Here’s What a $975 Million Powerball Winner Would Actually Take Home for a House After Taxes

The Powerball jackpot shot up to $1.5 billion Thursday, after no winner was crowned on Wednesday, Dec. 17. This is the fifth-largest jackpot in Powerball history, the seventh-largest in all lottery history, and the second-biggest Powerball grand prize this year: a $1.787 billion jackpot was hit Sept. 6 in Missouri and Texas.If anyone is lucky enough to win the drawing on Saturday, Dec. 20, they’ll probably want to splurge on the home of their dreams (as well they should).But should you truly be once-in-a-lifetime lucky enough to win, the reality is, you might not be able to afford as much house as you think—especially after taxes are taken out!The actual take-home lottery winnings after taxesThe jackpot of $1.5 billion is a lot of dough. If someone wins, they have two options for collecting their winnings: the $1.5 billion prize spread over 30 annual installments or a lump-sum cash payout of about $679.8 million, which is usually preferred.Let’s say the cash payout is chosen. In this case, the prize would drop to roughly $516.7 million after the mandatory 24% federal tax withholding. Depending on the winner’s taxable income, their federal tax rate could rise as high as 37%, reducin...