Finance Salary calculator
Convert pay between hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and annual, accounting for hours worked and unpaid leave.
Contractors and hourly staff often have several.
Annual
$62,400.00
Based on 2,080 paid hours a year.
Hourly equivalent
$30.00
- Paid weeks
- 52
- Hours a year
- 2,080
- Days a year
- 260
Biweekly is not twice-monthly. Twenty-six fortnightly payments a year is not the same as twenty-four semi-monthly ones, so the per-cheque amounts differ by about 8%. Two months each year contain three fortnightly paydays, which is why budgets built on a monthly figure drift.
These are gross figures before tax, pension contributions and benefits. When comparing a contract rate against a salaried one, remember the contractor is also covering unpaid leave, their own pension, equipment and the gaps between engagements, so a like-for-like comparison usually needs the contract rate to be substantially higher.
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Reembun. (2026, July 28). Salary calculator. https://reembun.com/salary-calculator
How to use it
Enter the pay
Amount, then use Paid to say whether that figure is hourly, weekly, monthly or annual.
Describe the working pattern
Hours per week, days per week, weeks per year, and any unpaid weeks off.
Read every equivalent
The same pay appears hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and annually, so two offers quoted differently become comparable.
Watch the hourly figure
The hourly equivalent is where unpaid overtime and unpaid leave show up. It is the number that says what the job really pays.
The conversion
Everything routes through an annual figure, so every output derives from one number rather than a chain of conversions:
hours per year = hours per week × (weeks per year − unpaid weeks)
annual = hourly rate × hours per yearAnd back the other way:
hourly = annual ÷ hours per yearA worked example
$30 an hour, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks, no unpaid leave:
| Period | Amount |
|---|---|
| Per hour | $30.00 |
| Per day | $240.00 |
| Per week | $1,200.00 |
| Every two weeks | $2,400.00 |
| Twice a month | $2,600.00 |
| Per month | $5,200.00 |
| Per year | $62,400.00 |
Note the two middle rows. Biweekly pay is $2,400 across 26 periods; semi-monthly is $2,600 across 24. Same annual total, different cheques.
Biweekly versus semi-monthly
This catches out almost everyone who budgets monthly.
Biweekly means every two weeks, or 26 payments a year. Because 26 fortnights is 364 days, two months in each year contain three paydays.
Semi-monthly means twice a month, usually the 15th and the last day, giving 24 payments a year, always two per month.
If you budget as though a biweekly salary is monthly pay divided by two, you will be short ten months a year and flush twice. The correct monthly figure is annual ÷ 12, not biweekly × 2.
Unpaid leave changes the hourly rate
A salaried employee on $62,400 with four weeks of paid leave earns $30 an hour across 2,080 paid hours.
A contractor billing $62,400 while taking four unpaid weeks off works only 1,920 hours, an effective rate of $32.50. And that is before accounting for the pension, insurance and equipment the employer was providing.
| Situation | Paid hours a year | Effective hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Salaried, paid leave | 2,080 | $30.00 |
| 4 weeks unpaid | 1,920 | $32.50 |
| 8 weeks unpaid | 1,760 | $35.45 |
| 30 hours a week | 1,560 | $40.00 |
Comparing a contract rate to a salary
The rough industry heuristic is that a contract rate needs to be 1.5 to 2 times the equivalent employee hourly rate to be comparable. The components:
- Unpaid holiday and sick leave
- Employer pension contributions
- Health and other insurance
- Equipment, software and workspace
- Accounting and administration
- Gaps between engagements
- No notice period or redundancy protection
Whether the multiplier lands at 1.5 or 2.5 depends on the market, the length of engagements and how much of the above your jurisdiction already provides. What is certain is that comparing $60/hour contract against $60/hour employee is comparing two very different propositions.
Common questions
What is the quick way to convert hourly to annual?
Double the hourly rate and add three zeros, so $30 an hour is roughly $60,000 a year. That shortcut assumes 40 hours a week for 50 weeks, which is 2,000 hours. It is close enough for a first pass and wrong for anyone working different hours or taking unpaid leave.
Is biweekly the same as twice a month?
No, and the difference matters. Biweekly means 26 pay periods a year; semi-monthly means 24. The per-cheque amounts differ by about 8%, and two months each year contain three biweekly paydays, which is why budgets built on a monthly figure drift.
How much more should a contractor charge?
Commonly 1.5 to 2 times the equivalent employee hourly rate, though it depends heavily on the market. The contractor covers unpaid leave, their own pension, health cover, equipment, accounting and the gaps between engagements. Comparing headline rates without adjusting for those is not a like-for-like comparison.
Are these figures before or after tax?
Before. This converts between pay periods only. It does not model income tax, social contributions, pension or benefits, all of which vary by country and by individual circumstances.
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