SalaryToHourlyHow to calculate your hourly rate from salary
One division, three decisions. The formula is trivial — choosing honest inputs is the whole skill.
The formula
Hourly rate = annual salary ÷ (hours per week × weeks per year)
Worked example, start to finish: a $68,000 salary, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. Total paid hours = 40 × 52 = 2,080. Hourly rate = $68,000 ÷ 2,080 = $32.69 an hour, gross. From there everything else follows: daily (8h) $261.54, weekly $1,307.69, biweekly $2,615.38, monthly $5,666.67.
Decision one: which hours?
Use the hours the pay is actually buying. For a straightforward full-time role that is your scheduled week — 40, 37.5, or whatever your contract says. For a salaried role where the week reliably overruns, use your real average for an effective rate, and keep both numbers: the contractual rate tells you what the job claims to pay, the effective rate tells you what it pays you.
Decision two: which weeks?
Fifty-two is right when all 52 weeks are paid, including paid vacation. When some weeks are unpaid — seasonal work, term-time contracts, unpaid leave — count only paid weeks for a “paid hours only” rate. Neither view is wrong; they answer different questions. The 52-week view spreads pay across the whole year (best for budgeting), the paid-weeks view prices your working time (best for comparing with hourly work).
Decision three: gross or net?
Conversions like this are always gross. There is no honest universal net figure: income tax, state and city tax, and benefit deductions are personal. If you need a take-home estimate, convert gross first, then apply your actual most recent payslip ratio (net ÷ gross on a normal paycheck) as a rough personal multiplier — and treat the result as approximate, because tax is progressive and a single ratio drifts as pay changes.
Common mistakes
- Dividing by 12 and calling it weekly pay. Monthly and weekly are different clocks; a month averages 4.33 weeks.
- Using 24 instead of 26 for biweekly, or the reverse — see the biweekly calculator.
- Annualising an hourly rate over 52 weeks the job does not actually offer.
- Comparing a gross salary with a net hourly figure, or the other way round.
Prefer to skip the arithmetic? The calculator on the home page does all of it live, in both directions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the formula for hourly rate from salary?
Hourly rate = annual salary ÷ (hours per week × weeks per year). At 40 × 52 the divisor is 2,080. A $75,000 salary gives $75,000 ÷ 2,080 = $36.06 an hour, gross.
How do I include unpaid time off?
Reduce the weeks. If 3 weeks a year are unpaid, use 49 weeks: salary ÷ (hours × 49). The rate for the weeks you work rises, but remember the unpaid weeks still need covering from the paid ones.
How do I work out an effective rate for a salaried job with long hours?
Use your honest average hours, including the regular extra time. A $80,000 salary at a realistic 50 hours a week is $80,000 ÷ 2,600 = $30.77 an hour — not the $38.46 the 40-hour shortcut suggests.