How this calculator works
Annual = hourly × hours per week × 52. Bi-weekly and weekly figures divide accordingly. All values are pre-tax; run the salary calculator for take-home.
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Hourly to Annual Salary Calculator
Job offer says $28/hour — what's that per year? Enter the hourly rate and hours per week for the full picture.
Scenario examples (2026 rates)
| Hourly rate ($) | Annual (pre-tax) |
|---|---|
| 14 | $29,120 |
| 21 | $43,680 |
| 28 | $58,240 |
| 42 | $87,360 |
| 56 | $116,480 |
Every number above is computed by the same in-browser engine as the calculator — nothing is hardcoded.
What the conversion actually assumes
The annual figure is hourly rate times weekly hours times 52, and that 52 embeds assumptions worth naming. It presumes every week is worked in full: no unpaid vacation, no sick days without pay, no seasonal slowdowns, no furlough weeks. For a salaried employee those gaps do not exist, but hourly workers at companies with unpaid time-off policies effectively work 48 to 50 weeks, so $28 per hour times 40 times 52, which is $58,240, becomes $53,760 at 48 weeks and $56,000 at 50. It also presumes exactly the stated hours: schedules that slide to 38 in slow seasons and 45 in busy ones average out only if the busy season is long enough. When comparing an hourly offer to a salary, annualize the conservative case first, base rate times realistic weeks times realistic hours, then treat overtime and full-year schedules as upside. The calculator runs the clean 52-week math; adjust the weekly-hours field to model unpaid leave by entering effective paid hours instead.
Hourly offers versus salaried offers, the full comparison
Equal annual figures hide unequal deals. Overtime is the first asymmetry: non-exempt hourly workers earn 1.5 times past 40 hours per week under the Fair Labor Standards Act, while exempt salaried workers earn nothing extra for hours 41 through 50, so a salaried role demanding real 50-hour weeks pays 20 percent less per hour than its conversion suggests. Benefit structures differ by employer, not by pay type, so compare PTO in dollars, at $28 per hour each of 15 PTO days is worth $3,360, health premium contributions, and 401k match percentage directly. Income stability tilts salaried: pay does not dip when a slow week cuts hours, and lenders prefer salaried W-2 income over variable hourly when underwriting mortgages. Career trajectory tilts salaried in professional fields, where promotions carry exempt titles. The decision procedure: convert both offers to effective hourly using real hours, price the benefits on both sides, then weigh overtime potential and stability. On paper parity, the role with the higher effective hourly after real hours wins for pure income; the salaried role usually wins on the total package.
Real-world uses beyond the job offer
The conversion is a comparison engine, and its most valuable uses are not offer letters. Freelancers pricing hourly gigs against employment should convert their W-2 alternative to hourly first, then roughly double it, since self-employment carries the full 15.3 percent SE tax, benefits cost, and unpaid admin time that employees never see; a $62,400 salary equates to about $30 per hour employed but closer to $55 to $60 per hour billed to match it. Budgeting by the hour makes costs legible: at $25 per hour take-home near $18, a $90 concert ticket is five hours of work, a framing device behavioral economists call time-affordability, and it consistently improves spending decisions. Raise negotiations sharpen when you track your own effective rate: a promotion from $28 to $31 per hour is 10.7 percent, and knowing your annual equivalents prevents anchoring on salary numbers alone. Side-hustle evaluation needs the same math in reverse, the side hustle rate minus taxes and costs versus your day-job hourly, which the side hustle calculator automates. Convert once, compare everything in the same unit.
FAQ
Is $25/hour a good wage?
$25/hr full-time is $52,000/year — above the US individual median (~$45k) but tight in high-cost metros.
How do hourly and salaried compare?
Hourly workers earn overtime (1.5× over 40h); salaried exempt workers don't. At equal annual figures, hourly can pay more with OT.
What about unpaid time off?
52 weeks assumes no unpaid gaps. Subtract vacation weeks (e.g. ×50) if your job is hourly with unpaid leave.
Is $20 per hour a livable wage in 2026?
It depends on where and how you live. $20 per hour at 40 hours per week for 52 weeks is $41,600 gross. A single filer in 2026 pays roughly $3,100 of federal tax after the $16,100 standard deduction, about $3,180 of FICA, and state tax where applicable, leaving around $2,800 per month take-home in a low-tax state. The MIT living wage framework puts a single adult with no children near $20 to $25 per hour depending on metro, and far higher with children, so $20 works for a single person with roommates in a mid-cost area and fails for a family almost anywhere. Run the gross figure through the salary calculator for your state, then against a rent affordability check at 30 percent of gross: $41,600 supports about $1,040 per month of rent, which prices out most one-bedroom apartments in coastal metros but not in much of the Midwest and South.
How much does overtime change the annual figure?
Overtime pays 1.5 times the base rate above 40 hours for non-exempt workers, and it compounds fast. At $28 per hour, each overtime hour adds $42; ten overtime hours per week for the full year adds $21,840 to a $58,240 base, a 37 percent raise in annual income. Two cautions. Overtime is taxed at your marginal rate, and a base-plus-heavy-OT income can cross into a higher bracket, so the net gain is smaller than gross suggests; run the total through the salary calculator. And consistency matters for planning: lenders typically average variable overtime over two years before counting it, and budgets built on peak OT break in slow seasons. If your hours swing, annualize the conservative case, base hours only, and treat overtime as windfall money for savings rather than as income to spend.
Should I take $30 per hour or $62,000 salaried?
Convert both to the same unit before deciding. $30 per hour at a real 40-hour week is $62,400, so the offers start even, and the difference lives in the details. Hourly non-exempt work earns overtime, which is worth 1.5 times the rate whenever hours exceed 40, and in many states adds daily OT and meal-break protections. Salaried exempt roles pay nothing extra for the 45 to 50 hour weeks that are common in professional jobs, which quietly cuts the effective rate to $24 to $27 per hour. Then compare benefits: PTO accrual, since unpaid time off at $30 per hour costs $240 per day, health premium share, retirement match, and bonus structure. Exempt status also brings stability, salaried pay does not shrink in a slow week. The rule: if expected real hours stay near 40 and benefits match, take the higher hourly; if the salaried role includes a match, real PTO, and career upside, the $1,600 spread favors the salary.