Salary Calculator (US)
Convert between hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and annual salary. See your take-home pay after taxes.
US Salary Calculator — Convert Across 8 Pay Frequencies
A salary calculator answers a deceptively simple question: if you earn X per frequency A, what does that translate to in frequency B? The math is elementary but the inputs matter — working hours per day, working days per week, and whether you're counting holidays and PTO can shift the answer by 10% or more.
This calculator handles conversions across eight standard pay frequencies used in US payroll: hourly, daily, weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, and annual. It also estimates take-home (net) pay by applying a flat effective tax rate, and provides the context you need to interpret the result — federal holidays, unadjusted vs adjusted working days, 1099 reverse math, and where to find authoritative industry medians.
The default assumptions reflect a typical US full-time schedule: 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year = 2,080 hours. If you work a non-standard schedule — four 10-hour days, 3/4 time, or a seasonal contract — adjust the inputs accordingly.
The Conversion Formulas
- Standard US:
25 × 8 × 5 × 52 = $52,000/year - Same as
Hourly × 2,080for full-time 40-hour weeks
Tax Rate— combined effective rate: federal + state + FICA (~22% default for median US earners)- FICA portion: 6.2% Social Security (up to the wage base) + 1.45% Medicare = 7.65%
- 260 = weekdays in a typical calendar year (52 × 5)
- 11 = US federal holidays in 2026 if your employer observes them
- PTO = paid time off days you take (10 is typical for entry roles, 15–20+ for tenured roles)
Worked Example — Converting $25/hr to Every Frequency
8-Frequency Conversion Matrix — $50,000 Annual
Use this table as a quick reference. All values assume a 40-hour workweek (8 hours/day, 5 days/week, 52 weeks):
| Annual | Hourly | Daily | Weekly | Biweekly | Semi-monthly | Monthly | Quarterly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $14.42 | $115.38 | $576.92 | $1,153.85 | $1,250.00 | $2,500.00 | $7,500.00 |
| $40,000 | $19.23 | $153.85 | $769.23 | $1,538.46 | $1,666.67 | $3,333.33 | $10,000.00 |
| $52,000 | $25.00 | $200.00 | $1,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $2,166.67 | $4,333.33 | $13,000.00 |
| $65,000 | $31.25 | $250.00 | $1,250.00 | $2,500.00 | $2,708.33 | $5,416.67 | $16,250.00 |
| $80,000 | $38.46 | $307.69 | $1,538.46 | $3,076.92 | $3,333.33 | $6,666.67 | $20,000.00 |
| $100,000 | $48.08 | $384.62 | $1,923.08 | $3,846.15 | $4,166.67 | $8,333.33 | $25,000.00 |
| $150,000 | $72.12 | $576.92 | $2,884.62 | $5,769.23 | $6,250.00 | $12,500.00 | $37,500.00 |
| $200,000 | $96.15 | $769.23 | $3,846.15 | $7,692.31 | $8,333.33 | $16,666.67 | $50,000.00 |
Unadjusted vs Adjusted Working Days
The calculator lets you pick "days per month," but there's a subtler distinction worth understanding:
- Unadjusted calendar days: 52 weeks × 5 weekdays = 260 working days/year (about 21.67 per month). Used when you want to see "raw" pay assuming you never miss a day.
- Adjusted working days: 260 minus 11 US federal holidays (if observed) minus PTO. A typical private-sector worker with 10 PTO days has 260 − 11 − 10 = 239 adjusted working days. This is the number that matters when you're converting a fixed annual salary into a "real" hourly equivalent for planning.
The two yield meaningfully different hourly rates for the same annual salary. For $50,000/year: unadjusted gives $24.04/hr (50,000 / 2,080), while adjusted gives $26.15/hr (50,000 / 1,912 hours if we subtract 21 days × 8 hours). That's an 8.8% spread — significant for comparing a salaried role to an hourly one.
US Federal Holidays — 2026 (11 days)
| Holiday | 2026 Date |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thursday, January 1, 2026 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Monday, January 19, 2026 |
| Presidents' Day (Washington's Birthday) | Monday, February 16, 2026 |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 25, 2026 |
| Juneteenth National Independence Day | Friday, June 19, 2026 |
| Independence Day | Saturday, July 4, 2026 (observed Friday, July 3) |
| Labor Day | Monday, September 7, 2026 |
| Columbus Day | Monday, October 12, 2026 |
| Veterans Day | Wednesday, November 11, 2026 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thursday, November 26, 2026 |
| Christmas Day | Friday, December 25, 2026 |
1099 / Self-Employed Reverse Math
One of the most common salary questions is: "What hourly rate do I need to charge as a 1099 contractor to match my W-2 income?" The naive answer — divide your W-2 by 2,080 — dramatically undercharges. Self-employment has real costs that W-2 employment hides.
