How to Figure Yearly Income from Hourly Rate
Categories: Project ManagementWhen talking with Scott, a student who is doing some database work with me this semester, the topic of hourly pay versus salary pay came up. I mentioned a simple way to estimate yearly income from hourly rate on the fly.
Let’s say you are offered a job for $11/hour. If you assume you work 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year you can simply double the hourly rate and that will be the yearly income in thousands, so $11/hour = $22,000/year.
I figured out this method years ago when I was job hunting in college so I could easily compare hourly and salary positions. Of course you’ll want to figure benefits and possible overtime into the final decision, but this gives you a quick idea.
This method works because 40 hours per week multiplied by 50 weeks makes for 2,000 working hours in a year (assuming two weeks of unpaid vacation). Multiplying by 2,000 is the same as multiplying by 2 then by 1,000 so that’s exactly what we do.
19 Responses to “How to Figure Yearly Income from Hourly Rate”
-
Oraboy Says:
February 20th, 2006 at 12:33 pmthat’s neat!!
-
Zach Says:
February 20th, 2006 at 5:56 pmI figured this out a bunch of years ago too, definitely makes talking in terms of hourly and salary much more interchangeably.
-
Matt Says:
August 19th, 2006 at 3:17 pmI can’t believe something so obvious makes it on the web.
-
Steve Says:
August 30th, 2006 at 1:17 pm…and to take it a step further, to figure what your yearly wage is with paid vacation (which most of the people doing this calculation will be able to count on!), multiply the hourly wage by 2080.
-
Julie Says:
September 8th, 2006 at 11:36 pmTHANK YOU! I’ve begun job hunting after 29 years of working at 1 company. It’s great to find people like you, willing to share info., with the desperate and yet hopeful among us
-
Robin Says:
September 23rd, 2006 at 6:49 pmYes – as Steve mentioned you will find most use the 2080 figure in this calculation. At least that is what was always used in my many years within Human Resources (recruiting, compensation, etc.). So stick with that one and you should be safe.
Note: Julie – congratulations on “stepping out” after 29 years! That is a huge undertaking. If you need help with the interview stage jump over to my company website, http://www.winningformulastudios.com and check out the FiredUp Interviewing audio CD – it will take you through the process step-by-step. Good Luck!! Oh yes, another quick tip for you: If you are building a resume use the top half of the page to list your accomplishments and the bottom half to list your actual employer/experience. Employers will read the top half first and are most interested in “what you can do for them”, so they like to see accomplishments up front.
-
Jackie Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 9:39 pmhi,
i have a question, if i am offered a job with a base pay of $30,000.00 what will be my hourly rate? -
Jackie is stupid Says:
September 5th, 2007 at 10:17 amRe: Jackie,
$15 stupid.
-
Captain Obvious Says:
September 25th, 2007 at 10:07 pmIn other breaking news: 2+2=4!!!!!!!
-
Nversai Says:
January 31st, 2008 at 10:34 amdon’t call anyone “stupid”, so she can’t add….
-
ajbackst Says:
February 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pmyeah, don’t call anyone stupid. wish someone would have told me a long time ago this simple formula — everybody i knew made themselves to be Einstein when calculating wages. Get this. I know someone who applied for a sales position where salary was $37,000.00. she got the interview. when asked about salary, she requested $12.00 per hour. did she get the job? probably not. why. cuz she’s stupid. let see. 12 plus 12 = 24. 18 plus 18 = 36. duhhhhhhhh.
-
Matt Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 pmI’m a little embarrassed that I did not know this! I’m glad I’ve now caught up to the rest of the world.
-
Sandy Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 pmI started a job last week, worked one day before the pay period ended, so received a check for one day.
My base salary is 32,000 – to me my hourly is 15.38 X 8 hours is 123.04 less taxes.
My check was for 108.43 gross. ????? Can someone explain that to me?
I asked the payroll person about it and with an attitude she said she just looked at how many days were in the month.
Did I miss something?
-
Jon Emmons Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pmSandy,
The calculation is just a rule of thumb. In a salary position there are a bunch of other factors that will affect your hourly/daily rate.
As an example, in my position I get paid twice a month, on the 15th and the last day. The paycheck is always the same amount, 1/24th of my annual salary, but if you think about it my daily rate for the 16th to 28th of February ends up being much higher than my daily rate from the 16th to 31st of May. (13 days vs. 16 days, this is actually a variation of over 23 percent!)
Things get even stranger if you look at only work days, so I think you’ll have to expect a certain amount of variation unless you’re willing to spend some serious time crunching the numbers.
Good luck with the new job!
-
Liz Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 10:51 amGreat tip. What about if I work only 37.5 hours a week? Some companies have under 40 hours as a base. Say I earn $22 and hour, what would be my yearly salary working 37.5 a week? Please help. Thanks.
-
Vince Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 11:49 pmIt’s funny how you can call anyone stupid when there is no assurance that yearly salary is based on only 40 hours per week.
Either be helpful or be quiet. -
Jeff Says:
September 17th, 2008 at 1:23 pmjust multiply how many hours you work in a normal week by how many works you will work in a year (usually 50 or 52 if you get paid vacations) So in your case Liz it would be 37.5 x 22.00 x 50 = 41,250.
-
Jeff Says:
September 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pmin that last post (works = weeks)….sorry
-
Jeff Says:
September 17th, 2008 at 1:25 pmand truth be told, i cant believe people are having such a hard time figuring this relatively simple mathematical problem out. Its just multiplication people!
