How to Convert Annual Salary to Any Pay Period
A guide to converting annual salary to monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, and hourly amounts using a single master formula.
The Master Formula You Need
Every salary conversion uses the same simple formula: divide the annual salary by the number of pay periods in a year. The only variable that changes is the number of pay periods, which depends on how often you are paid.
Common pay frequencies: monthly equals 12 pay periods per year. Semi-monthly (twice per month, often the 1st and 15th) equals 24 pay periods. Bi-weekly (every two weeks) equals 26 pay periods. Weekly equals 52 pay periods. Hourly is calculated differently — divide by total annual hours, which is typically 2,080 for a standard 40-hour-per-week full-time role.
Once you know your pay frequency, a single division gives you any paycheck amount you need. There is no need to memorize separate formulas for each pay period — just know how many pay periods apply to your situation.
Annual to Monthly Pay
To convert an annual salary to monthly pay, divide by 12. A $72,000 annual salary produces $6,000 per month. This is the gross monthly amount before any deductions.
Monthly pay is useful for budgeting because most fixed expenses like rent, car payments, and insurance are billed monthly. Knowing your gross monthly pay and working backwards to estimate your net monthly pay gives you a clear budget baseline.
Be aware that semi-monthly pay (24 periods per year) and monthly pay (12 periods) are different. Semi-monthly pay is $72,000 divided by 24, which equals $3,000 per paycheck — half the monthly amount. Two semi-monthly paychecks equal your monthly gross, but each individual check is half your monthly amount.
Annual to Bi-Weekly Pay
To convert an annual salary to bi-weekly pay, divide by 26. A $65,000 annual salary produces $65,000 divided by 26, which equals $2,500 per bi-weekly paycheck.
Bi-weekly pay is the most common pay frequency in the United States. One subtle feature of bi-weekly schedules is that employees receive three paychecks in two months of the year, because 26 pay periods over 12 months means some months have three pay days instead of the usual two.
When budgeting on a bi-weekly pay schedule, it helps to budget based on two paychecks per month as your baseline, and treat the two months with three paychecks as opportunities for extra savings or large one-time expenses.
Annual to Weekly Pay
To convert an annual salary to weekly pay, divide by 52. A $52,000 annual salary produces exactly $1,000 per week. This is easy to remember — $52,000 annually equals $1,000 weekly, which is why $52,000 is a commonly used benchmark.
Weekly pay is more common in hourly jobs and some industries like construction and manufacturing. Salaried employees on weekly pay schedules receive smaller individual checks than bi-weekly employees with the same annual salary but receive them twice as often.
Weekly pay can make budgeting easier for people who prefer to think in weekly terms, particularly if their expenses are structured weekly rather than monthly. The trade-off is more frequent payroll processing, which is why many employers prefer bi-weekly or semi-monthly schedules.
Annual to Hourly Rate
To convert annual salary to an hourly rate, divide by the number of hours worked in a year. For a standard 40-hour-per-week full-time job, that is 2,080 hours annually. A $62,400 annual salary divided by 2,080 equals $30 per hour.
A useful shortcut: divide your annual salary by 2,000 for a quick estimate (which is close enough for most purposes and easy mental math). A $60,000 salary divided by 2,000 is $30 per hour. The small difference between 2,000 and 2,080 hours produces about a 4% underestimate, which is close enough for quick comparisons.
This conversion is particularly valuable when evaluating whether to take a salaried job versus a contract or freelance role. A $90,000 salaried job with benefits versus a $55 per hour contract role: the salaried position is $43.27 per hour (90,000 divided by 2,080), so the $55 contract rate is significantly higher on an hourly basis, though you need to account for benefits, taxes as self-employed, and other factors.