How to use this calculator
- Enter your pay before tax and how it’s quoted: per hour, per week, every two weeks, twice a month, per month or per year.
- Enter the hours you work in a typical week and the weeks a year you’re paid. For hourly pay, choose whether you’re paid time and a half over 40 hours.
- Optional: add paid weeks off and unpaid hours to see what you earn per hour you actually work.
THE CONTEXT BEHIND THE COST
A pay rate means little until the hours are fixed.
$20 an hour is $41,600 a year only at 40 hours for 52 paid weeks. Change either number and the yearly pay changes with it: two unpaid weeks take $1,600 off, and a 32-hour week takes a fifth. The calculator asks for both, and shows the same wage at other weekly hours.
A salary works the other way. It stays the same whether you work 40 hours or 50, so the more you work, the less each hour pays. Paid vacation and holidays do the opposite: you’re paid for weeks you don’t work, so each hour you do work pays more. Unpaid time the job takes, such as unpaid extra hours or a long commute, lowers it again.
Overtime is where hourly and salaried pay part ways. Federal law requires at least time and a half for hours over 40 in a workweek for covered employees who aren’t exempt, and being paid a salary doesn’t by itself make a job exempt. The calculator adds federal overtime to hourly pay when you ask it to, and says what it can’t decide.
Cost examples
What an hourly wage comes to in a year
Yearly pay before tax for four example wages on three schedules. The wages are round examples, not averages for any job or place. Paid weeks are the weeks you’re paid for, so 50 means two unpaid weeks.
| Hourly wage | 40 hours, 52 paid weeks | 40 hours, 50 paid weeks | 32 hours, 52 paid weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15.00 an hour | $31,200.00 | $30,000.00 | $24,960.00 |
| $20.00 an hour | $41,600.00 | $40,000.00 | $33,280.00 |
| $25.00 an hour | $52,000.00 | $50,000.00 | $41,600.00 |
| $30.00 an hour | $62,400.00 | $60,000.00 | $49,920.00 |
What a salary pays per hour
The same salary at 40 and at 45 hours a week, 52 paid weeks, before tax. The extra hours don’t change the salary, so each hour pays less. The last column is the salary ÷ 26.
| Salary | Per hour at 40 hours | Per hour at 45 hours | Every two weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 a year | $19.23 | $17.09 | $1,538.46 |
| $50,000 a year | $24.04 | $21.37 | $1,923.08 |
| $60,000 a year | $28.85 | $25.64 | $2,307.69 |
| $75,000 a year | $36.06 | $32.05 | $2,884.62 |
| $100,000 a year | $48.08 | $42.74 | $3,846.15 |
A worked example
With the illustrative inputs used when this tool first opens:
Your $20.00 an hour: $41,600.00 a year before taxPaid hours a year = 40 hours × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours.
Yearly pay = $20.00 × 2,080 hours = $41,600.00.
Per month = $41,600.00 ÷ 12 = $3,466.67.
Every two weeks = $41,600.00 ÷ 26 = $1,600.00.
Per day, 5-day week = $41,600.00 ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 5 days = $160.00.
Generated with the same calculation engine as the interactive result.
Formulas you can inspect
From an hourly rate: yearly pay = rate × hours a week × paid weeks a year (the same formula the rent calculator uses for hourly income).
With federal overtime: yearly pay = rate × hours × paid weeks + rate × 0.5 × hours over 40 × weeks worked (paid weeks − paid weeks off). Paid weeks off count at the straight rate, with no overtime.
From a paycheck: yearly pay = weekly pay × paid weeks, pay every two weeks × 26, pay twice a month × 24, or monthly pay × 12.
Per paid hour = yearly pay ÷ (hours a week × paid weeks). Per month = yearly ÷ 12; every two weeks = yearly ÷ 26; twice a month = yearly ÷ 24. Per day = yearly ÷ paid weeks ÷ 5.
Per hour you actually work = yearly pay ÷ ((hours a week + unpaid hours) × (paid weeks − paid weeks off)).
On a 2,080-hour year = yearly pay ÷ 2,080 (40 hours × 52 weeks), for comparison only.
Assumptions and limits
- All amounts are before tax and deductions. The calculator doesn’t estimate income tax, Social Security, Medicare or take-home pay.
- Every paid week has the same hours. Federal overtime is counted week by week, and hours can’t be averaged across weeks.
- The overtime option applies the federal rule to hourly pay only. State rules, employer policies, shift premiums and bonuses aren’t modeled, and the calculator doesn’t decide whether a job is exempt.
- Pay every two weeks, twice a month and per month are averages of the yearly pay; real paychecks can differ when hours or paid weeks change.
- Amounts keep full precision until display and are rounded to the cent.
- The 2,080-hour line is a comparison only. Federal pay uses 2,087 hours (OPM, 5 U.S.C. 5504(b)); this calculator divides by the hours and paid weeks you enter.
Sources for this tool
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Overtime Pay ↗Current page (undated); Fair Labor Standards Act · Checked
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Earnings thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemption ↗Current page (undated) · Checked
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Fact Sheet #17A: Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer & Outside Sales Employees ↗Revised September 2019 · Checked
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Computing Hourly Rates of Pay Using the 2,087-Hour Divisor ↗Current fact sheet (undated); 5 U.S.C. 5504(b) · Checked
- Internal Revenue Service: Tax Withholding Estimator ↗Page last reviewed or updated June 27, 2026 · Checked
Common questions
How do I calculate my hourly rate from my salary?
Divide the yearly salary by the hours you’re paid for in a year: hours a week × paid weeks. At 40 hours for 52 weeks that’s 2,080 hours, so $50,000 a year is $24.04 an hour. If you actually work 45 hours a week, the same salary pays $21.37 for each hour.
What is a $40,000 salary per hour?
$19.23 an hour at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks (2,080 hours), before tax. At 45 hours a week it’s $17.09. Paid every two weeks, $40,000 is $1,538.46 a paycheck before deductions.
What is $70,000 a year hourly?
$33.65 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before tax. That’s $5,833.33 a month and $2,692.31 every two weeks.
How much is $20 an hour a year?
$41,600.00 before tax at 40 hours a week for 52 paid weeks. With two unpaid weeks (50 paid) it’s $40,000.00; at 32 hours a week for 52 weeks it’s $33,280.00.
How much is time and a half for $20 an hour?
$30 an hour for each overtime hour. A 45-hour week at $20 an hour with federal overtime pays $900.00 for the 45 hours at the regular rate, plus half the rate again for the 5 hours over 40 ($50.00), or $950.00 for the week: $49,400.00 a year over 52 paid weeks.
Does this calculator work out my take-home pay?
No. Every amount is before tax and deductions, because taxes depend on your filing status, state, other income and benefits. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator works out federal withholding from your pay stub; your pay stub shows the actual deductions.
Is a salaried job always exempt from overtime?
No. The Department of Labor says exemption generally requires both a salary of at least $684 a week and meeting job-duties tests, and that job titles don’t decide exempt status. This calculator doesn’t decide it; the overtime option applies to hourly pay.
Methodology reviewed September 27, 2026. Salary to hourly methodology · Report a correction