Hourly to Salary Converter

Comparing an hourly job offer to a salaried one is harder than it should be — you have to factor in expected hours, paid time off, and whether overtime is real or theoretical.

Enter an hourly rate and the calculator returns annual salary at common assumptions (2,080 hours = 40h × 52 weeks, the standard full-time figure). You can adjust for actual hours per week, paid weeks per year, and unpaid time off to get a more realistic comparison. Also works in reverse — enter a salary and get the equivalent hourly rate.

The assumption most worth questioning is the 2,080 number. Salaried roles often expect 45–55 hours but compensate at the same rate; hourly roles cap at 40 with overtime above that. If the salaried role expects 50-hour weeks, the effective hourly rate is 80% of the headline number, which can flip a comparison.

The arithmetic is hourly × hours-per-week × weeks-per-year. The 2,080 figure (40 × 52) is the federal-government convention for full-time employees and the default everywhere else by inertia. Real working hours often diverge: salaried professionals routinely work 45-55 hours, hourly workers may not get a full 40 every week, gig workers have wildly variable schedules. The conversion is exact arithmetic; the inputs are where the answer hides.

The pain this addresses: a recruiter offers you '$85K base' and a different recruiter offers '$45/hour with overtime.' Which is better? At 2,080 hours, $45/hour is $93,600. Looks higher. But the salaried role is exempt — no overtime — and the team typically works 50-hour weeks. Effective hourly: 85,000 / (50 × 52) = $32.69. The hourly job pays $45 for the same time. Comparison flipped. The calculator forces these inputs to the surface so you can compare apples to apples instead of marketing-friendly numbers.

Worked example: $42/hour offer at 40 hours, 50 paid weeks per year (2 weeks unpaid vacation). Annual: 42 × 40 × 50 = $84,000. Add 2 weeks of unused PTO that the salaried alternative gets paid: $84,000 vs $87,360 effective. The salaried role wins by ~$3K just on PTO. Add health insurance the contractor doesn't get and the gap widens. Or doesn't, depending on how much the benefits actually cost the employer.

Where this is uncomfortably honest: the 'effective hourly rate' for high-status jobs. Tech leads earning $250K base often work 50-60 hour weeks during crunches. Effective hourly drops from $120 to $80 once you account for actual hours. Investment banking analysts pulling $100K base on 80-hour weeks make $24/hour effective. The headline salary buys access to industries and trajectories — not actually $250K worth of money per 2,080 hours. People who do the math early in their careers make different choices than people who don't.