Converting Pay Between Hourly, Monthly and Annual
How to convert hourly pay to an annual salary and back: the 2,080-hour year, why a month is not 4 weeks, biweekly vs semi-monthly pay, and gross vs net.
By Udit Agarwal · Updated October 17, 2026
To convert an hourly wage to an annual salary, multiply it by the hours worked in a week and then by 52: at 40 hours a week, $25 an hour is 25 × 40 × 52 = $52,000 a year. To go the other way, divide the annual figure by 2,080, the number of hours in a year of 40-hour weeks. Every other pay period, from a day's pay to a monthly paycheck, is the annual figure divided by the number of those periods in a year. All of these conversions work on gross pay, the amount before tax and other deductions.
Convert to an annual figure first, then divide into whatever period you need. With a 40-hour, five-day week worked 52 weeks a year:
| Pay period | Periods per year | To get annual pay | From annual pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | 2,080 hours | × 2,080 | ÷ 2,080 |
| Daily | 260 days | × 260 | ÷ 260 |
| Weekly | 52 | × 52 | ÷ 52 |
| Biweekly | 26 | × 26 | ÷ 26 |
| Semi-monthly | 24 | × 24 | ÷ 24 |
| Monthly | 12 | × 12 | ÷ 12 |
Common hourly rates under those assumptions:
| Hourly | Weekly | Biweekly | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15 | $600 | $1,200 | $2,600.00 | $31,200 |
| $20 | $800 | $1,600 | $3,466.67 | $41,600 |
| $25 | $1,000 | $2,000 | $4,333.33 | $52,000 |
| $30 | $1,200 | $2,400 | $5,200.00 | $62,400 |
| $40 | $1,600 | $3,200 | $6,933.33 | $83,200 |
| $50 | $2,000 | $4,000 | $8,666.67 | $104,000 |
The arithmetic is the same in any currency. A pay rise works through every period in proportion: going from $25 to $27 an hour is an 8% rise, worth $4,160 a year at 2,080 hours. The percentage guide covers how to work out a rise like that.
A year of full-time work is usually counted as 40 hours a week for 52 weeks: 40 × 52 = 2,080 hours, with holidays and paid leave counted as paid weeks. A 37.5-hour week, common in the UK, gives 1,950 hours instead, so £15 an hour comes to £29,250 a year.
A popular shortcut doubles the hourly rate and adds three zeros, turning $25 an hour into $50,000. That treats the year as 2,000 hours, which is 50 weeks of 40 hours, so it comes out about 3.8% below the 2,080-hour figure. It is close enough for a quick comparison and correct if you are not paid for two weeks of the year.
Not every employer uses 2,080. US federal pay rules (5 U.S.C. 5504) divide annual pay by 2,087 hours, the average number of weekday working hours in a year once leap years are counted, which is about 52.18 weeks of 40 hours. On a $52,000 salary that gives $24.92 an hour rather than $25.00.
A year has 52 weeks but 12 months, so the average month holds 52 ÷ 12 = 4.33 weeks. To turn weekly pay into monthly pay, multiply by 52 and divide by 12. A $1,000 weekly wage is $4,333.33 a month, not $4,000. Multiplying by four counts only 48 weeks, so it leaves out four weeks of pay, $4,000 a year in this example or 7.7% of the total.
The same correction applies to hourly pay. At 40 hours a week, a month averages 2,080 ÷ 12 = 173.33 hours, so $25 an hour is $4,333.33 a month. Going the other way, a $4,000 monthly salary is $48,000 a year, which is $923.08 a week or $23.08 an hour at 40 hours.
Even 52 weeks is not quite a year. Fifty-two weeks is 364 days, so every calendar year has a day left over, or two in a leap year, which is why the number of paydays and working days changes from year to year.
These two schedules sound alike but pay a different number of times:
On a $52,000 salary:
| Schedule | Paychecks a year | Gross per paycheck |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 52 | $1,000.00 |
| Biweekly | 26 | $2,000.00 |
| Semi-monthly | 24 | $2,166.67 |
| Monthly | 12 | $4,333.33 |
The annual total is identical; only the size and timing of each check change. A biweekly earner usually gets two paychecks a month, but in most years two months contain three paydays, so a budget built on two paychecks a month gains an extra check twice a year. Because 26 × 14 = 364 days, about once every 11 years a biweekly schedule fits 27 paydays into one calendar year.
