Hourly to Annual Salary: What $15, $20, $25 an Hour Pays

You see a job ad that says "$22 an hour". Another says "$48,000 a year". Which one pays more? To compare them you need both numbers in the same unit, and the conversion takes about ten seconds once you know the trick.

The quick answer

• Hourly to yearly: multiply your hourly rate by 2,080. That is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks.
• Yearly to hourly: divide your salary by 2,080.
• So $20 an hour is $41,600 a year, and $60,000 a year is about $28.85 an hour.
• These are before tax. Your take-home pay will be lower.

You can skip the math with our hourly to salary calculator. It also handles part-time weeks, unpaid time off and overtime.

Where 2,080 comes from

A normal full-time work year has 52 weeks, and a normal full-time week has 40 hours. 52 x 40 = 2,080 hours. If you are paid $1 an hour, you would earn $2,080 in a year. So every dollar of hourly pay is worth $2,080 a year, and that is why the shortcut works. Some employers use a slightly different number. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, for example, divides a federal employee's annual pay by 2,087 hours to get the hourly rate, which allows for the extra days in a calendar year. For most comparisons, 2,080 is the number to use.

Hourly wage to salary: common rates

Look at the pattern: every $1 more an hour adds $2,080 a year, about $173 a month. A $2 raise is worth more than $4,000 a year.

Salary to hourly: common salaries

What if you do not work exactly 40 hours?

The 2,080 rule only fits a full-time schedule. For anything else, multiply: rate x hours per week x weeks per year.

• 35 hours a week: $25 an hour pays $25 x 35 x 52 = $45,500.
• 30 hours a week: $25 an hour pays $39,000.
• Two weeks unpaid: $25 x 40 x 50 = $50,000, not $52,000.

That last one is the one people forget. Paid holidays and paid vacation count as paid weeks, but unpaid time off does not. If you are a seasonal or contract worker, count only the weeks you really expect to be paid.

Part-time pay at a glance

For context, the U.S. Department of Labor lists the federal minimum wage as $7.25 an hour, which is $15,080 a year for a full-time schedule. Many states and cities set a higher minimum, so the lowest legal hourly pay depends on where you work.

Worked example: two job offers

Offer A pays $22 an hour for 40 hours a week: $22 x 2,080 = $45,760 a year. Offer B pays a salary of $48,000, but the team usually works about 45 hours a week. That is 45 x 52 = 2,340 hours, so the real hourly pay is $48,000 / 2,340 = about $20.51. Offer A pays more per hour, while Offer B may come with better benefits or more job security. Put both in the same units before you decide.

What about overtime?

Under federal law, most hourly workers must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a week. Some workers are exempt, such as many salaried managers and professionals, so ask your employer which rule applies to you. Some states add their own overtime rules.

Here is an example. At $25 an hour, 5 hours of overtime a week at $37.50 adds $187.50 a week. Over 52 weeks, that is $9,750, which brings the year to $61,750 instead of $52,000. This is why two jobs with the same hourly rate can pay very differently over a year.

Gross pay vs take-home pay

All the numbers above are gross, the amount before taxes. After federal tax, Social Security and Medicare (and state tax where there is one), what you keep is less. Here is what a single filer without other deductions takes home at three hourly rates, in a state with no income tax and in two states with one:

In this table, take-home pay is between 79% and 87% of gross pay. The figures use the 2026 federal tables, the standard deduction and the same engine as our paycheck calculator, with no 401(k) or other deductions. Use the paycheck calculator or the paycheck calculator for your state to see your own number. The guide on how to read your paycheck explains each line.

How to compare an hourly job with a salaried job

1. Convert both to a yearly number using the hours you will really work.
2. Add the benefits. Health insurance, a retirement match and paid time off can be worth thousands of dollars a year.
3. Check the hours. A salaried role that regularly runs 50 hours a week pays less per hour than the number suggests.
4. Compare after tax. Use the paycheck calculator for both.
5. Think about stability. Hourly pay can change with the hours your employer gives you.

Frequently asked questions

How much is $20 an hour per year?

About $41,600 a year before tax, based on 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. That is about $3,467 a month and $800 a week.

How much is $15 an hour per year?

About $31,200 a year before tax, or $2,600 a month, for a full-time schedule.

How much is $25 an hour per year?

About $52,000 a year before tax, or about $4,333 a month. After tax a single filer in Texas takes home about $43,962 a year.

How many working hours are in a year?

A full-time year is 2,080 hours (40 hours x 52 weeks). If you take 10 paid holidays and two weeks of paid vacation, you are at work about 1,920 hours (2,080 minus 80 minus 80), but you are still paid for 2,080.

How do I convert salary to an hourly rate?

Divide the yearly salary by 2,080. If you work more than 40 hours a week, divide by your real hours to find what you are earning per hour.

Is $50,000 a year a good salary?

It depends on where you live and your costs. $50,000 is about $24 an hour. In a state with no income tax, a single filer takes home about $42,000 a year, or $3,500 a month, before any other deductions.

What is a good hourly wage?

There is no single answer, because rent, food and taxes differ by place and household. A useful test is to convert the wage to a monthly take-home amount, then compare it with your rent, bills and savings goals. If the numbers fit your budget with a little left over, the wage works for you.

The bottom line

Hourly pay times 2,080 gives a full-time yearly salary, and salary divided by 2,080 gives hourly pay. Adjust for the hours and weeks you really work, add overtime if it applies, and compare jobs after tax and benefits. For more on how pay is protected and how overtime works, see the U.S. Department of Labor's overtime pay guide.

Sources

• Overtime pay, U.S. Department of Labor
• Minimum wage, U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
• Computing hourly rates of pay using the 2,087-hour divisor, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
• Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments: brackets, standard deduction, credits), Internal Revenue Service
• Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates, Internal Revenue Service
• State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2026, Tax Foundation

All conversions are calculated by script from the formulas shown. The take-home table comes from the paycheck calculator on this site and is an estimate. Last reviewed October 13, 2026.