How many work hours are in a year?

2,080 hours is a schedule, not a count of the calendar

Forty hours a week for 52 weeks is 2,080 hours. It’s the default in the salary-to-hourly calculators we tried in September 2026 (Omni and thecalculatorsite, and calculator.net’s unadjusted result), and it’s a schedule: it assumes 40 paid hours in every one of 52 weeks.

But 52 weeks is 364 days, and a year has 365 or 366. So a calendar year has 260, 261 or 262 weekdays, depending on the day it starts on and whether it’s a leap year. At 8 hours a weekday, that’s a little more or less than 2,080.

Does 2,080 include holidays? Yes. Forty hours in each of 52 weeks counts 260 weekdays, holidays and vacation included, as paid hours. If your holidays and vacation are paid, you’re paid for 2,080 hours but work fewer; if they’re unpaid, you’re paid for fewer.

Counted from the U.S. calendar. 2026 and 2027 each have 52 full weeks plus one weekday; 2028 is a leap year that starts on a Saturday, so its two extra days fall on a weekend.

Take out holidays and time off, and you get the hours you actually work

OPM’s 2027 schedule lists 11 federal holidays, all on weekdays once weekend dates are moved. New Year’s Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, so OPM’s 2028 schedule observes it on Friday, December 31, 2027: 12 federal holiday dates fall on 2027 weekdays. Taking them out of 2027’s 261 weekdays leaves 249 workdays, or 1,992 hours. With 10 vacation days as well, 239 workdays and 1,912 hours remain. The 10 days are an example, not a typical amount.

Whether those days off are paid is a separate question. The Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or federal or other holidays; they’re a matter of agreement between employer and employee. The federal list is for federal employees; private employers set their own holidays.

For pay, the difference matters. Paid holidays and vacation are paid hours you don’t work, so they raise what you earn per hour actually worked. Unpaid days off lower your yearly pay instead.

Juneteenth, Independence Day and Christmas fall on a weekend in 2027, and New Year’s Day 2028 on a Saturday, so most federal employees observe them on the Friday before or the Monday after (5 U.S.C. 6103(b) and Executive Order 11582, as OPM explains). The last row is from OPM’s 2028 schedule.

Reference: OPM: Federal Holidays (2027 and 2028 Holiday Schedules) · U.S. Department of Labor: Vacation Leave

Why the federal government divides by 2,087

For federal employees covered by 5 U.S.C. 5504(b), OPM says hourly rates of basic pay are computed by dividing yearly basic pay by 2,087 hours. OPM explains that the calendar repeats every 28 years and that over that period there are, on average, 2,087 work hours a year, a figure from a 1981 General Accounting Office study. It’s a federal pay rule; private employers aren’t bound by it.

The divisor moves an hourly rate only a little. Time off moves it more, because the same salary is spread over fewer hours actually worked. Here is one example salary of $60,000 over each count of hours.

The last two rows are hours actually worked, assuming the holidays and vacation days are paid. If they’re unpaid, yearly pay falls instead and the rate stays near the first rows.

$60,000 is an example salary. Pay per hour = yearly pay ÷ hours, rounded to the cent.

Reference: OPM: Computing Hourly Rates of Pay Using the 2,087-Hour Divisor

Hours a year on other weekly schedules

Multiply the hours you work in a typical week by the weeks you’re paid for. The second column assumes you’re paid all year; the third takes out two unpaid weeks.

Average workweeks are shorter than 40 hours. The Bureau of Labor Statistics measured an average workweek of 34.4 hours for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls in September 2026 (a preliminary figure released October 2, 2026, which BLS revises), which is 1,788.8 hours over 52 weeks. Averages differ a lot by industry: 40.6 hours in manufacturing, 30.6 in retail trade and 25.5 in leisure and hospitality. They describe groups of jobs, not yours.

There’s no single federal number of hours that makes a job full time. The Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t define full-time or part-time employment, and that it’s generally for the employer to decide. One tax rule does set a line: for the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility provisions, the IRS counts an employee as full time who averages at least 30 hours of service a week, or 130 hours a month. Either way that’s 1,560 hours a year (30 × 52, or 130 × 12), and it applies to that rule only.

Paid hours = hours a week × paid weeks. Weeks with different hours, overtime and unpaid days aren’t included.

See what $20 an hour pays a year on 20- to 40-hour weeks ↗

Reference: BLS: Employment Situation, Table B-2 (average weekly hours) · U.S. Department of Labor: Full-Time Employment · IRS: Identifying full-time employees

Use the calculator with your numbers

The salary to hourly calculator does this for any schedule. Enter your pay, your weekly hours and your paid weeks; add paid weeks off to see pay per hour actually worked. The example below uses $60,000 a year, 40 hours a week, 52 paid weeks and 3 paid weeks off: $28.85 per paid hour and $30.61 per hour worked.

Example inputs, not a typical salary or amount of time off. Paid weeks off change only the pay per hour worked, never the salary.

Illustrative figures, not market averages. The underlying costs are calculated with the same engine as the tool; additional derived measures are labeled.

See what $60,000 pays per hour at 40 to 60 hours a week ↗

About this guide

Prepared by RealCostTools with AI-assisted research and drafting. Sources and calculations were checked October 4, 2026. Weekday counts come from the U.S. calendar; every salary and schedule is an example, not an average for any job.

Sources and calculation notes

• OPM: Federal Holidays (2027 and 2028 Holiday Schedules)

  The 11 federal holidays on the 2027 schedule, plus New Year’s Day 2028, which the 2028 schedule observes on Friday, December 31, 2027, with the dates most federal employees observe them; checked October 4, 2026. Federal holidays; private employers set their own.

• OPM: Computing Hourly Rates of Pay Using the 2,087-Hour Divisor

  Federal hourly rates = yearly basic pay ÷ 2,087 hours (5 U.S.C. 5504(b)); 2,087 is the average number of work hours a year over the 28-year calendar cycle; checked October 4, 2026. A federal pay rule only.

• U.S. Department of Labor: Vacation Leave

  The FLSA doesn’t require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or holidays; checked October 4, 2026. Federal law only; state law and contracts can differ.

• U.S. Department of Labor: Full-Time Employment

  The FLSA doesn’t define full-time or part-time employment; it’s generally for the employer to decide; checked October 4, 2026.

• IRS: Identifying full-time employees

  For the ACA employer shared responsibility provisions, a full-time employee averages at least 30 hours of service a week or 130 hours a month; page updated September 14, 2026, checked October 4, 2026. That rule only.

• BLS: Employment Situation, Table B-2 (average weekly hours)

  Average weekly hours of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, seasonally adjusted: 34.4 total, 40.6 manufacturing, 30.6 retail trade, 25.5 leisure and hospitality, September 2026 (preliminary; page last modified October 2, 2026); checked October 4, 2026. Monthly and revised; averages, not a schedule.

• RealCostTools: salary to hourly methodology

  The formulas behind every amount in this guide: yearly pay ÷ paid hours, and hours a week × paid weeks.

Read the salary to hourly methodology for the model assumptions and excluded costs.

Published October 4, 2026. Sources checked October 4, 2026. Editorial policy · Corrections