Use this free salary to hourly calculator to instantly convert any annual salary into an hourly rate — or any hourly wage into an annual salary. The tool breaks down your pay into every period you need: hourly, daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, and annual. It also calculates your overtime pay rate and shows what your annual income looks like with 5 or 10 hours of weekly overtime.
Whether you are a business owner figuring out what to pay employees, a job seeker comparing offers, or a freelancer setting rates, this converter gives you every number you need in one calculation.
How to Use This Salary to Hourly Converter
The calculator has two modes that handle conversion in both directions.
Salary to Hourly is the default mode. Enter your annual salary (before taxes), and the tool immediately converts it into an hourly rate along with every other pay period — daily, weekly, biweekly, and monthly. The default settings assume a standard 40-hour work week across 52 weeks per year and 5 working days per week. If your situation is different, adjust these numbers. For example, if you take 2 weeks of unpaid vacation, change “Weeks Worked Per Year” to 50. If you work 4 days per week, change “Days Worked Per Week” to 4. These adjustments change your effective hourly rate because they change the total number of hours you actually work.
Hourly to Salary flips the conversion. Enter your hourly rate and the tool calculates your equivalent annual salary, monthly income, and every other pay period. This is particularly useful when comparing a salaried job offer to a freelance or hourly position — you can see exactly what hourly rate you would need to match a given salary.
Both modes include a visual pay period comparison chart that shows relative proportions of your earnings across different time frames, and an overtime pay section that calculates your 1.5x overtime rate and estimates annual income if you consistently work 5 or 10 hours of overtime per week.
A practical tip for employers: When evaluating whether to hire someone at a salary or hourly rate, run both calculations. A $65,000 annual salary works out to $31.25 per hour. But if that employee regularly works 50 hours per week, their effective hourly rate drops to $25 per hour — and as an employer, you are getting 10 “free” hours per week that an hourly employee would charge overtime for.
The key insight: your actual hourly rate depends heavily on how many hours you truly work. A $100,000 salary sounds great until you realize you work 60 hours a week — that is $32.05 per hour, less than some skilled tradespeople earn.
Salary to Hourly Conversion Formula
The conversion formula is simple, but most people get it slightly wrong by using incorrect assumptions about hours worked per year.
Salary to Hourly: Hourly Rate = Annual Salary ÷ (Hours Per Week × Weeks Per Year)
The standard assumption is 40 hours per week for 52 weeks, giving 2,080 working hours per year. So a $60,000 salary converts to $60,000 divided by 2,080, which equals $28.85 per hour.
However, 2,080 hours assumes you work every single week of the year with no unpaid time off. If you take 2 weeks of unpaid vacation, your actual working hours drop to 2,000, and the same $60,000 salary converts to $30.00 per hour — a meaningful difference.
Hourly to Salary: Annual Salary = Hourly Rate × Hours Per Week × Weeks Per Year
A $25 per hour worker doing 40 hours per week for 52 weeks earns $25 multiplied by 40 multiplied by 52, which equals $52,000 per year.
The daily rate formula: Daily Rate = Weekly Pay ÷ Days Per Week. A $60,000 salary with 5-day work weeks and 52 weeks per year gives a daily rate of ($60,000 divided by 52) divided by 5, which equals $230.77 per day.
Biweekly pay is simply the weekly rate multiplied by 2. Most salaried employees in the US are paid biweekly (26 pay periods per year), so this is the number that appears on each paycheck before deductions.
One formula pitfall to avoid: Do not divide annual salary by 12 and then by the number of working days in a month to get a daily rate. Months have different numbers of working days (ranging from 20 to 23), so this method gives inconsistent results. Always calculate from the weekly rate for accuracy.
Salary vs Hourly: Which Is Better for Your Business?
As a business owner, choosing between paying employees a salary or an hourly wage is a decision that affects your costs, legal obligations, and employee satisfaction. Here is a practical comparison.
Salaried employees receive a fixed amount per pay period regardless of hours worked. The advantages for employers include predictable payroll costs each month, no overtime pay obligations in most cases (for exempt employees under FLSA), and employees are often more willing to work extra hours when needed since their pay does not change. The disadvantages include that you pay the full salary even during slow periods when there may not be enough work, you cannot reduce hours to save money during downturns, and some employees may feel overworked if they regularly exceed 40 hours without additional compensation.
Hourly employees are paid only for the hours they work. The advantages for employers include flexibility to adjust hours based on demand, lower costs during slow periods since you only pay for hours worked, and clear cost tracking per project or task. The disadvantages include that you must pay overtime (1.5x the regular rate) for any hours over 40 per week under federal law, payroll costs are less predictable month to month, and employees may be less willing to stay late or handle emergencies without overtime pay.
The financial calculation matters. Consider an employee you want to pay the equivalent of $30 per hour. As a salaried employee at 40 hours per week, they cost $62,400 per year in base salary. As an hourly employee working the same 40 hours, they cost the same $62,400. But if the salaried employee regularly works 45 hours per week, you are effectively getting 260 extra hours per year at no additional cost — worth $7,800. Meanwhile, if the hourly employee works those same 45 hours, you owe 5 hours of overtime per week at $45 per hour, costing an extra $11,700 per year.