A daily rate converts with the number of working days: 5 days × 52 weeks = 260 days, so $52,000 a year is $200 a day. The real calendar varies a little. A year has 260 to 262 weekdays depending on which day it starts on; 2026 has 261.
For a salaried employee, paid public holidays and leave are part of those 260 days of pay but not of the days actually worked, so pay per day worked is higher than annual ÷ 260. The reverse matters for contractors, who are usually paid only for the days they work. A $400 day rate looks like $104,000 a year at 260 days, but if you expect to work 46 weeks after holidays, leave and gaps between contracts, it comes to 400 × 5 × 46 = $92,000.
To count the working days between two dates, the Business Days Calculator skips weekends and either a built-in public holiday list for some countries or dates you add.
The standard assumptions are 40 hours, 5 days and 52 weeks. Change any of them and the conversions follow:
If you are paid by the hour and your hours change from week to week, a Time Card Calculator adds up the hours from your clock-in and clock-out times and multiplies them by your rate.
Gross pay is what you earn before anything is withheld. Net pay, or take-home pay, is what reaches your bank account after income tax, social security contributions, retirement savings, health insurance premiums and any other deductions. The gap depends on the country, the amount, and the choices you make about benefits, so a gross salary converted to monthly pay will usually be larger than the deposit you see.
Convert the gross figure first, then work out deductions separately. For an estimate of US federal income tax on a yearly figure, the Income Tax Calculator applies the 2024 tax brackets to taxable income. Costs of getting to work come out of take-home pay too, and the fuel economy guide shows how to price a commute by the mile.
The Salary Calculator converts one pay amount into six periods at once: hourly, daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly and annual. Enter the amount, choose the period it is paid in, and read the rest. It turns the amount into an annual figure using hours per week × weeks per year for an hourly rate, or days per week × weeks per year for a daily rate, and then divides that annual figure back into each period. Monthly is always annual ÷ 12, and biweekly is annual ÷ (weeks per year ÷ 2).
The defaults are 40 hours, 5 days and 52 weeks, and a switch reveals all three so you can model part-time hours, a four-day week or unpaid weeks. Commas, spaces and the $, €, £ and ₹ signs are ignored. Results are labelled in dollars and shown to two decimal places, but the arithmetic works for any currency, and a button copies all six figures as text. A negative amount, or an hours, days or weeks value of zero or less, shows an error instead of a result.
It does not show a semi-monthly figure (halve the monthly one), has no overtime field, and works only with gross pay: it does not estimate taxes or deductions. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing you type is uploaded. The results are estimates, not financial or tax advice.
How do I convert an hourly wage to an annual salary? Multiply the hourly rate by your weekly hours and then by 52. At 40 hours a week that is the same as multiplying by 2,080, so $25 an hour is $52,000 a year. If some weeks are unpaid, use the number of paid weeks instead of 52.
How do I convert an annual salary to an hourly rate? Divide the salary by the hours you work in a year, which is 2,080 for a 40-hour week. A $62,400 salary is $30 an hour. US federal pay tables divide by 2,087 instead, which gives a slightly lower rate.
How much is $20 an hour a year? At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year, $3,466.67 a month and $1,600 every two weeks, all before tax. At 30 hours a week it is $31,200 a year.
Is biweekly pay the same as twice a month? No. Biweekly means every two weeks, 26 paychecks a year. Twice a month, or semi-monthly, is 24 paychecks a year on fixed dates. On $52,000 a year, a biweekly check is $2,000 and a semi-monthly check is $2,166.67.
How many working days are there in a year? Five days a week for 52 weeks is 260 days, the figure most conversions use. The calendar has 260 to 262 weekdays depending on the year, and public holidays and leave reduce the days actually worked.
Why is my paycheck less than my salary divided by 12? Salary ÷ 12 is gross pay, and your paycheck is net pay, after income tax, social security contributions and any benefit or retirement deductions. A biweekly check is also only salary ÷ 26.
Does the Salary Calculator include taxes or overtime? No. It converts gross pay between periods using the hours, days and weeks you set. Estimate tax separately, and add any overtime pay to your total yourself.
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