The 2,080-hour formula
A full-time year is 52 weeks times 40 hours, which is 2,080 working hours. The salary-to-hourly conversion is one division:
Hourly rate = annual salary / 2,080
A $70,000 salary divided by 2,080 is $33.65 an hour. This is the number behind most official salary math too, including the federal salary-basis threshold for overtime-exempt employees ($35,568 a year, or $684 a week, the figure in effect for 2026).
Running the formula the other way converts hourly offers to annual: $25 an hour times 2,080 is $52,000 a year. When a job ad says "up to $25 an hour," this is the annual figure to compare against salaried offers.
Salary to hourly conversion table
At the standard 40 hour week:
$35,000 a year = $16.83 an hour. $40,000 = $19.23. $45,000 = $21.63. $50,000 = $24.04. $55,000 = $26.44. $60,000 = $28.85. $65,000 = $31.25. $70,000 = $33.65. $75,000 = $36.06. $80,000 = $38.46. $90,000 = $43.27. $100,000 = $48.08.
Use the nearest row when comparing two offers, then run the exact division for the finalists. A $5,000 salary difference sounds modest; at $2.40 an hour, it is worth about $5,000 a year, which is exactly what it says, but seeing it as an hourly gap makes the tradeoffs against longer hours concrete.
Your true hourly rate at long weeks
The 2,080 figure assumes a 40 hour week. If you actually work more, your true hourly rate is lower. The fix: divide the salary by your real annual hours.
A $70,000 salary worked at 50 hours a week: 50 times 52 = 2,600 hours a year. $70,000 divided by 2,600 = $26.92 an hour. That is $6.73 an hour less than the headline $33.65. At 60 hours a week, the same salary is $70,000 divided by 3,120 = $22.44 an hour.
A $60,000 salary at 45 hours a week: 45 times 52 = 2,340 hours. $60,000 divided by 2,340 = $25.64 an hour, versus $28.85 at 40 hours. When a salaried offer comes with "occasional" 50 hour weeks, this calculation tells you what "occasional" costs.
Monthly salary to hourly
Some offers quote monthly pay. An average month has 173.33 working hours (2,080 divided by 12). Divide monthly pay by 173.33:
Hourly rate = monthly salary / 173.33
A $5,000 monthly salary divided by 173.33 is $28.85 an hour, matching the $60,000 annual figure ($5,000 times 12 = $60,000; $60,000 divided by 2,080 = $28.85). The two routes agree, as they must.
Do not divide by 160 (4 weeks times 40 hours). A month is not 4 weeks; it is 4.33 weeks. Dividing by 160 overstates the hourly rate by about 8 percent, which is how a $26.50 offer gets misread as $28.85.
Biweekly paycheck math
Most salaried workers are paid biweekly: 26 paychecks a year. Each paycheck is the annual salary divided by 26. A $60,000 salary pays $2,307.69 per paycheck before taxes and deductions.
Two months a year have three paychecks instead of two. Those "bonus" paychecks are not bonuses at all: they are the 26-paycheck schedule catching up with the calendar. Budget on 2 paychecks a month and treat the third-paycheck months as savings months, not spending months.
Semimonthly pay (twice a month, 24 paychecks) works differently: $60,000 divided by 24 is $2,500 per check. The annual total is identical; only the check size and timing differ.
Comparing a salary offer to an hourly offer
Convert both to the same unit and the same week length. Offer A: $65,000 salary, expected 45 hour weeks. Offer B: $30 an hour, 40 hour weeks with overtime available.
Offer A's true rate: 45 times 52 = 2,340 hours; $65,000 divided by 2,340 = $27.78 an hour. Offer B: $30 times 2,080 = $62,400 a year at 40 hours, and any overtime pays $45 an hour. On paper Offer A pays more. Per hour actually worked, Offer B wins, and overtime makes the gap wider.
Also factor benefits into the comparison. Health insurance, retirement matching, and paid time off have dollar values that do not appear in the hourly rate. A $3,000 employer 401(k) match on a $60,000 salary is worth $1.44 an hour. Add it before deciding.
Salary, overtime, and the exempt line
Converting a salary to an hourly rate does not make a salaried worker eligible for overtime. Overtime eligibility depends on exempt status, which turns on salary basis, salary level ($35,568 a year for 2026), and job duties. Nonexempt salaried workers do earn overtime, computed from their regular hourly rate: the salary-to-hourly division is exactly how their overtime rate is derived.
If you are nonexempt and salaried at $50,000, your regular rate is $24.04 an hour and your overtime rate is $36.06. A 45 hour week pays $961.54 of regular pay plus $180.29 of overtime, for $1,141.83. The time card calculator runs this for any rate and any week in seconds.