How to Convert Hourly Pay to Annual Salary

To turn an hourly wage into a yearly salary, multiply the rate by the hours you work each week and by the number of weeks you are paid for: annual = hourly rate × hours per week × paid weeks. At 20 an hour, 40 hours a week and 52 paid weeks that is 41,600 a year, gross. Divide by 12 for a monthly figure: 3,466.67.

The quickest route here: open the Salary calculator, enter your pay with the period it is quoted in — hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly — then set your real hours per week and your real paid weeks, and read every other period at once. For overtime, the Hourly wage calculator takes a separate overtime rate. Figures are kept on your device; nothing is sent anywhere.

Reference table: hourly rate to gross year

The amounts below are in whatever currency you are paid in, before tax and other deductions.

Hourly rate	40 h/week, 52 weeks	Per month	35 h/week, 52 weeks	Per month
12	24,960	2,080.00	21,840	1,820.00
15	31,200	2,600.00	27,300	2,275.00
20	41,600	3,466.67	36,400	3,033.33
25	52,000	4,333.33	45,500	3,791.67
30	62,400	5,200.00	54,600	4,550.00
40	83,200	6,933.33	72,800	6,066.67
50	104,000	8,666.67	91,000	7,583.33

Read the table the other way to go from a salary back to a rate. The reverse formula is hourly = annual ÷ (hours per week × paid weeks).

The 2,080-hour convention, and when it lies

40 hours × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours, the number most job ads and HR systems use to compare an hourly rate with a salary. It is exactly right when your holidays and public holidays are paid, because you are paid for 52 weeks whether or not you work them all.

It stops being right the moment some of those weeks are unpaid. Suppose you take three weeks off without pay — 15 working days, or 120 hours. You are paid for 2,080 − 120 = 1,960 hours, so at 20 an hour you earn 39,200, not 41,600. Seen from the other side, a salary of 41,600 divided by the 1,960 hours you actually got paid for works out at 21.22 an hour, not 20. Whenever unpaid time is involved, the 2,080 convention flatters the annual figure and understates the true rate.

There is also a smaller correction. A year is 365.25 days on average, which is 365.25 ÷ 7 = 52.18 weeks, not 52. Using 52.18 weeks at 40 hours gives 2,087.14 hours and 41,743 a year at 20 an hour — about 143 more than the round figure. Most contracts settle this by fixing a monthly amount instead, so use 52 for planning and treat 52.18 as an explanation for small end-of-year discrepancies rather than a number to budget with.

Three worked examples

Full time, no unpaid weeks. 20 × 40 × 52 = 41,600 a year. Monthly: 41,600 ÷ 12 = 3,466.67. Weekly: 20 × 40 = 800.

A salary offer, back to an hourly rate. A job pays 50,000 for 40 hours a week with paid holidays. That is 2,080 paid hours, so 50,000 ÷ 2,080 = 24.04 an hour. On a 35-hour week the same salary is 50,000 ÷ 1,820 = 27.47 an hour — the same money, a rate almost 3.50 higher, because you sell fewer hours for it.

Unpaid weeks plus overtime. At 20 an hour and 40 hours a week but only 48 paid weeks: 20 × 40 × 48 = 38,400, which is 3,200 less than the 52-week figure, a drop of 7.7%. Now add 5 hours of overtime a week at 150% ("time and a half") on top of a full 52 weeks: 20 × 1.5 × 5 × 52 = 7,800 extra, for 49,400 in total. At 125% the same hours are worth 6,500, for 48,100.

What the formula assumes

• Everything here is gross pay, before income tax, social contributions, pension and anything else deducted at source. What reaches your bank account depends on your country and on your personal situation — household, allowances, local rates — so no guide can give you a single net figure. Use your payslip or an official calculator for your country.
• Your hours are paid hours. A 9-to-5 day with an unpaid lunch break is 7 or 7.5 paid hours, not 8. Counting the break inflates the year and deflates the rate you compute in reverse.
• The rate is constant. Night, weekend and holiday premiums, shift allowances and bonuses all sit outside this formula.
• A month is not four weeks. It averages 52 ÷ 12 = 4.33 weeks. A weekly 800 is 3,466.67 a month, not 3,200.

Part-time, and the freelance case

Part-time is the same formula with your hours: at 20 an hour, 24 hours a week over 52 weeks is 24,960, and 32 hours a week is 33,280, or 2,773.33 a month. Where part-time gets misread is in comparisons — an advert quoting a full-time-equivalent salary is describing hours you will not work.

Freelancers and contractors have a different problem: billable hours are not working hours. Admin, quotes, invoicing, training and finding the next client are real and unpaid, and so are holidays and sick days. Someone charging 60 an hour who bills 25 hours a week for 46 weeks earns 60 × 25 × 46 = 69,000, not the 124,800 that 60 × 40 × 52 suggests — about 55% of the naive figure. Build your rate from the hours you can realistically bill, then remember that business expenses, unpaid leave and your own pension come out of it.

Common problems, and what they mean

Your annual figure is higher than your payslips add up to. You used 52 paid weeks while some of your leave is unpaid. Count the weeks you are actually paid for.

Your reverse-calculated hourly rate looks too low. Unpaid breaks are probably in your weekly hours, or you divided by 2,080 when your contract is 35 hours.

Monthly and weekly figures do not agree. Multiplying the weekly amount by 4 loses about four weeks a year. Go through the annual total: monthly = annual ÷ 12.

Two offers with the same salary feel very different. They probably are. Paid leave, employer pension contributions, bonuses, notice period and expenses are not in the hourly rate and can be worth more than the gap between the two numbers.

The net amount is nothing like the gross. That is expected, and the size of the gap depends entirely on your country and situation. Compare gross with gross, or net with net, never one against the other.

Questions people ask

Should I use 52 weeks or 48? Use the number of weeks you are paid for. Salaried employees with paid holidays use 52; hourly workers who are not paid for time off should count their real paid weeks.

Why do job ads use 2,080 hours? It is 40 × 52, the standard full-time year in many countries. It is a comparison convention, not a promise about your contract.

How do I work out what a raise is worth? A 3% rise on 20 an hour gives 20.60, which is 42,848 a year at 40 hours and 52 weeks — 1,248 more. The Percentage calculator handles the arithmetic.

How is overtime counted? Hours above your contracted total, paid at a premium rate. Multiply the base rate by the premium, then by the overtime hours and the number of weeks.

Does this work for daily rates? Yes: annual = daily rate × days per week × paid weeks. The Salary calculator accepts a daily rate directly.

Next steps

• Add overtime at any rate: Hourly wage calculator
• Work out a raise or a percentage change: Percentage calculator, and the guide how to calculate percentages
• Total up hours worked from clock-in and clock-out times: Time difference calculator