A better model: multiply your W-2 annual by 1.3–1.5 and divide by actual billable hours (not calendar hours). Here's why the multiplier exists:
- Self-employment tax: 1099 workers pay both halves of FICA (15.3% on net self-employment income), vs W-2 workers where the employer covers half. Impact: ~7.65% extra.
- Health insurance: A typical employer-sponsored plan costs the employer $8,000–$15,000/year for single coverage that you now have to buy yourself.
- Retirement contributions: 401(k) employer match (typically 3–6% of salary) disappears; you have to self-fund a SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k).
- Paid time off: You don't get paid when you don't work — vacation, sick days, slow weeks, gaps between contracts.
- Business overhead: Software, office space, insurance, accountant, marketing, equipment.
- Non-billable time: Contract negotiation, admin, continuing education, client acquisition — usually 20–30% of your total working hours.
Salary vs Wage — What's the Difference?
- Salary: Fixed annual compensation paid in regular installments (most commonly biweekly or semi-monthly in the US). Typically paid to exempt employees who are NOT eligible for overtime. Doesn't change based on hours worked — you get the same check whether you worked 35 or 55 hours that week.
- Wage: Hourly compensation. Paid to non-exempt employees who ARE eligible for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act — typically 1.5× the regular rate for hours over 40 per week.
The key legal dividing line is whether the worker is classified as exempt or non-exempt under FLSA. Exemption depends on job duties, not just job title: executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside-sales duties tests, plus a minimum salary threshold (set by the Department of Labor). Being called a "salaried" employee doesn't automatically mean you're exempt — misclassification is common and can result in back-pay claims.
The Department of Labor periodically updates the minimum salary threshold for white-collar exemptions. As of 2026, the standard threshold is approximately $58,656/year ($1,128/week) for most white-collar exempt roles. Workers below that threshold must be classified as non-exempt and paid overtime regardless of job duties. Check dol.gov/whd for current thresholds.
Where to Find Authoritative Salary Data
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the primary source for US wage data. Its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS or OES) program publishes median and mean annual/hourly wages for over 800 occupations, broken down by state and metropolitan area. Updated annually. Search at bls.gov/oes.
Secondary sources for private-sector comparables:
- Glassdoor / Levels.fyi: crowdsourced employee-reported salaries (Levels.fyi is the standard for tech compensation including stock).
- Robert Half Salary Guide: annual, strong for accounting, finance, tech, and administrative roles.
- Indeed Salary Tool: aggregates data from job postings.
- PayScale: user-submitted data with detail by experience level.
- MIT Living Wage Calculator: livingwage.mit.edu — the authoritative reference for a "living wage" by location and household composition.
For the most defensible number in a salary negotiation, cite BLS OES for your occupation in your metro area as the anchor, then use secondary sources to show where the top quartile sits.
Salary Rules of Thumb
A full-time US worker puts in 2,080 paid hours per year on the unadjusted calendar. Use it for quick annual ↔ hourly conversions: $50K / 2,080 ≈ $24/hr; $100K / 2,080 ≈ $48/hr; $150K / 2,080 ≈ $72/hr.
A common budgeting heuristic: housing (rent + utilities) should be no more than 30% of gross income. A $50K salary = $15K/year = $1,250/month max housing. Useful for sanity-checking what salary level you need for a specific market.
Two jobs at "$100K base" can be wildly different once you count employer retirement match, health insurance premiums the employer covers, bonus, stock, and PTO. For tech and finance roles, total comp is often 30–70% higher than base.
How to Use This Calculator
- Pick what you know — hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or annual — from the "I know my" dropdown.
- Enter the amount. The other frequencies populate automatically based on your hours per day, days per week, and days per month settings.
- Adjust hours/day and days/week if your schedule isn't the standard 8×5. Four 10-hour days (4×10) is increasingly common in some industries.
- Adjust days per month — default 22 (unadjusted); use ~20 if you want to account for an average month's holidays and PTO.
- Set your tax rate. Default 22% is a reasonable placeholder for a median earner in a no-income-tax state; raise to 28–32% for higher earners in high-tax states (California, New York, New Jersey, Oregon).
