Job listings mix languages. One says $26 an hour, the next says $54,000, and the third says $54,000 "plus exempt status," which is doing quiet work in the background. Converting between them is one multiplication — until it isn't. Here's the baseline math, the hours assumptions that move the answer by thousands, and the overtime rule that decides whether a salary is a raise or a pay cut in nicer clothes.
Multiply the rate by paid hours per year. The standard full-time figure is 2,080 — that's 40 hours a week times 52 weeks — so:
Annual salary = hourly rate × hours per week × weeks per year
Every other period is that total divided up. Monthly is annual ÷ 12. Biweekly — 26 checks — is hourly × hours per week. Semimonthly, 24 checks, is annual ÷ 24, and the two are not the same schedule: twice a year, a biweekly employee gets three checks in one month, which is why biweekly checks look smaller than semimonthly ones for the same salary.
Run any rate through all five periods at once with our hourly to salary calculator — it also handles part-time weeks and unpaid time off, which the table below assumes away.
2,080 is the baseline, not a law of nature. Three refinements matter:
| Hourly | Weekly (40 hrs) | Biweekly | Monthly | Annual (2,080 hrs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15 | $600 | $1,200 | $2,600 | $31,200 |
| $18 | $720 | $1,440 | $3,120 | $37,440 |
| $20 | $800 | $1,600 | $3,467 | $41,600 |
| $25 | $1,000 | $2,000 | $4,333 | $52,000 |
| $30 | $1,200 | $2,400 | $5,200 | $62,400 |
| $35 | $1,400 | $2,800 | $6,067 | $72,800 |
| $40 | $1,600 | $3,200 | $6,933 | $83,200 |
| $50 | $2,000 | $4,000 | $8,667 | $104,000 |
All gross. Federal income tax, state income tax where it applies, and the 7.65% employee share of Social Security and Medicare come out before any of it is spendable — the income tax calculator turns these into take-home figures.
The Fair Labor Standards Act splits US workers into two boxes. Non-exempt employees get at least the federal minimum wage and overtime at 1.5 times their regular rate beyond 40 hours in a week. Exempt employees — broadly, executive, administrative, and professional roles paid on a salary basis — get no overtime, however long the week runs.
The salary floor for that exemption is a number worth knowing: $684 a week, or $35,568 a year. That's the federal standard as of 2026, after the 2024 attempt to raise it — first to $844, then to $1,128 a week — was struck down in court and the Department of Labor restored the pre-2024 levels in 2026 rulemaking. Two consequences follow. Earn under $35,568 on a salary and you're owed overtime no matter what your title says. And a salary offer between $35,568 and about $58,000 converts the free overtime you used to be paid for into a fixed cost you're absorbing. Several states, including California and New York, run higher thresholds of their own; whichever is higher wins.
Run the effective-hourly check. Divide the salary by realistic annual hours — including the over-40 weeks the role expects, not just the 2,080 the contract implies.
| Salary | At 40 hrs/wk | At 45 hrs/wk | At 50 hrs/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $24.04 | $21.37 | $19.23 |
| $60,000 | $28.85 | $25.64 | $23.08 |
| $70,000 | $33.65 | $29.91 | $26.92 |
| $80,000 | $38.46 | $34.19 | $30.77 |
Read one row and the trap is visible: a $70,000 salary at a steady 50 hours pays $26.92 an hour across all hours worked. An hourly job at $28 that pays overtime would out-earn it — $28 straight time, $42 past 40 — unless the salaried role's benefits close the gap. That's the real comparison: hourly equivalents, benefits valued in dollars, and a blunt estimate of the unpaid weeks the culture expects.
Hours per week, paid weeks per year, every pay period at once — in your browser, nothing to install.
Hourly to Salary Calculator →Start with rate × 2,080 for a like-for-like comparison, then replace 2,080 with your real schedule. Convert offers to effective hourly using hours you'll actually work, check whether the salary clears the overtime-exemption line — $684 a week federally — and price the benefits before declaring victory. The hourly to salary calculator does the arithmetic, the salary calculator works the other direction, and the income tax calculator tells you what survives taxes.
$20 an hour at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks is $41,600 a year — $3,466.67 a month, $1,600 every two weeks. Drop to 50 paid weeks for unpaid time off and the year lands at $40,000. These are gross figures; income tax and payroll tax come out before the money is yours.
It is the standard full-time baseline — 40 hours times 52 weeks — and what most salary math assumes. It is not a promise. Paid vacation and holidays reduce hours worked but not hours paid, seasonal schedules reduce both, and a 261-weekday year works out to 2,088. Use 2,080 for comparing offers, then model your actual schedule before you budget from the number.
Not by itself. Overtime exemption depends on duties and pay. Under federal rules as of 2026, an executive, administrative, or professional employee must earn at least $684 a week on a salary basis — $35,568 a year — to be exempt from overtime; below that, overtime at 1.5x applies past 40 hours regardless of job title. Some states set higher thresholds than the federal floor.
Only if the effective hourly rate rises. Convert the salary offer to an hourly figure using realistic hours, including the weeks you'll actually work past 40. A $70,000 salary worked at a steady 50 hours a week is about $26.92 an hour across all 2,600 hours — less than a $28 hourly job that pays overtime. Weigh benefits, predictability, and unpaid-extra expectations on top of the raw rate.