Hourly to Salary Calculator
Convert an hourly wage to a salary and back (every pay frequency at once).
What you're paid
40 is full time
This converts an hourly rate to an annual salary and back again, using your actual hours.
It also breaks the figure down by week, month and pay period.
Converting between hourly pay and salary
Converting between hourly pay and salary rests on one convention: a full-time year is 2,080 hours, which is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks.
So $25 an hour is $52,000 a year, and $52,000 a year is $25 an hour. The arithmetic is one multiplication.
The comparison is harder than the arithmetic. A salaried role that actually runs 50 hours a week pays $20 an hour, not $25, and salaried employees are often exempt from overtime while hourly employees are not. Comparing the headline figures alone misses most of what separates the two.
The salary does not change; the effective rate does. This is the comparison to run before accepting a salaried role that expects long hours.
What to enter
- Hourly rate or annual salary
- Whichever you have. The conversion works in both directions.
- Hours per week
- Your actual hours, not the contracted 40. This is what makes the comparison honest.
- Weeks per year
- 52 by default. Reduce it to model unpaid time off, which lowers an hourly worker's annual total.
- Paid time off
- Salaried roles usually include it. An hourly worker without paid leave earns nothing on those days.
What separates hourly from salaried
- Overtime
- Non-exempt hourly workers earn at least 1.5× beyond 40 hours a week. Exempt salaried employees generally do not.
- Paid time off
- Usually included in a salary. For an hourly worker, two unpaid weeks off is a 3.8% pay cut.
- Benefits
- Health insurance and retirement matching can be worth several thousand a year, and are more common in salaried roles.
- Income stability
- Salary is predictable. Hourly pay varies with hours, which cuts both ways.
What this assumes
The 2,080-hour year assumes 40 hours a week for 52 weeks with paid time off. Unpaid leave changes the hourly worker's total.
All figures are gross, before tax and deductions. Take-home is typically 70-80% of gross.
How to calculate your hourly rate or annual salary
Multiply to go one way, divide to go the other, and use real hours.
- 2,080
- The standard full-time year: 40 × 52
- annual hours
- Your real hours, which may be well above 2,080
Work out your real annual hours. Actual hours per week times weeks worked. 45 hours a week for 52 weeks is 2,340, not 2,080.
Multiply or divide. $25 × 2,080 = $52,000. Going back: $52,000 ÷ 2,080 = $25.
Recalculate at your real hours. $52,000 ÷ 2,340 = $22.22. That is the honest effective rate for a 45-hour week.
Add the value of benefits. Employer retirement matching, health insurance and paid leave often exceed the headline difference between two offers.
See a worked example: the same salary at three schedules
- Salary
- $52,000 a year
At 40 hours a week: 2,080 hours, so $25.00 an hour.
At 45 hours: 2,340 hours, so $22.22.
At 50 hours: 2,600 hours, so $20.00.
An hourly worker at $25 doing those same 50 hours would earn overtime on the extra 10, taking their annual pay well above $52,000.
$25.00, $22.22 or $20.00 an hour
Frequently asked questions
- How much is $25 an hour annually?
$52,000 a year at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, which is the standard 2,080-hour year.
That is gross, before tax. Take-home is typically 70-80% of it depending on your state and withholding.
- Why is 2,080 the standard?
40 hours a week times 52 weeks. It is the convention payroll systems and employers use to convert between salary and hourly rates.
It assumes your time off is paid. For an hourly worker without paid leave, two weeks off means 2,000 actual hours and correspondingly less income.
- Is a salary better than an hourly rate?
It depends on the hours. A salary is predictable and usually comes with better benefits. Hourly work pays for every hour, including overtime at 1.5× beyond 40.
If a salaried role consistently runs 50-hour weeks with no overtime, the effective rate drops by 20%. Ask what the hours actually are before comparing the headline numbers.
- What does exempt mean?
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempt employees are not entitled to overtime pay. Non-exempt employees must be paid at least 1.5× for hours beyond 40 in a week.
Exemption depends on job duties and a minimum salary threshold, not simply on being paid a salary. Being salaried does not automatically make you exempt.
- How do I value benefits in the comparison?
Add them up in dollars. Employer retirement matching is straightforwardly free money; health insurance can be worth several thousand a year; paid leave has a direct value in hours.
Two weeks of paid leave is worth about 3.8% of salary on its own. Between them, benefits frequently swing a comparison further than the headline pay difference does.
- What about part-time hours?
Use your actual hours rather than 2,080. At 25 hours a week for 52 weeks that is 1,300 hours, so $25 an hour is $32,500.
Benefit eligibility often has an hours threshold, commonly around 30 hours a week. That threshold can matter more than the pay difference.
Problems people actually run into
Comparing offers on the headline number
A $52,000 salary and $25 an hour look identical, and they are only identical at exactly 40 hours a week with matching benefits.
Work out the effective hourly rate at the real hours, then add the dollar value of benefits and paid leave. The order can reverse entirely.
Assuming a salary means no overtime pay
Exemption depends on job duties and a salary threshold, not on being paid a salary. Some salaried employees are non-exempt and legally entitled to overtime.
If you are salaried and regularly working beyond 40 hours, it is worth confirming your classification rather than assuming.
Results are estimates for general information only and are not professional financial, medical, or legal advice. Read our full disclaimer.
Last updated: September 4, 2026
