How this salary calculator works
Job offers, contracts and payslips quote pay in different units. A permanent role advertises an annual salary; a shift job advertises an hourly rate; a payslip shows a fortnightly or monthly figure. Comparing them means putting everything on the same footing, and that is what this calculator does. Start from whichever number you know, an hourly rate or an annual salary, tell it how many hours and weeks you work, and it lays out the gross pay for every common pay period.
At a glance
- Paid hours per year (hours a week times paid weeks) links hourly and annual pay.
- Biweekly pay arrives 26 times a year; semi-monthly 24 times.
- Overtime applies in hourly mode only.
- All figures are gross, before tax and deductions.
The conversion rests on one quantity: paid hours per year. For a standard full-time job that is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, or 2,080 hours. Every other figure is the annual total divided by the number of pay periods in a year.
| Pay period | Periods a year | Gross pay on $52,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly (2,080 hours) | 2,080 | $25.00 |
| Daily (5-day week) | 260 | $200.00 |
| Weekly | 52 | $1,000.00 |
| Biweekly | 26 | $2,000.00 |
| Semi-monthly | 24 | $2,166.67 |
| Monthly | 12 | $4,333.33 |
The formulas
Annual = Hourly × Hours per week × Paid weeks per year
Hourly = Annual ÷ (Hours per week × Paid weeks per year)
Once the annual figure is known, the pay periods follow:
Weekly = Annual ÷ Paid weeks
Biweekly = Annual ÷ (Paid weeks ÷ 2)
Semi-monthly = Annual ÷ 24
Monthly = Annual ÷ 12
Daily = Weekly ÷ Days per week
Worked example: hourly to salary
$25 an hour, 40 hours a week, 52 paid weeks.
Paid hours: 40 × 52 = 2,080. Annual: 25 × 2,080 = $52,000.
Monthly: 52,000 ÷ 12 = $4,333.33. Biweekly: 52,000 ÷ 26 = $2,000. Weekly: $1,000. Daily (5-day week): $200.
Worked example: salary to hourly
A $75,000 salary on the same 2,080-hour year.
Hourly: 75,000 ÷ 2,080 = $36.06. If you regularly work 45 hours instead of 40, the true rate is 75,000 ÷ 2,340 = $32.05, a useful reality check on a salaried role.
Biweekly versus semi-monthly
These two are easy to confuse and the difference matters when budgeting. Biweekly pay arrives every second week, 26 times a year; two months a year contain three paycheques. Semi-monthly pay arrives twice a month on set dates, 24 times a year. Over a year both deliver the same salary, but each semi-monthly cheque is about 8% larger than a biweekly one. If your rent is due monthly and you are paid biweekly, plan around two cheques a month and treat the two "extra" cheques as a bonus.
Overtime
Under US federal law non-exempt employees earn at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours beyond 40 in a week; many contracts and other countries use different thresholds and multipliers. In hourly mode, switch on overtime and enter the hours and multiplier.
Worked example: overtime
$20 an hour with 5 hours of overtime a week at 1.5×.
Regular: 20 × 40 × 52 = $41,600. Overtime: 20 × 1.5 × 5 × 52 = $7,800. Annual: $49,400 for 2,340 paid hours.
Overtime is not applied in salary mode, because a salary already covers whatever hours the role requires. To see what a salaried job really pays per hour, increase the hours per week instead.
Unpaid weeks
The paid-weeks input is where contractors, seasonal workers and anyone with unpaid leave should look. A contractor charging $50 an hour who takes four unpaid weeks earns 50 × 40 × 48 = $96,000, not $104,000. Setting weeks to 48 also changes the biweekly figure, the calculator divides by 24 paid periods rather than 26, so the amount per cheque you actually receive is right.
What this calculator does not include
- Tax and deductions. All figures are gross. Income tax, social insurance, pension contributions and health premiums come off before you are paid; the take-home pay calculator handles those.
- Bonuses, commission and benefits. A salary comparison should also weigh employer pension contributions, health cover and paid leave, none of which appear on an hourly rate.
- Statutory holidays. If public holidays are paid days off, they are already inside your 52 paid weeks. If you are paid only for days worked, reduce the paid weeks accordingly.
Using the result
When comparing an hourly offer with a salaried one, convert both to annual pay on the hours you will actually work, then compare like with like. When budgeting, use the figure for your real pay frequency rather than the monthly number, a biweekly earner has two lean months and two months with a third cheque every year.