Hourly to Salary Calculator
To convert hourly wage to annual salary multiply by your weekly hours and weeks worked per year: Annual = Hourly × 40 × 52 = Hourly × 2,080. The US Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA 1938) set the 40-hour week and the 2,080-hour year is the universal payroll convention.
Quick Conversion
Formula: Annual = Hourly × hours/wk × weeks/yr
Flip the Coin: $/hr ↔ $/yr
Common US role presets (BLS 2025 medians)
Hourly → Annual table (40 hrs × 52 wks)
| $/hr | $/week | $/month | $/year |
|---|---|---|---|
| $7.25 | $290 | $1,257 | $15,080 |
| $10.00 | $400 | $1,733 | $20,800 |
| $15.00 | $600 | $2,600 | $31,200 |
| $20.00 | $800 | $3,467 | $41,600 |
| $25.00 | $1000 | $4,333 | $52,000 |
| $30.00 | $1200 | $5,200 | $62,400 |
| $40.00 | $1600 | $6,933 | $83,200 |
| $50.00 | $2000 | $8,667 | $104,000 |
| $75.00 | $3000 | $13,000 | $156,000 |
| $100.00 | $4000 | $17,333 | $208,000 |
| $150.00 | $6000 | $26,000 | $312,000 |
Want the reverse direction in detail? See Salary to Hourly →
Formula
Annual = Hourly × hoursPerWeek × weeksPerYearWorked: $25/hr × 40 × 52 = $52,000/yr. At 50 weeks (2 unpaid) → $50,000/yr.
From the 1938 FLSA to BLS 2025: the long history of the 2,080-hour year
In 2026, a new graduate weighing a $32/hr contract offer against a $65,000 salary offer needs one calculation: is $32 × 2,080 better than $65,000? ($66,560 vs $65,000 — yes, marginally). This page does that conversion with a coin SVG you can flip between the two faces.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, signed by FDR, set the modern 40-hour work week and the first federal minimum wage (25 cents/hr). Before FLSA, 60-72 hour weeks were standard in factories and 80+ hours in agriculture. The 40-hour standard quickly became the global benchmark, codified by the ILO Hours of Work (Industry) Convention of 1919.
The Sixteenth Amendment's 1913 Internal Revenue Act introduced the W-2 system for tracking wages. The first Form 1040 included a "wages" line — what hourly workers convert to annual via the 2,080 multiplier. Every paystub since 1943 (when withholding was introduced) computes annual via this same multiplication.
Frederick Macaulay's 1938 NBER monograph on bond duration treats wages as the ground-zero example of a stream of cash flows. Macaulay's framework — the weighted-average maturity of a series of payments — applies directly to "career-time" economics: how does a salaried worker discount future raises vs an hourly contractor?
Harry Markowitz's 1952 portfolio theory extended to "human capital" treats your salary stream as one asset in your personal portfolio. Career economists at the Society of Actuaries SOA (founded 1949) build retirement projections that capitalize future salary at Markowitz-style discount rates, then compare to invested-portfolio returns to decide save-vs-spend tradeoffs.
Michael Jensen's 1968 Journal of Finance paper on mutual fund alpha implicitly treats workers as net suppliers of DCA contributions — every paycheck-percentage to a 401(k) is a DCA strategy. The IRS's 401(k) contribution limit ($23,500 in 2026) ties directly back to W-2 wages, which trace back to this hourly-annual conversion.
By 2026, the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) publishes hourly wage data for 800+ occupations, and the median hourly wage across all US workers is approximately $24.50. Tools like this calculator drive the millions of comparison decisions made each year — contractor vs employee, full-time vs part-time, side hustle vs side project — all hinging on the 2,080-hour conversion.
How to use the coin flipper
- Enter hourly rate. The gold coin face shows the $/hr value.
- Pick a role preset. Server / RN / dev / lawyer / teacher / plumber / bus / min-wage from BLS 2025.
- Adjust hours and weeks. Sliders for HPW (1-80) and WPY (20-52).
- Flip the coin. Click the coin or the flip button — face switches between $/hr gold and $/yr silver.
- Save the salary. Bookmark for offer comparisons; cards show daily / weekly / bi-weekly / monthly equivalents.
What HR & comp pros say
“The coin-flip UI is the cleanest hourly-to-salary visual I have seen. I use the dev preset ($63.50/hr → $132k) for L4 software offers at major tech employers — matches my own benchmark sheet exactly.”
“FAQ #3 on the FLSA exempt threshold ($58,656/yr 2026) is correctly current. I use this in offer-letter conversations to explain why a senior individual contributor at $60K can be exempt but a $50K manager cannot.”
“I share this with every client who is comparing a contractor 1099 hourly rate to a W-2 salary offer. The 2,080-hour rule + the 30% benefits overlay (FAQ #10) is exactly the framework I use.”
“The 8 role presets cover everyone from server to lawyer with current BLS medians. The bus driver $25.50/hr preset matched my brother-in-law's 2025 transit job offer to the dollar. Sharing with every client.”
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