Salary to Hourly Calculator
Convert any pay figure into every other — and see what your time is really worth once actual hours are counted.
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type here is uploaded, stored or logged.
The 2,080-hour convention
A standard full-time year is 40 hours × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours. Almost every salary-to-hourly comparison uses it, which makes it the right basis for comparing two job offers.
The useful shortcut that follows: halve the thousands. A £50,000 salary is about £25 an hour; £70,000 is about £35. It's accurate to within a few percent for a 40-hour week, and it's the fastest way to sanity-check a rate you've been quoted.
What your time is actually worth
The headline rate assumes you work your contracted hours. Many people don't.
A £60,000 salary is £28.85 an hour at 40 hours a week. Work 50 hours and it's £23.08 — you've taken a 20% pay cut without anyone mentioning it. Work 55 and it's £20.98.
This is the single most useful reason to run the calculation. Set the hours field to what you genuinely work, not what your contract says, and compare the two numbers. It reframes "the new job pays £5k more" into something you can actually evaluate.
Salary versus contract rate
A day rate is not comparable to a salary divided by working days. The contractor pays for everything an employer would otherwise provide:
- Paid holiday — typically 5–6 weeks including public holidays, which is around 11% of the year.
- Sick pay — usually none.
- Pension contributions — the employer's share disappears.
- Gaps between contracts — even well-utilised contractors lose several weeks a year.
- Equipment, insurance, accounting — all now yours.
- No notice period or redundancy protection.
A rough rule of thumb is that a contract rate needs to be 25–30% above the salaried equivalent before the two are comparable — more in markets with expensive healthcare or thin demand.
Reading a raise honestly
A percentage raise is easy to celebrate and easy to misread. Three things worth checking:
Inflation. A 3% raise in a year of 5% inflation is a 2% pay cut in real terms. The number that matters is the one after inflation.
Compounding. Raises compound. The gap between someone taking 3% a year and someone taking 5% is 22% after ten years — which is why the base you negotiate early matters more than any single raise.
Total package. Pension contribution percentage, bonus structure, holiday allowance and healthcare can be worth more than several percent of salary. Compare packages, not headline numbers.
All figures here are gross, before tax and deductions. Take-home pay depends on your country, region and circumstances — use your national tax authority's calculator for that.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert an annual salary to an hourly rate?
Divide by the hours you actually work in a year. At 40 hours a week over 52 weeks that is 2,080 hours, so £52,000 becomes £25.00 an hour. The quick trick for a 40-hour week: halve the thousands. £52k → roughly £26 an hour, close enough for a mental estimate.
Should I divide by 2,080 or by my actual working hours?
Both are shown, because they answer different questions. 2,080 is the convention for comparing offers. Dividing by hours actually worked tells you what your time is really being paid — and if you routinely work 50-hour weeks, that figure is 20% lower than the headline suggests.
Does paid holiday change my hourly rate?
For a salaried employee, no — you are paid the same annual amount either way, so more holiday means a higher effective hourly rate for the hours you do work. For contractors and hourly staff it matters enormously, since unpaid leave is lost income. Use the unpaid-weeks field to model it.
Is this gross or net pay?
Gross — before income tax, national insurance or social security, pension contributions and any other deductions. Net pay depends on your country, region, allowances and circumstances, and any single figure here would be wrong for most visitors. Use your national tax authority's calculator for take-home.
How should I compare a contract rate to a salary?
A contract day rate has to cover what an employer would otherwise provide: paid holiday, sick pay, pension contributions, equipment and gaps between contracts. A common rule of thumb is that a contractor needs roughly 25–30% more gross to match a salaried package, though it varies by market.