Hourly to Salary Converter

The quick conversion most people use wrong

The common rule is "double the hourly rate and add three zeros" to get annual salary. $30/hr × 2,000 hrs/year = $60,000. That assumes 40 hours a week for 50 weeks — two weeks of unpaid time off. A close approximation, but it breaks down fast for part-time schedules, freelancers, and anyone with unusual paid time off.

The calculator above lets you set both inputs — hours per week and paid weeks per year — so the conversion matches your actual schedule. A 30-hour-per-week role with 48 paid weeks is very different from a 40-hour role with 52 paid weeks, and the number on the offer letter should reflect that. Most salary negotiations go sideways because the two sides are using different assumptions about "annual."

Hours per week: what counts?

For full-time salaried employees, 40 hours is the standard, but reality varies. Some companies set 35 as a "full week" and call it a benefit. Others quietly expect 45–50 from salaried staff. If you're a salaried employee putting in 50 hours a week, your effective hourly rate is 20% below your stated rate — you're giving back a workday every week, or roughly $13K/year on a $100K salary.

For hourly employees, overtime rules kick in above 40 hours in most US states (California has daily overtime rules too — 1.5× over 8/day, 2× over 12). Your real hourly average after overtime is often meaningfully higher than base rate. Include overtime when comparing to a salaried offer or you'll undervalue your current role.

Paid weeks per year — the number that matters most

There are 52 weeks in a year, but almost no one is paid for all of them. Subtract unpaid vacation, unpaid sick time, and unpaid holidays. Full-time employees with two weeks of paid vacation are effectively paid for 52 weeks even though they only work 50 — their hourly rate calculates on 52 weeks because they still get paid during vacation. Contractors who take two weeks off unpaid are paid for 50 weeks.

Default to 50 weeks if you're an hourly worker or contractor taking roughly two weeks off. Use 52 if you're salaried with paid vacation and want the apples-to-apples number. Use 48 if you take a full month off annually without pay.

Hourly to salary: worked examples

• $20/hr × 40 hrs × 50 weeks = $40,000/year
• $35/hr × 40 hrs × 50 weeks = $70,000/year
• $50/hr × 40 hrs × 50 weeks = $100,000/year
• $75/hr × 40 hrs × 50 weeks = $150,000/year
• $100/hr × 40 hrs × 50 weeks = $200,000/year
• $150/hr × 40 hrs × 50 weeks = $300,000/year

For part-time work, scale proportionally. $40/hr at 20 hours/week is $40,000/year, not $80,000. For seasonal work (retail holiday, summer tourism), compress paid weeks to 12–16 instead of 50 and the annual number reflects the actual earn window.

Salary to hourly: worked examples

• $50,000/year ÷ 2,000 hrs = $25/hr
• $80,000/year ÷ 2,000 hrs = $40/hr
• $120,000/year ÷ 2,000 hrs = $60/hr
• $200,000/year ÷ 2,000 hrs = $100/hr
• $300,000/year ÷ 2,000 hrs = $150/hr

Deciding whether to take a salaried offer or stay on contract? Calculate the hourly equivalent, then add benefits, paid time off, and employer payroll taxes (roughly 10–12% on top of salary as employer burden). A $100,000 salary with benefits is worth roughly $110,000–$125,000 in self-employed contract income, not $100,000 — and that's before accounting for pipeline risk.

Hiring: what hourly equivalent should you pay?

If you're a small business owner weighing an hourly vs salaried hire, use this calculator to convert both options to the same unit. A salaried role costs predictably but typically runs 10–20% higher than the equivalent hourly rate because of benefits, paid time off, and payroll taxes. Our employee cost calculator breaks down the fully-loaded cost including taxes and overhead; our 1099 vs W-2 calculator compares contractor rates to employee total cost so you can make the right structural call.

Freelancers and consultants: back into the hourly rate you need

Freelancers cannot just mirror a staff hourly rate — you must cover self-employment tax (15.3%), health insurance ($8–20K/year), retirement savings (15–20% of income for equivalent to employer 401(k) match), time spent on non-billable work (sales, admin, learning), and buffer for gaps between contracts. Useful rule: a freelancer needs to charge roughly 2× the effective hourly rate of the equivalent staff role to net the same take-home income. See our freelance rate calculator for a detailed model backing into your target income.

Paycheck frequencies and what they mean

• Weekly: 52 paychecks/year. Common in trades and manual labor. Higher payroll overhead for employers. Cash flow friendly for employees.
• Bi-weekly: 26 paychecks/year. Most common in US private sector. Creates two "three-paycheck months" per year — great for budgeting as sinking-fund contributions.
• Semi-monthly: 24 paychecks/year, paid on the 1st and 15th. Common in salaried/corporate roles. Checks are 8.3% larger than biweekly.
• Monthly: 12 paychecks/year. Common in government and international roles. Requires the tightest budgeting discipline; one missed check is catastrophic.

The annual number is identical under any frequency — only check size differs. The calculator above shows all four periods from your input so you can verify against your pay stub.

Don't forget taxes — the net hourly number

Hourly rate and annual salary are gross figures. Federal income tax (10–37% federal), state tax (0–13.3%), Social Security (6.2% up to $168,600 for 2025), and Medicare (1.45%) come off before money lands in your account. Effective net hourly rate is 25–35% lower than gross depending on your state and bracket.

If you're self-employed, add another ~7.65% for the employer half of Social Security and Medicare on top of the employee half — total 15.3% self-employment tax. Run quarterly estimated tax to avoid an April surprise. A $75/hr contract that sounds great on paper nets roughly $46/hr after taxes and self-employment tax if you're in a mid-tax state.