Professional services
Hourly to Salary Calculator
Converts an hourly rate to annual pay, where the comparison needs benefits to be fair.
Result
The common shortcut, doubling the hourly rate and adding three zeros, assumes exactly 2,000 hours a year and no unpaid time. It is close for a standard full-time year and wrong for anyone with unpaid leave or non-standard hours. Benefits are frequently worth 20% to 30% on top of salary and are the main reason hourly and salaried roles are hard to compare directly.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Hourly rate times hours per week times weeks per year gives annual pay. The conversion is simple and the comparison is not, because an hourly role and a salaried role differ in paid time off, benefits, overtime eligibility and the predictability of hours, and none of that appears in the headline figure.
What moves the number
- Hours per week actually worked and paid.
- Weeks paid per year, including whether time off is paid.
- Overtime eligibility, which hourly roles usually have.
- Benefits, which differ substantially.
Where this one goes wrong
An hourly rate times a full year assumes every week is paid, which is wrong if time off is unpaid, and the shortfall equals the unpaid weeks. Conversely an hourly role with overtime eligibility can exceed its nominal annual figure in a busy year while a salaried exempt role cannot. Benefits are the largest unpriced difference, and health coverage in particular can be worth more than a meaningful gap in headline pay.
Before you quote
- Count only weeks actually paid, not fifty-two by default.
- Price benefits before comparing the two figures.
- Account for overtime eligibility in the hourly figure.
Questions
About this calculator
Can I just multiply my hourly rate by a full year?
Only if every week is paid. Where time off is unpaid, the annual figure is short by those weeks, and that is the most common error in the conversion. Count the weeks actually paid rather than defaulting to fifty-two.
Is a salary better than the same hourly rate?
It depends on what comes with it. Paid time off, benefits and predictable hours favour the salary; overtime eligibility favours the hourly role in a busy year. Comparing the headline figures alone decides nothing useful.
How much are benefits worth?
Enough to change the comparison, with health coverage in particular frequently worth more than a meaningful gap in headline pay. Pricing what you would pay for the same coverage independently is the way to put a number on it.
The formula
annual = hourly rate x hours per week x paid weeks
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How to use this calculator
- Hourly rate ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $32.
- Hours per week. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 40.
- Paid weeks per year. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 52.
- Unpaid weeks off. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 2.
- Annual value of benefits ($). Health insurance, retirement match, paid leave.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to annual salary equivalent, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Hourly rate | $32 |
| Hours per week | 40 |
| Paid weeks per year | 52 |
| Unpaid weeks off | 2 |
| Annual value of benefits | $0 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual salary equivalent main result | $64,000 |
| Including benefits | $64,000 |
| Monthly | $5,333 |
| Weekly | $1,280.00 |
| Effective hourly including benefits | $32.00 |
$64,000 a year, or $64,000 including benefits, which is an effective $32.00 an hour. The quick estimate of doubling the rate and adding three zeros assumes a full 52 paid weeks.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only hourly rate, this is what happens to annual salary equivalent. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Hourly rate ($) | Annual salary equivalent |
|---|---|
| $16 | $32,000 |
| $24 | $48,000 |
| $32 example above | $64,000 |
| $48 | $96,000 |
| $64 | $128,000 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Hourly rate ($)
- A money amount, starting at $32.
- Hours per week
- A number, between 0 and 100, starting at 40.
- Paid weeks per year
- A number, between 0 and 52, starting at 52.
- Unpaid weeks off
- A number, between 0 and 30, starting at 2.
- Annual value of benefits ($)
- Health insurance, retirement match, paid leave.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Annual salary equivalent | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Including benefits | A money figure. |
| Monthly | A money figure. |
| Weekly | A money figure. |
| Effective hourly including benefits | A money figure. |
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