How the conversion works
Every pay period is just a different slice of the same annual number, so the converter first turns whatever you enter into an annual figure, then slices it back into every other period. Going from hourly to annual:
Annual = hourly rate × hours per week × paid weeks per year
At the standard US full-time schedule — 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year — that multiplier is 2,080 hours, which is where the common shortcut "double the hourly rate and add three zeros" comes from ($25/hour ≈ $50,000... actually $52,000, so the shortcut slightly undershoots). Going the other way, an annual salary divided by 2,080 gives its hourly equivalent. Monthly pay is the annual figure divided by 12, weekly by your paid weeks, and biweekly is simply two of those weeks.
The two inputs that change everything
Most quick converters hard-code 40 hours and 52 weeks, and that is exactly where their answers drift from reality. If your contract is 37.5 hours a week — common in the UK, Canada, and much of Europe — a $70,000 salary is worth $35.90 an hour, not the $33.65 a 40-hour assumption produces. That gap matters when you are comparing a salaried offer against contract work. The paid weeks input handles the other big distortion: if you are hourly with no paid vacation and you actually take two weeks off, you are paid for 50 weeks, not 52, and your true annual income is about 4% lower than the naive multiplication suggests. Salaried employees with paid time off should leave it at 52.
Comparing an hourly offer to a salaried one
Convert both to annual gross using each job's real hours and paid weeks, then adjust mentally for what the number doesn't capture: overtime eligibility (hourly roles typically earn 1.5× beyond 40 hours in the US; salaried exempt roles earn nothing extra), employer benefits like health insurance and retirement matching, and schedule stability. A salaried offer that looks 10% richer can be poorer per hour if it quietly assumes 50-hour weeks — divide the salary by the hours you'll actually work to see the honest hourly rate.
Frequently asked questions
Is this before or after taxes?
Before. Everything here is gross pay. Take-home pay depends on your country, state or province, filing status, and deductions, so check a local payroll calculator or your payslip for net figures.
Why is biweekly not the same as twice-monthly?
Biweekly means every two weeks — 26 paychecks a year. Semi-monthly means twice a month — 24 paychecks a year. Same annual total, different check size: a $52,000 salary is $2,000 biweekly but $2,166.67 semi-monthly. This tool shows biweekly.
How do I account for overtime?
Enter your base rate and base hours first to see your guaranteed pay. Then, if your overtime is steady, add the average overtime hours to "hours per week" at a blended rate — or simply enter your typical gross weekly paycheck with "per week" selected and let the tool annualize it.
What is $37.50 an hour annually?
$78,000 gross at 40 hours and 52 weeks ($37.50 × 2,080). That's $6,500 a month or $3,000 per biweekly check.
Related tool: check whether your raises have kept up with prices using the salary inflation calculator.