Salary Converter

Converting between hourly, daily, monthly and annual pay

Job adverts quote pay in whatever unit flatters it. Converting everything to one basis is the only way to compare, and the conversion is simple as long as you are honest about which hour count you are dividing by.

How it works

• Converts an annual salary to monthly, weekly, daily and hourly equivalents, and back again.
• Uses 2,080 hours as the standard full-time year: 40 hours across 52 weeks.
• Offers the alternative of dividing by actual working weeks, which raises the hourly figure once leave is excluded.

monthly = annual ÷ 12
weekly  = annual ÷ 52
daily   = annual ÷ 260 working days
hourly  = annual ÷ 2,080

reverse: annual = hourly × 2,080

alternative: annual ÷ 1,840 (40h × 46 working weeks)

Worked example

A 90,000 annual salary expressed every other way.

1. monthly = 90,000 ÷ 12 = 7,500
2. weekly = 90,000 ÷ 52 = 1,730.77
3. daily = 90,000 ÷ 260 = 346.15
4. hourly = 90,000 ÷ 2,080 = 43.27
5. excluding leave: 90,000 ÷ 1,840 = 48.91

43.27 an hour on the standard basis, or 48.91 once annual leave is excluded. Both are correct — they answer different questions, and quoting the wrong one in a negotiation costs about 13%.

Reading the result

• The two hourly figures mean different things. Dividing by 2,080 gives what each contracted hour is worth across the year including paid leave; dividing by 1,840 gives what each hour actually at work is worth. Use the first when comparing salaries, the second when comparing against contract rates.
• A month is not four weeks. Annual ÷ 12 and weekly × 4 differ by about 8%, because the average month is 4.33 weeks. Multiplying a weekly figure by four understates monthly pay consistently.
• Contract and freelance rates are not comparable to salaried hourly rates without adjustment — they must cover leave, sickness, pension and gaps between engagements. A contractor at the same nominal hourly rate is materially worse off.
• Advertised salaries are usually gross. Converting gross to gross is fine for comparison, but do not compare a gross annual figure against a net monthly one, which is a surprisingly common mistake.

Common questions

Should I divide by 2,080 or by actual working hours?

2,080 for comparing one salary against another, since both include paid leave on the same basis. Use 1,840 or your real figure when comparing a salary against a contract day rate, because a contractor is not paid for leave and the comparison is otherwise unfair to them.

How do I convert an hourly rate to an annual salary?

Multiply by 2,080 for a full-time equivalent — 25 an hour is 52,000 a year. If the role is part-time, multiply by your actual weekly hours and then by 52 instead.