How to convert an hourly wage to an annual salary
- Multiply your hourly rate by the hours you work per week: 25 × 40 = 1,000 a week.
- Multiply the weekly pay by the paid weeks per year: 1,000 × 52 = 52,000 a year.
- Divide the annual pay by 12 for the monthly figure: 52,000 ÷ 12 = 4,333.33 a month.
At 40 hours a week and 52 weeks, a year has 2,080 paid hours, so annual salary = hourly rate × 2,080. A quick mental shortcut is to double the hourly rate and add three zeros (25 → about 50,000), which slightly underestimates because 2,080 is a little more than 2,000.
Hourly to salary table (40 hours a week)
| Hourly rate | Weekly | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 600 | 2,600 | 31,200 |
| 20 | 800 | 3,466.67 | 41,600 |
| 25 | 1,000 | 4,333.33 | 52,000 |
| 30 | 1,200 | 5,200 | 62,400 |
| 40 | 1,600 | 6,933.33 | 83,200 |
| 50 | 2,000 | 8,666.67 | 104,000 |
Works in any currency. At 37.5 hours a week (1,950 hours a year), multiply the hourly rate by 1,950 instead: 25 an hour is 48,750 a year.
How to convert a salary to an hourly rate
Divide the annual salary by the number of hours you work in a year. 62,400 a year at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks is 62,400 ÷ 2,080 = 30 an hour. From a monthly salary, multiply by 12 first: 5,000 a month is 60,000 a year, or 28.85 an hour at 2,080 hours.
Employers do not all use the same divisor. The US federal government (OPM) has divided annual pay by 2,087 hours since the mid-1980s, because a calendar year averages slightly more paid workdays than 52 weeks of 40 hours. Using 2,087 instead of 2,080, a 52,000 salary works out at 24.92 rather than 25.00 an hour. Many Norwegian employers use 1,950 hours (37.5 × 52).
Example: the UK National Living Wage
From 1 April 2026 the UK National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour. On a 37.5-hour week for 52 weeks that is 12.71 × 1,950 = £24,784.50 a year, or £2,065.38 a month. On a 40-hour week it is 12.71 × 2,080 = £26,436.80 a year.
What the yearly figure leaves out
- Tax and other deductions: every figure is gross pay.
- Unpaid time off: if you are not paid for holidays, lower the paid weeks. Two unpaid weeks at 25 an hour and 40 hours a week takes 52,000 down to 25 × 40 × 50 = 50,000.
- Overtime, shift premiums, tips and bonuses, which come on top of the base rate.
- Months are not four weeks: a month is 52 ÷ 12 ≈ 4.33 weeks, so monthly pay is annual pay ÷ 12, not weekly pay × 4.