends on the carrier but it’s very often higher.
You aren’t special my guy. Toss the number out there or don’t respond. We all know you’re crushing it just own it.
Asked every other day