What to enter
- Annual salary (gross)
- Your yearly pay before taxes and deductions, as stated in an offer letter or on a pay stub. Do not enter take-home pay here; the take-home pay calculator handles that direction.
- Hours worked per week
- Your typical scheduled hours. Forty is standard for full-time work in many jobs, but many salaried roles routinely run longer. The hourly figure is only as honest as this number, so use the hours you really work.
- Weeks worked per year
- Leave it at 52 if your salary already covers paid holidays, vacation and sick time, which is how most salaried jobs are structured. Enter a smaller number only if you want to see your rate for the time actually worked, for example 48 if you take four weeks of paid time off.
How to read your results
The results come in two groups because there are two different questions. The first group shows the gross pay per pay period across the year, so you can see what a monthly, semi-monthly, biweekly or weekly paycheck would be before taxes. These use a 52-week pay year, since employers pay a salary all year long, including holidays and leave.
The second group shows the rate for time actually worked: the hourly, daily and weekly figures based on the weeks and hours you entered. If you enter 52 weeks, both groups agree. If you enter fewer weeks, the hourly rate rises because the same salary is spread across fewer working hours. When your inputs differ from the 2,080-hour convention (40 hours × 52 weeks), a note shows what that convention would give, so you can compare with a job posting that quotes it.
How the conversions work
Each pay-period figure is the annual salary divided by the number of periods in a year:
Semi-monthly = annual ÷ 24
Biweekly = annual ÷ 26
Weekly = annual ÷ 52Semi-monthly means twice a month (24 paychecks). Biweekly means every two weeks (26 paychecks).
The hourly rate divides the salary by the hours you actually work in a year:
Daily pay uses a five-day week, so it equals the annual salary divided by weeks worked × 5.
Worked example
A $65,000 salary
Annual pay of $65,000 breaks down as $5,416.67 a month, $2,708.33 per semi-monthly paycheck, $2,500.00 per biweekly paycheck and $1,250.00 a week. On a 40-hour, 52-week year that is $31.25 an hour, from $65,000 ÷ 2,080.
Adjusting for time off. If the same job includes four unpaid weeks, or you want the rate for time on the clock only, entering 48 weeks gives $33.85 an hour. The salary did not change; the hours it covers did.
Adjusting for hours. On a 37.5-hour week the hourly rate is $33.33. A $120,000 salary that regularly runs 45 hours a week works out to $51.28 an hour, which is much less than the $57.69 the 40-hour convention suggests.
Pay frequency and why paychecks differ
The same salary produces different paycheck amounts depending on how often you are paid. With a biweekly schedule you get 26 paychecks, which means two months each year contain three. Those months feel like a bonus, and a budget built around 12 equal months can use them to build savings or pay down debt. Semi-monthly schedules give 24 identical paychecks and are easier to plan around, but the amount per check is larger than a biweekly check.
Gross pay per period is not what lands in your account. Income tax, Social Security, Medicare, retirement contributions and insurance premiums come out first. To see the net amount for your situation, use the take-home pay calculator.
Comparing salary and hourly offers
Salary and hourly jobs treat time differently, so compare them carefully. A salaried offer often includes paid holidays and leave, while hourly jobs may pay only for hours worked. Overtime rules also differ: many hourly employees are entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, while employees classified as exempt generally are not, no matter how many hours they work. Before comparing, convert both offers to the same basis and ask about benefits such as insurance, retirement matching and paid time off, which can be worth thousands of dollars a year.
To go the other direction, use the hourly to salary calculator. To price extra hours, use the overtime calculator.
Assumptions and limits
All figures are gross, before taxes and deductions. The tool assumes an even distribution of pay across the year and does not account for bonuses, commissions, raises, unpaid leave, shift differentials or benefits. Employers may define the pay year in slightly different ways, so a company’s own payroll calculation can differ by small amounts.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours are in a work year?
The common convention is 2,080 hours: 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. Some employers, including federal pay systems, use 2,087 hours, which averages the calendar year over a slightly different number of weeks. The difference changes an hourly rate by about a third of a percent.
Why does my hourly rate look lower when I work more than 40 hours?
A salary is a fixed amount for the job, so every extra hour lowers the effective rate per hour. That is why the hours field matters: it shows what your salary is worth per hour of actual work.
Is this the amount I take home?
No. Everything shown is gross pay before taxes and deductions. Use the take-home pay calculator for an after-tax estimate.
What is the difference between biweekly and semi-monthly?
Biweekly means every two weeks, so 26 paychecks a year. Semi-monthly means twice a month, usually on fixed dates such as the 15th and last day, so 24 paychecks a year. Biweekly checks are smaller but you receive two extra ones each year.
Do paid holidays and vacation change the calculation?
If your salary covers them, keep weeks at 52. Reducing the weeks only makes sense if you want the rate for time actually worked.