Hourly to Salary Calculator

How to use this calculator

Three tabs cover the three most common wage conversion needs: converting hourly to annual, converting annual to hourly, and comparing two job offers side by side.

Tab 1: Hourly to Annual is the default. Enter your hourly rate and the calculator fills in all the frequency breakdowns: annual, monthly, biweekly, and weekly. You can also enter your overtime hours per week and overtime multiplier (usually 1.5x) to get a realistic annual figure that includes OT. The paid vacation days field adjusts your effective hourly rate to reflect that you get paid for time you do not work.

Tab 2: Annual to Hourly works backward. If you have a salary offer, enter the annual amount and your expected hours per week to find your effective hourly rate. This is the number you compare against hourly job offers.

Tab 3: Job Comparison puts two offers side by side. Enter hourly rate, hours per week, and weeks per year for both Job A and Job B. The calculator shows annual income, monthly income, and biweekly pay for each, along with the annual difference.

Fields you need:

Hourly rate is your base pay rate, not including overtime.

Hours per week defaults to 40. If you regularly work more or fewer hours, adjust this. For salaried workers converting to hourly, use your actual expected work hours.

Weeks per year defaults to 52. If you take unpaid time off, lower this. If you expect to work every week, keep it at 52.

Overtime hours per week is the number of hours above your regular schedule you work each week on average. If you occasionally work 10-hour days, think about the average over a full year.

Paid vacation days does not change your paycheck directly, but it affects your effective hourly rate. A job with 20 days of paid vacation is worth more per hour worked than a job without vacation.

The formulas

Wage conversion involves a small set of arithmetic relationships. Here they are in plain form.

Where working weeks accounts for unpaid time off (52 minus unpaid weeks). For paid vacation, your hourly rate stays the same because you receive pay for those days whether you work them or not.

The overtime formula assumes all overtime hours are paid at the same multiplier throughout the year. If your OT rate varies or you have a cap on OT hours, adjust accordingly.

Why biweekly and semimonthly are not the same

These two pay schedules sound similar but they produce different results, and confusing them leads to budgeting errors.

Biweekly means paid every two weeks, on the same day of the week. There are exactly 26 biweekly pay periods in a year (52 weeks / 2). Two months each year will have three paychecks instead of two. Your biweekly gross is always Annual / 26.

Semimonthly means paid twice a month, usually on the 1st and 15th. There are exactly 24 semimonthly pay periods in a year. Your semimonthly gross is Annual / 24.

A $52,000 salary looks like this across schedules:

The biweekly “third paycheck” months can be useful for lump-sum savings or debt payments, but they can also disrupt budgets if you plan around two paychecks per month and forget the third is coming.

Real-world examples

How to compare a salary offer against an hourly job

When you receive a salaried offer, converting it to an effective hourly rate is the most honest way to compare it against hourly positions.

The standard approach: divide annual salary by (52 × 40) = 2,080 hours. This gives you the “nominal” hourly rate, which is what job postings use.

The honest approach: divide annual salary by actual hours worked per year. If you work 50 hours per week on a salaried position, your real denominator is 52 × 50 = 2,600 hours.

This matters more than most people realize:

A $100,000 salary at 60 hours per week pays you $32.05/hour effective. A $24/hour hourly job at 40 hours per week is $49,920 annually, and your effective rate is exactly $24. Depending on the field and your life priorities, the hourly job may be the better deal.

What affects your total compensation beyond hourly rate

Hourly rate and salary are the most visible parts of compensation but rarely the full story.

Benefits are often worth 20-30% of base salary. Employer health insurance contributions, 401(k) matching, life insurance, and disability coverage all have real dollar values. A job paying $18/hour with full benefits may have a higher total compensation than a $22/hour job with none.

Paid time off is direct wage substitution. Ten days of PTO at $25/hour is $2,000 per year. Twenty days is $4,000. When comparing offers, add estimated PTO value to the annual income.

Overtime opportunity benefits hourly workers. A job where you can work 50 hours per week at 1.5x for overtime can significantly outperform a salaried position when the base rates are close.

Commute cost reduces effective income. If Job A pays $5,000 more annually but requires $3,000 more in annual commuting costs, the real difference is $2,000. Factor in both time and money.

Remote work has measurable financial value: no commute costs, potentially lower housing costs, and often the flexibility to take on side income. Some people discount their hourly rate preference by $2-5/hour to account for fully remote positions.

Common errors in wage calculations

Confusing gross and net pay. The calculator shows gross pay (before taxes and deductions). Your actual take-home is lower. Federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security (6.2%), and Medicare (1.45%) typically reduce take-home by 20-35% depending on income level and filing status.

Using 52 weeks when you work fewer. If you take two weeks of unpaid leave, your actual working weeks are 50. Using 52 overstates your annual income by about 4%.

Ignoring the overtime ceiling. Federal law requires OT pay for hours over 40 per week for non-exempt employees, but not all workers qualify. Salaried exempt employees can work 60 hours per week without OT pay, which is why the effective hourly calculation matters so much for salaried positions.

Treating all pay periods the same. Biweekly pay means two extra “bonus” paychecks per year compared to semimonthly. If your budget assumes exactly two paychecks per month, those two months with three paychecks can lead to unplanned spending. Plan for them in advance.

Forgetting shift differentials. Night shifts, weekend shifts, and holiday shifts often pay a premium (10-25% extra) on top of the base hourly rate. If you regularly work those shifts, your effective rate is higher than your base rate. Include differentials in the “hourly rate” field or account for them separately.

The bottom line

Wage comparison is not just about the headline number. Whether you are comparing two job offers, negotiating a raise, or just trying to understand what your time is worth, the hourly-to-annual conversion is the starting point.

For hourly workers: the full picture includes overtime, weeks worked, and benefits. Use the overtime fields to get a realistic annual projection instead of just multiplying base rate by 2,080.

For salaried workers: the honest effective hourly rate is annual salary divided by actual hours worked, not the textbook 2,080. A $75,000 salary where you work 55 hours per week is $26.25/hour. A $50,000 salary at 40 hours per week is $24.04/hour. The salary sounds much better but the hourly rates are close.

Use the Job Comparison tab when you have two offers on the table. It forces an apples-to-apples comparison and often surfaces differences that the headline numbers hide.