The FLSA factor: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, only employees meeting specific criteria (salary above $35,568 per year and performing certain job duties) qualify as “exempt” from overtime. Misclassifying an hourly-eligible worker as salaried to avoid overtime is illegal and can result in significant penalties and back-pay claims.
The practical advice: for roles with consistent, predictable workloads, salary makes sense. For roles with fluctuating demand or seasonal peaks, hourly pay gives you cost flexibility. Use this calculator to model both scenarios with your actual numbers before deciding.
Understanding Overtime Pay
Overtime pay is one of the most significant cost factors for businesses with hourly workers, and misunderstanding the rules can lead to expensive legal problems.
Federal overtime law (FLSA) requires employers to pay non-exempt employees at least 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for all hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek. This is often called “time-and-a-half.” Some states have additional overtime requirements — California, for example, also requires overtime after 8 hours in a single day, regardless of total weekly hours.
How overtime affects annual pay. Our calculator shows this automatically, but here is the math. An employee earning $20 per hour who works 45 hours every week earns: 40 regular hours at $20 equals $800 per week, plus 5 overtime hours at $30 (1.5 multiplied by $20) equals $150 per week. Total weekly pay is $950 instead of $800. Over 52 weeks, annual pay jumps from $41,600 to $49,400 — an extra $7,800 per year. That is a 18.75% increase in labor cost from just 5 extra hours per week.
Double-time applies in certain states and situations, typically for hours worked beyond 12 in a single day or for work on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek. At double-time, a $20 per hour employee earns $40 per hour for qualifying hours.
For employers calculating labor costs: Always budget for some overtime. Even if you schedule employees for 40 hours, real-world situations (late deliveries, customer emergencies, shift coverage for absent employees) regularly push hours over 40. A safe budgeting practice is to assume 5% to 10% of your hourly labor costs will be overtime. Use our calculator to see the exact impact on your annual payroll.
An important note: overtime is calculated on the regular rate of pay, not just the base hourly rate. If an employee receives shift differentials, non-discretionary bonuses, or certain commissions, these must be factored into the regular rate before calculating the overtime premium. This is a common compliance mistake that triggers Department of Labor audits.
Salary Conversion Quick Reference Table
For quick reference, here are common salary levels and their hourly equivalents assuming a standard 2,080 working hours per year (40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year).
$30,000 per year equals $14.42 per hour, $576.92 per week, and $2,500.00 per month. $40,000 per year equals $19.23 per hour, $769.23 per week, and $3,333.33 per month. $50,000 per year equals $24.04 per hour, $961.54 per week, and $4,166.67 per month. $60,000 per year equals $28.85 per hour, $1,153.85 per week, and $5,000.00 per month. $75,000 per year equals $36.06 per hour, $1,442.31 per week, and $6,250.00 per month. $80,000 per year equals $38.46 per hour, $1,538.46 per week, and $6,666.67 per month. $100,000 per year equals $48.08 per hour, $1,923.08 per week, and $8,333.33 per month. $120,000 per year equals $57.69 per hour, $2,307.69 per week, and $10,000.00 per month. $150,000 per year equals $72.12 per hour, $2,884.62 per week, and $12,500.00 per month.
These numbers assume no unpaid time off. If you take unpaid vacation or have fewer working weeks, your effective hourly rate is higher than shown here — use the calculator above with your actual weeks worked for a precise number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I convert salary to hourly?
A: Divide your annual salary by the total number of hours you work per year. For a standard full-time job (40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year), divide by 2,080. A $60,000 salary divided by 2,080 equals $28.85 per hour. Adjust the weeks if you have unpaid time off.
Q: How many working hours are in a year?
A: A standard full-time year has 2,080 working hours (40 hours per week multiplied by 52 weeks). With 2 weeks of unpaid vacation, it drops to 2,000 hours. With 2 weeks of vacation plus 10 paid holidays, the actual working hours are approximately 2,000 (since paid holidays are still compensated at your regular rate).
Q: Is $30 an hour a good salary?
A: At 40 hours per week and 52 weeks per year, $30 per hour equals $62,400 annually. Whether this is “good” depends on your location and cost of living. In a low-cost area, $62,400 is comfortable. In a high-cost city like San Francisco or New York, it is tight. Use the calculator to see the full breakdown across pay periods.
Q: How do I calculate overtime pay?
A: Multiply the regular hourly rate by 1.5 for standard overtime (hours over 40 per week). A $25 per hour employee earns $37.50 per overtime hour. Our calculator shows overtime estimates automatically.
Q: Does this calculator account for taxes?
A: No. All figures shown are gross (pre-tax) amounts. Your actual take-home pay will be lower after federal income tax, state income tax (if applicable), Social Security (6.2%), and Medicare (1.45%). As a rough estimate, most employees take home 70% to 80% of their gross pay after all deductions.
Q: How should freelancers use this calculator?
A: Freelancers should enter their desired annual income in the Hourly to Salary mode, but change “Weeks Worked Per Year” to account for time spent on non-billable work (marketing, admin, vacation). If you want to earn $80,000 and realistically bill 30 hours per week for 46 weeks, the calculator shows you need to charge $57.97 per hour — significantly more than the $38.46 a salaried $80,000 employee earns because you have fewer billable hours and must cover your own benefits and overhead.