Salary to Hourly Calculator

What a salary to hourly conversion tells you

A salary is a fixed amount for a period, while an hourly wage is the price of one hour of work. Converting one into the other lets you compare a salaried offer with an hourly job, price freelance work against a staff position, or see what an hour of overtime or unpaid time is really worth.

A quick division of the yearly figure by 2,080 (40 hours times 52 weeks) is only an approximation. Real jobs include public holidays and vacation, and some weeks are shorter than 40 hours. This calculator takes those into account, so the hourly rate reflects the hours you actually work for the money.

Results are estimates based on the figures you enter. They are before tax and are not payroll, legal or financial advice. See the disclaimer.

How to use the calculator

1. Type your salary and choose how often it is paid: yearly, quarterly, monthly, bi-weekly, weekly or daily.
2. Enter the hours you work in a typical week and the number of days those hours are spread over.
3. Enter the paid holidays and the vacation days you take each year. Both reduce the number of days you actually work.
4. Press Calculate. The table shows the hourly rate first, then the equivalent daily, weekly, monthly and yearly pay. The period you entered is labelled as entered; the others are equivalents.

The defaults describe a common full-time job: 40 hours over 5 days, 10 holidays and 15 vacation days. Set holidays and vacation to zero if you want the figure for every possible working day of the year.

The conversion formulas

Everything is first converted to a yearly amount. The calculator counts a year as 52.14 weeks, and a bi-weekly pay period as half of that, 26.07 periods a year.

yearly salary = pay × periods per yearPeriods per year: quarterly 4, monthly 12, bi-weekly 26.07, weekly 52.14. A daily rate is multiplied by the working days below.

working days = 52.14 × days per week − holidays − vacation days

hourly rate = yearly salary ÷ (working days × hours per day)Hours per day is hours per week divided by days per week.

The daily figure is the yearly salary divided by working days, the weekly figure is the daily figure times the days in your week, and the monthly figure is the yearly salary divided by 12.

Worked example

Take a salary of $36,000 a year, a 40-hour week over 5 days, 10 holidays and 15 vacation days.

• Working days: 52.14 × 5 − 10 − 15 = 260.7 − 25 = 235.7 days.
• Hours per day: 40 ÷ 5 = 8, so the year holds 235.7 × 8 = 1,885.6 working hours.
• Hourly rate: 36,000 ÷ 1,885.6 = $19.09.
• Daily pay is 36,000 ÷ 235.7 = $152.74 and weekly pay is 5 × 152.74 = $763.68; the results table rounds these to $153 and $764. Monthly pay is 36,000 ÷ 12 = $3,000.

Now compare a four-day, 32-hour week for the same salary and the same 25 days off. Working days fall to 52.14 × 4 − 25 = 183.56, hours per day stay at 8, and the year holds 1,468.48 hours. The hourly rate rises to 36,000 ÷ 1,468.48 = $24.52. The salary did not change, but each hour is paid more because fewer hours are worked.

Hourly rates at common salaries

The table compares the quick estimate (salary ÷ 2,080) with this calculator at its default settings, which remove 25 days off a year.

The gap is about 10 percent, close to the share of the working year taken up by those 25 days off.

Assumptions and common mistakes

• Paid time off is part of your pay. If you count holidays and vacation as unpaid, you get the higher rate shown above. If you want the rate for every hour you are paid, including days off, set both to zero.
• Overtime is not modelled. If you regularly work more than the hours you enter, enter the real average, because extra unpaid hours lower your effective rate.
• Gross pay only. The figures are before income tax, social security and deductions.
• Entering bi-weekly pay as semi-monthly. Bi-weekly means every two weeks (about 26 paychecks). Twice a month means 24 paychecks, so use a monthly figure for that.
• More days off than working days. If holidays plus vacation exceed the days you work in a year, the result turns negative and is not meaningful.

Using the result to set a freelance or contract rate

A contractor who wants the same standard of living as an employee on this salary cannot simply charge the converted hourly rate. Employees receive paid leave, a share of payroll taxes, health or retirement benefits and equipment, and they are paid for time spent on meetings and admin. A contractor pays for all of these and can only bill the hours a client agrees to.

A sensible approach is to start from the converted hourly rate, then add the cost of benefits and taxes you now cover yourself, and finally divide by the share of your week that is billable. If only 60 percent of your hours can be billed, the rate has to be about two thirds higher than the employee equivalent.

To go the other way, from a wage to a yearly figure, use the hourly to salary calculator. To count the days you actually work in a period, try the working days calculator, and to total logged hours use the work hours timesheet calculator.