How to Convert Salary to Hourly (And Back Again)

The short answer

Multiply the hourly rate by your hours per week and your working weeks per year to get the yearly salary; reverse it by dividing the yearly salary by the same two numbers to get the hourly rate. At $25/hour, 40 hours, and 48 weeks, that is $48,000 a year, or about $25.00 an hour the other way.

The converter treats the yearly figure as the single source of truth. Type any one period — hourly, weekly, monthly, or yearly — and it fills in the rest from the hours and weeks you set, so you never have to redo the division.

• Hourly → yearly: rate × hours/week × weeks/year
• Yearly → hourly: yearly ÷ (hours/week × weeks/year)
• Example: $25 × 40 × 48 = $48,000 per year
• Same example back: $48,000 ÷ (40 × 48) = $25.00 per hour

The yearly figure is the source of truth

All six periods the converter shows — hourly, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, semi-annual, yearly — are just the same annual salary at different scales. Pick any one and the others follow by division or multiplication.

That is why changing the hours-per-week or weeks-per-year field reshapes every number at once. Those two inputs define the bridge between 'per hour' and 'per year', and the converter rebuilds the whole table from them.

How to convert annual salary to hourly

Take the yearly salary and divide by the number of hours worked in a year: hours per week times working weeks per year. The quotient is the hourly rate. Keep the two schedule inputs honest and the rate is honest too.

If your job is salaried but you actually work unusual hours, use your real schedule, not the default — the rate only means something relative to the hours you truly work.

Step by step

Find hours per year: hours/week × weeks/year. At 40 hours and 48 weeks that is 1,920 hours.

Divide yearly salary by that: $48,000 ÷ 1,920 = $25.00 per hour. That is your equivalent hourly rate.

A worked example

A $60,000 salary at 40 hours/week and 50 weeks/year means 2,000 hours a year. $60,000 ÷ 2,000 = $30.00 an hour.

Drop to 48 weeks and the same $60,000 spans only 1,920 hours, so the hourly rate rises to $31.25 — fewer worked hours spread the same pay more thinly per hour.

Hourly rate vs hourly pay: what the number means

People use 'hourly rate' and 'hourly pay' interchangeably, and they are the same figure here: the amount you earn for one hour of work once salary, hours, and weeks are reconciled. The distinction only matters when overtime or bonuses enter.

The converted rate is a planning average, not a promise about any single cheque. It smooths a yearly salary across your worked hours so you can compare it with an hourly job on fair terms.

Converting to weekly and other pay periods

Once you have the yearly salary, the other periods are straightforward multiples: weekly is yearly ÷ 52, bi-weekly is yearly ÷ 26, monthly is yearly ÷ 12, and semi-annual is yearly ÷ 2. The converter does all of these the moment you type one value.

Bi-weekly (paid every two weeks, 26 paydays) is not the same as semi-monthly (paid twice a month, 24 paydays). Mixing them up changes the per-period number by a small but real amount.

• Weekly: yearly ÷ 52
• Bi-weekly: yearly ÷ 26
• Monthly: yearly ÷ 12
• Semi-annual: yearly ÷ 2

The 48-weeks assumption (and when to change it)

The converter defaults to 48 working weeks, which assumes about four weeks of vacation or unpaid time off across the year. It is a common planning assumption, not a rule — change it to 52 if you are paid for every week.

The choice shifts the hourly rate, because the same salary spread over fewer worked weeks yields a higher per-hour figure. Use the number that matches your real time off so the comparison with an hourly role is fair.

How to convert salary to hourly in Excel

In a cell, divide the salary by the product of hours per week and weeks per year: =salary/(hours*weeks). With $48,000, 40 hours, and 48 weeks, =48000/(40*48) returns 25. Reference the hours and weeks cells so you can tweak them.

To go the other way, multiply: =rate*hours*weeks gives the yearly salary from an hourly rate. Lay out both directions and you have a small salary-hourly converter of your own.

• Hourly from salary: =48000/(40*48) → 25
• Salary from hourly: =25*40*48 → 48000
• Reference hours and weeks in their own cells so changes flow through.
• Use the same formula shape the converter uses for all six periods.

What this converter does not do: overtime and bonuses

The tool converts between pay periods using your regular hours only. It does not add overtime (which is paid at a higher rate), nor bonuses, commissions, or tips — those ride on top of the base figure and vary by role and quarter.

If you are comparing a salaried job that pays a real year-end bonus against an hourly job, add the bonus to the salary yourself before converting, or compare the base figures and note the bonus separately.

• No overtime: only your straight-time hours are used.
• No bonuses or commissions: add them manually before comparing.
• No taxes: the figures are gross, before any deduction.

Comparing two job offers on an hourly basis

Hourly conversion levels the field between a salary and an hourly wage, because both end up as 'dollars per hour worked'. Two offers with different hours-per-week especially benefit from this, since a higher salary can hide a longer workweek.

Convert each offer on its own real schedule, then compare the hourly rates. The one that looks richer by salary alone may look poorer per hour once the extra hours are counted.

When to use the converter instead of doing it by hand

One division is easy by hand, but the converter is worth using when you want all six periods at once, when you are comparing several offers, or when you want to test how changing weeks of vacation moves the hourly rate.

Type a yearly, hourly, weekly, or monthly figure, set your hours and weeks, and read every period instantly. Nothing is stored or sent — the math runs in your browser tab and clears when you close the page.

• Enter any one period; the other five fill in automatically.
• Adjust hours/week and weeks/year to model your real schedule.
• Compare offers by their equivalent hourly rate.
• Nothing is uploaded — figures stay in the browser.

Frequently asked questions