- Read the result panel for full gross and net breakdowns across all five frequencies. The donut chart shows gross vs tax split; the bar chart compares hourly rates.
Methodology & Assumptions
- Computes hourly as the base, then derives all other frequencies: daily = hourly × hours/day, weekly = hourly × hours/day × days/week, monthly = hourly × hours/day × days/month, annual = hourly × hours/day × days/week × 52.
- Net (take-home) = gross × (1 − tax rate). Uses a flat effective tax rate — does NOT model progressive federal brackets, state income tax, or FICA wage base caps.
- Default 22% tax rate approximates combined federal (12–22% marginal + standard deduction), state (0–6% for median-income states), and FICA (7.65%) for a median US earner.
- Unadjusted annual uses 260 working days (52 × 5); adjust days/month to 20–21 if you want an approximate holiday/PTO adjustment.
- All math runs in your browser; no data leaves your device.
Glossary
- Gross pay
- Total earnings before any deductions (taxes, retirement contributions, insurance premiums, garnishments).
- Net pay / take-home
- Amount deposited in your bank account after all deductions. Typically 70–80% of gross for median US earners.
- FICA
- Federal Insurance Contributions Act — the 7.65% payroll tax (6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare) split between employee and employer. Self-employed workers pay all 15.3%.
- Exempt vs non-exempt
- Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt workers are eligible for overtime (1.5× rate over 40 hours/week). Exempt workers — typically salaried white-collar — are not.
- FLSA
- Fair Labor Standards Act — federal law governing minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor standards.
- Biweekly vs semi-monthly
- Biweekly = every two weeks = 26 paychecks/year. Semi-monthly = twice per month = 24 paychecks/year. Biweekly and semi-monthly amounts differ slightly for the same annual salary.
- W-2 vs 1099
- W-2 is a standard employee with withholding, benefits, and employer-paid FICA. 1099 is an independent contractor who pays self-employment tax and self-funds benefits.
- Effective tax rate
- Total tax paid divided by total gross income. Lower than your top marginal rate because of the standard deduction and lower brackets.
- Living wage
- The hourly rate needed to cover basic needs in a specific geographic area. Calculated by the MIT Living Wage Calculator; far above the federal minimum.
- Overtime premium
- The 1.5× (or 2× for some contracts) additional pay mandated by the FLSA for non-exempt workers above 40 hours per week.
- PTO
- Paid time off — vacation, personal, and sometimes sick days combined into a single bucket of paid days away from work.
- BLS OEWS
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics — the authoritative annual dataset of US wages by occupation and metro area.
Frequently Asked Questions
Annual = Hourly × Hours/Day × Days/Week × 52. Standard full-time (8×5): hourly × 2,080. At $25/hr, annual gross = $52,000.
8 hours/day, 5 days/week (40 hours/week), ~22 working days/month, 260 working days/year unadjusted. Adjusted year subtracts 11 federal holidays and PTO.
Unadjusted = 260 weekdays (no holidays, no PTO). Adjusted subtracts 11 federal holidays plus PTO. With 10 PTO days, that's 239 working days. A $25/hr unadjusted = $52K; adjusted = $47,800.
11: New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Private employers aren't required by law to observe them.
Net = Gross × (1 − effective tax rate). A 22% default covers federal (12–22% marginal), state (~0–6%), and FICA (7.65%) for a median earner. For precision, use a state-specific paycheck calculator.
Standard conversions (40-hour week): Hourly × 8 = daily. Daily × 5 = weekly. Weekly × 2 = biweekly. Weekly × 52 = annual. Annual / 12 = monthly. Annual / 24 = semi-monthly. Annual / 4 = quarterly.
Multiply W-2 annual by 1.3–1.5 (for self-employment tax, benefits, overhead, unpaid time), then divide by realistic billable hours (1,600–1,800, not 2,080). To match $100K W-2: target $130K–$150K at ~1,700 hours = $76–$88/hr.
Salary = fixed annual pay, typically to FLSA-exempt employees who don't get overtime. Wage = hourly, typically to non-exempt employees eligible for 1.5× overtime above 40 hours/week. The legal line is exempt vs non-exempt, not just job title.
Minimum wage is the legal floor (federal $7.25/hr; many states higher). Living wage is what you actually need to cover housing, food, healthcare, childcare, transport in a specific area. See MIT Living Wage Calculator for the authoritative numbers.
Authoritative: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov/oes) — median hourly/annual by occupation and metro. Secondary: Glassdoor, Levels.fyi (tech), Indeed, Robert Half Salary Guide, PayScale.