Salary Calculator
Convert between annual, monthly, weekly, and hourly pay rates — instantly.
Health insurance, retirement contributions, etc.
What is Salary Calculator?
Salary calculations are surprisingly complex once you move beyond the headline annual number. A $60,000 annual salary works out to $5,000/month, $1,154/week, $230/day, and $28.85/hour — but these gross figures are before tax, national insurance (or Social Security/Medicare), pension contributions, and other deductions that significantly reduce take-home pay. Understanding these conversions is essential for job offer comparisons (comparing an hourly contract to a salaried role), budgeting (what you actually receive each month), negotiation (know your minimum acceptable hourly rate), and hiring decisions (converting a salary budget into an hourly contractor rate). This calculator handles all salary-to-rate conversions instantly, with optional tax deduction estimates based on standard tax brackets, so you can work with accurate net figures rather than misleading gross numbers.
How to Use Salary Calculator
- 1
Enter Your Salary
Input any pay figure — annual salary, monthly pay, weekly pay, or hourly rate. Select which format you are entering and the tool calculates all other formats automatically.
- 2
Set Work Hours
Specify weekly hours (defaults to 40) and paid vacation days per year. These affect the hourly rate calculation — someone working 37.5 hours/week has a different hourly rate than someone working 45 hours/week on the same annual salary.
- 3
View All Rates
See your salary expressed as annual, monthly, fortnightly, weekly, daily, and hourly figures — both gross and estimated net after standard deductions.
Use Cases
Evaluating Job Offers
When comparing two job offers — one with a higher salary but fewer vacation days, one with more benefits but less base pay — convert everything to the same unit (hourly or weekly) to make a fair comparison. A $65,000 salary with 10 days holiday is lower effective hourly pay than a $60,000 salary with 25 days holiday.
Setting Freelance Rates
Employees significantly underestimate what they need to earn as freelancers to match their employment income. Divide your target annual income by 1,000 billable hours (not 2,080 working hours — freelancers spend significant time on non-billable admin, sales, and business development). A $60,000 salaried employee typically needs to charge $75–$100/hour as a freelancer to achieve equivalent annual income after accounting for taxes, benefits, and non-billable time.
Payroll and Budgeting
Business owners and HR managers use this tool to convert between salary and hourly figures when hiring, budgeting headcount costs, or calculating the true cost of an employee (including employer-side taxes and benefits contributions that typically add 20–30% on top of gross salary).
Features
All Pay Period Conversions
Instantly converts between annual, monthly, fortnightly, weekly, daily, and hourly rates — accounting for actual working hours and paid days off.
Gross vs Net Estimate
Estimates take-home pay after standard income tax and national insurance/payroll tax deductions based on your country selection, giving you a realistic net figure for budgeting.
Overtime Rate Calculator
Calculates 1.5× and 2× overtime rates based on your base hourly rate — useful for understanding the true cost of overtime when building a work schedule.
Contract vs Salary Comparison
Compare a permanent salaried role against a day-rate or hourly contract, factoring in the absence of employee benefits (pension, holiday pay, sick pay) that contractors must self-fund.
Frequently Asked Questions
Standard formula: Annual Salary ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 40 hours = Hourly Rate. Example: $52,000 ÷ 52 ÷ 40 = $25/hour. However, this assumes a standard 40-hour week with no paid time off. If your role has 25 days paid vacation, you work approximately 47 weeks: $52,000 ÷ 47 ÷ 40 = $27.66/hour actual effective rate. For a more accurate comparison against contractor rates (who receive no paid time off), use the no-holiday formula.
Take-home pay as a percentage of gross salary varies significantly by income level and country. In the UK at £30,000: roughly 75–78% take-home after income tax (20%) and National Insurance (12%). At £50,000: roughly 67–70% take-home (40% tax on earnings above £12,570). In the US at $50,000: approximately 72–78% after federal income tax (22% bracket) and FICA (7.65%). State income tax (0–13%) further reduces take-home. Always calculate your actual net pay rather than using generic percentages, as individual deductions vary.
Gross salary is your headline pay before any deductions — the number quoted in job adverts and contracts. Net salary (take-home pay) is what actually arrives in your bank account after income tax, social security contributions (National Insurance, FICA), and any voluntary deductions (pension contributions, health insurance premiums, student loan repayments). The difference between gross and net varies widely — from around 10–15% for low earners to 40–50%+ for high earners in progressive tax systems. Always budget with net figures, not gross.
To compare a £300/day contractor rate to a £50,000 salaried role: Contractor: £300 × 220 billable days = £66,000 gross. But subtract 20% for non-billable time, pension, holiday cover, sick pay, and accounting fees = effective ~£52,800. Salary: £50,000 plus employer pension (3%), 25 days paid holiday, sick pay = total employer cost ~£54,000, or total benefit to employee ~£58,000 including non-cash benefits. The apparent day-rate advantage narrows significantly once you account for the full employment package.
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