Wage Calculator
Convert pay between hourly, weekly, monthly, and annual, in either direction, using your hours per week and weeks per year — to compare a wage against a salary.
How to use this calculator
- 1Choose whether you know the hourly rate or the annual salary.
- 2Enter that figure.
- 3Enter your hours per week and, optionally, the weeks you work per year.
- 4Read the equivalent hourly, weekly, monthly, and annual pay.
How it works
Wage conversion
annual = hourly × hours per week × weeks per year hourly = annual ÷ (hours per week × weeks per year) monthly = annual ÷ 12, weekly = hourly × hours ≈ 2,000 working hours a year at 40 hr × 50 weeks
Converting between an hourly wage and a salary comes down to how many hours are worked in a year. Multiply the hourly rate by the hours worked each week and the weeks worked each year, and you have the annual pay; divide the annual salary by that same total number of hours to go the other way. From the annual figure, the monthly pay is one-twelfth and the weekly pay is the annual divided by the weeks worked. A widely used approximation is that a full-time year is about 2,000 hours (40 hours a week for 50 weeks), which makes an hourly rate translate to a salary by simply multiplying by 2,000 — so $25 an hour is roughly $50,000 a year. The precise figure depends on the exact hours and weeks, especially when unpaid time off reduces the weeks worked below 52.
Worked example
At $25 an hour, 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks, the annual salary is 25 × 40 × 52 = $52,000, or about $4,333 a month and $1,000 a week. Going the other way, a $52,000 salary divided by 2,080 working hours is exactly $25 an hour.
Wage Calculator: the complete guide
Comparing a wage and a salary fairly
Job offers come in different shapes — one quoted as an hourly wage, another as an annual salary — and comparing them requires putting both on the same basis. That is exactly what this conversion does. The bridge between the two is the number of hours worked in a year, which depends on the hours per week and the weeks per year. Once you fix those, an hourly rate maps cleanly to a salary and back, letting you set two offers side by side.
The comparison is rarely as simple as the headline numbers, though. An hourly job may offer overtime, which can lift earnings well above the base rate, while a salaried role typically does not pay extra for long weeks. A salary may come with more paid time off, benefits, or job security. The conversion gives the apples-to-apples pay figure, which is the essential starting point, but a full comparison weighs these other factors on top of the raw money.
Why the weeks-per-year figure matters
The most common source of error in wage conversion is the number of weeks worked. Using 52 weeks assumes you are paid for every week of the year, including holidays and any time off — which is the reality for most salaried employees, whose annual figure already bakes in their paid vacation. For an hourly worker, though, unpaid time off means fewer weeks actually worked and paid, so their true annual earnings are lower than 52 weeks would suggest.
This is why the calculator lets you set the weeks per year. An hourly worker who takes two unpaid weeks off works 50 weeks, not 52, and their annual pay should be calculated on that basis. When comparing an hourly job to a salaried one, this distinction matters: a salaried worker earning the same nominal amount but with three weeks of paid vacation is genuinely better off than an hourly worker who must take that time unpaid. Adjusting the weeks figure captures this difference rather than papering over it.
The 2,000-hour rule of thumb
There is a handy mental shortcut for wage conversion that comes from the structure of a typical full-time year. Forty hours a week for about fifty working weeks is roughly two thousand hours a year. Because two thousand is such a round number, it makes the conversion almost trivial: multiply an hourly rate by two thousand for a rough annual salary, or divide a salary by two thousand for a rough hourly rate. So $30 an hour is about $60,000 a year, and a $80,000 salary is about $40 an hour.
An even quicker version halves the arithmetic: to estimate the salary in thousands, double the hourly rate. Twenty-five dollars an hour becomes 'fifty thousand', thirty-five becomes 'seventy thousand'. These shortcuts are accurate enough for quick comparisons and back-of-envelope planning, and they are worth committing to memory. The calculator gives the exact figure for your specific hours and weeks, but the rule of thumb lets you sanity-check any pay quote in your head, which is a genuinely useful skill when a recruiter or advertisement throws a number at you.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert hourly pay to an annual salary?
Multiply the hourly rate by hours per week and weeks per year. At $25/hr, 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, that's 25 × 40 × 52 = $52,000. A quick estimate uses 2,000 hours a year, so just multiply the hourly rate by 2,000.
How do I convert a salary to an hourly rate?
Divide the annual salary by the hours worked in a year (hours per week times weeks per year). A $52,000 salary over 2,080 hours (40 × 52) is $25 an hour. For a rough figure, divide the salary by 2,000.
Should I use 52 weeks or fewer?
Use 52 if all your time off is paid, which is typical for salaried roles. For hourly work with unpaid leave, use the weeks you actually work and are paid — say 50 for two unpaid weeks off — so the annual figure reflects real earnings.
Is a $25/hr job the same as a $52,000 salary?
In gross pay at 40 hours for 52 weeks, yes. But they can differ in practice: hourly work may pay overtime, while salaried roles often include more paid time off, benefits, and security. Convert to compare the pay, then weigh those other factors.