data tool
Salary to hourly calculator
To turn a salary into an hourly rate, divide it by the hours worked in a week times the weeks paid in a year. This calculator does that both ways and shows the same pay as a daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly figure, with any hours and weeks you set.
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- Runs on your device, nothing is uploaded
- Free, no sign in
- No watermark, no file limit
How it works
- 1
Choose the direction
Start from a yearly salary or from an hourly rate.
- 2
Set the hours
Hours a week, such as 38 for a full time Australian week or 40 for a common US week.
- 3
Check the weeks
Fifty two weeks paid is normal for a salary with paid leave. Reduce it for unpaid time off.
- 4
Read every period
The table shows the pay for every period, with the figure you started from highlighted.
The shortcut behind the common answer
A full time year is often taken as 2,080 hours: 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. Divide a salary by 2,080 and you get the familiar hourly rate. In Australia the National Employment Standards set 38 hours as the maximum ordinary hours for a full time employee, which makes a year 1,976 hours, so the same salary is worth more per hour. The calculator uses whatever hours you type, so the answer fits the job you are actually comparing, including part time hours.
Why 52.14 weeks and 26 or 27 pay days change things
A year is 52 weeks and one day, or two days in a leap year. Over time those extra days add up, and roughly every eleven years a fortnightly payroll has 27 pay days instead of 26. Employers handle that differently: some pay the salary over 27 smaller payments that year, others adjust. The figures here use whole weeks, so a fortnight's pay is one twenty sixth of the salary. Your payslip can differ by a small amount in a 27 pay year, and that is normal.
Comparing a salary with a contract rate
An hourly figure from a salary is not the same as a contractor's hourly rate. The salary includes paid leave, and the employer adds retirement contributions, insurance and equipment on top. A contractor pays for all of that out of their rate and only earns for the hours they bill. When weighing an employment offer against contract work, use the freelance rate calculator for the contract side, which accounts for unbilled time and costs.
Part time and pro rata pay
For a part time role, set the hours to the part time hours and keep the weeks at 52. A 0.6 position at 22.8 hours of a 38 hour week paying a full time equivalent salary of $85,000 pays $51,000 a year, the same hourly rate as the full time role. Job adverts sometimes quote the full time equivalent and expect you to do this arithmetic, so it is worth checking what the advert actually means before comparing offers.
Reading the daily figure
The daily rate is the weekly pay divided by the days worked in a week, so a five day, 38 hour week gives 7.6 hours a day. For a four day week of the same hours, set days to 4 and the daily figure rises while the hourly rate stays the same. It is the number to use when an employer pays out a day of leave, or when comparing a salary with a day rate from a contract.
Writing pay into an offer letter
An offer letter usually states the salary as a yearly figure and how often it is paid, and sometimes the hourly equivalent for award or overtime purposes. Stating the hours the salary covers avoids later arguments about extra hours. The AI document generator writes offer letters from a description, and the figures worked out here, the yearly salary, the pay frequency and the hourly equivalent, can go straight into the brief.
Minimum wages and awards
An hourly figure from a salary can fall below a minimum wage once long hours are taken into account. In Australia, Fair Work publishes the national minimum wage and award rates; in the UK, GOV.UK publishes the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. Check the hourly equivalent against the rate that applies.
Limits
- Gross pay before tax and deductions.
- Paid leave counts as paid weeks, which is how a salary works; unpaid leave means fewer weeks paid.
- Overtime and penalty rates are not included.
- Payroll divides a salary by the number of pay days in the year, so a fortnight can differ slightly from the figure here.
What it does not do
- It does not calculate tax or superannuation.
- It does not check pay against an award or a minimum wage.
- It does not store your figures.
Questions people ask
How do I convert a salary to an hourly rate?
Divide the yearly salary by the hours worked in a week, then by the weeks paid in a year. A $78,000 salary for 38 hours a week over 52 weeks is $39.47 an hour. For 40 hours a week it is $37.50. The hours you use change the answer, so use the real figure.
How many working hours are in a year?
At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, 2,080. At 38 hours, the Australian full time standard, 1,976. Those figures count paid leave and public holidays as worked hours, which is right for converting a salary. Hours actually at work are fewer once leave is taken.
Is fortnightly pay one twenty sixth of a salary?
In most years, yes, because 52 weeks make 26 fortnights. Roughly once every eleven years the pay dates fall so that there are 27 fortnightly pay days in a year, and employers then either divide the salary by 27 or adjust in another way. Check your employment contract or payroll policy.
How do I convert an hourly rate to a monthly salary?
Multiply the hourly rate by hours a week and 52 weeks, then divide by 12. At $32.50 an hour for 38 hours, that is $64,220 a year and $5,351.67 a month. Multiplying a weekly figure by four undercounts, because a month averages about 4.33 weeks.
Should I include paid holidays in the weeks?
Yes, when converting a salary. A salary pays the same during annual leave and public holidays, so those weeks are paid weeks. Only reduce the weeks for unpaid leave. If you are comparing with casual work that has no paid leave, the casual hourly rate needs to be higher to match.
Write the offer letter
Take what you made here into documents.
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Background reading: the question page on this.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .