How to convert salary to hourly pay
Your hourly rate is your salary divided by the number of hours you work in a year. The only decisions are which hours to count. A full-time employee working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks works 2,080 hours, so each $1,000 of salary is worth about 48 cents an hour. A quick rule of thumb: divide your salary by 2,000 and add a bit, or use the table below.
| Annual salary | Hourly (40 hrs) | Hourly (45 hrs) | Hourly (50 hrs) | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $35,000 | $16.83 | $14.96 | $13.46 | $2,917 |
| $45,000 | $21.63 | $19.23 | $17.31 | $3,750 |
| $55,000 | $26.44 | $23.50 | $21.15 | $4,583 |
| $65,000 | $31.25 | $27.78 | $25.00 | $5,417 |
| $80,000 | $38.46 | $34.19 | $30.77 | $6,667 |
| $100,000 | $48.08 | $42.74 | $38.46 | $8,333 |
| $125,000 | $60.10 | $53.42 | $48.08 | $10,417 |
| $150,000 | $72.12 | $64.10 | $57.69 | $12,500 |
Why your real hourly rate may be lower than you think
If your job regularly requires more than 40 hours, your effective rate is lower than the headline conversion. A $65,000 salary is $31.25 an hour at 40 hours a week but only $25.00 an hour at 50 hours a week. That is the right number to compare against an hourly job that pays overtime.
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), most salaried employees are exempt from overtime only if they are paid at least a minimum weekly salary (currently $684 a week, or $35,568 a year) and perform executive, administrative, professional or certain other duties. Some states set higher thresholds. A salary alone does not make you exempt. See our overtime rules guide for details.
Salary versus hourly: compare after taxes
Two jobs with the same hourly equivalent can have different take-home pay once benefits, overtime and taxes are considered. After you have an hourly rate, plug the salary into the paycheck calculator to see take-home pay. For example, a $65,000 salary in a state with no income tax delivers about $54,408 a year for a single filer, while the same salary in Oregon, which has a high state income tax and a paid-leave premium, delivers about $49,160.
A simple checklist for comparing offers
- Convert both offers to annual gross pay using realistic hours.
- Add the employer value of health insurance, retirement match and paid leave.
- Subtract expected taxes for your state.
- Divide the result by your real working hours, including commute if the job needs it.
Want a ready-made number? Our hourly-to-salary pages list the annual pay for every wage from $15 to $50.
Salary and the hours you really work
A salary of $80,000 is $38.46 an hour at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. If you actually work 50 hours a week, the same salary is $30.77 an hour. That effective rate is the more honest comparison with an hourly job, especially when the hourly job pays overtime. Enter your real weekly hours in the calculator to see the difference. Salaried employees who are exempt from overtime do not get paid extra for the additional hours, whereas non-exempt salaried employees must receive overtime. The details are in our overtime rules guide.
When this conversion is useful
- Negotiating a raise. Converting your salary to an hourly figure makes it easier to compare with freelance rates or market data quoted by the hour.
- Freelance pricing. If you are leaving a salaried job to freelance, the salary-to-hourly rate is only the start. You also need to account for self-employment tax and unbillable time; see 1099 vs. W-2.
- Budgeting. Knowing what an hour of your time is worth helps you evaluate purchases, side work and commuting costs.
- Part-time offers. A salaried position at 30 hours a week should be converted using 30 hours, not 40.
The calculator also gives weekly, biweekly, monthly and daily equivalents, so you can compare against different pay schedules without extra arithmetic.