Salary Calculator

How to Use the Salary Calculator

Enter your hourly wage or your annual salary, select your pay frequency and enter your average weekly hours. Click "Calculate" to see gross pay for every frequency at once: annual, monthly (\(\text{Annual} \div 12\)), bi-weekly (\(\text{Annual} \div 26\)), semi-monthly (\(\text{Annual} \div 24\)) and hourly (\(\text{Annual} \div 52 \div \text{weekly hours}\)).

All results are gross pay: your earnings before income tax, Social Security, Medicare, retirement contributions and other deductions. Take-home pay depends on your filing status, state and employer benefits, so it needs a separate tax tool. For a sense of scale, a single filer earning $75,000 in 2026 pays about $13,400 in federal income tax and payroll tax combined, roughly 18% of gross, before any state tax.

Pay Frequency Conversions and Standard Assumptions

Two formulas cover the core conversions. Hourly to annual: \[\text{Annual} = \text{Hourly} \times \text{Hours per Week} \times 52\] Annual to hourly: \[\text{Hourly} = \frac{\text{Annual Salary}}{52 \times \text{Weekly Hours}}\] The 52-week year is the common basis for job offers, salary surveys and the income figure lenders use for debt-to-income ratios.

Four details change the result in practice. First, a real year has 52.18 weeks (365.25 ÷ 7), so 52 weeks understates annual pay by about 0.34%. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management therefore divides federal salaries by 2,087 hours, not 2,080: $75,000 gives $35.94 an hour at 2,087 hours and $36.06 at 2,080. Most employers and this calculator use 2,080.

Second, bi-weekly pay means 26 paychecks in most years. For any given payday cycle, one year in about 11 to 12 contains 27 paydays, one extra paycheck rather than two. Employers handle it differently: some spread the salary over 27 checks, others pay the extra check in full.

Third, hours paid are not hours worked. Eight paid holidays remove 64 hours (8 × 8), leaving about 2,016 hours actually worked, yet a salary still divides by 2,080. Hourly workers without paid holidays or paid time off earn less than rate × 2,080. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (March 2026) reports that 81% of private-industry workers and 92% of full-time ones have access to paid holidays.

Fourth, overtime. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. § 207), non-exempt employees receive at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours beyond 40 per week. Salary alone does not make someone exempt: as of May 2026 the federal salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions is $684 per week ($35,568 a year) plus a duties test, and some states set higher minimums. This calculator does not include overtime. Add it separately.

Useful Tips 💡

• Use gross pay, not net pay, for debt-to-income ratios and salary comparisons. Lenders and salary surveys both use gross figures.
• With part-time or variable hours, enter your average weekly hours over the last 4 to 8 weeks instead of your contracted minimum. It predicts annual earnings more accurately.
• If you work overtime, calculate regular pay and overtime pay separately. Blending them into one hourly rate understates total pay for non-exempt employees.
• Check whether your employer pays 26 or 27 checks in a given year before you plan around the extra paycheck.