Comparing an hourly job to a salaried one, or sizing up a raise, often requires turning a wage into an annual figure. The math is simple once you decide how many hours you actually work and get paid for in a year. The subtle part is accounting for unpaid time off, which quietly lowers the true annual total.
The standard 2,080-hour formula
The common convention assumes full-time work of 40 hours per week across all 52 weeks, which equals 2,080 hours per year. To convert, multiply your hourly wage by 2,080; a $25 wage becomes $52,000. This is the figure most employers and calculators use as a baseline. It represents gross pay before taxes and assumes you are paid for every one of those hours.
Adjusting for unpaid time off
The 2,080 assumption only holds if all your time off is paid. If you take two weeks of unpaid vacation, you actually get paid for about 2,000 hours, not 2,080. At $25 per hour that lowers your real annual pay to $50,000 rather than $52,000. Hourly workers without paid leave should subtract unpaid holidays, vacation, and sick days to get an honest number.
Going the other direction
To convert a salary back to an hourly rate, divide by the number of hours you work in a year. A $60,000 salary across 2,080 hours is about $28.85 per hour. But if the salaried role realistically demands 50 hours a week, the effective rate falls to roughly $23 per hour. This reverse math is the honest way to compare a demanding salaried job against an hourly one.
Common shortcuts and their limits
A quick mental estimate is to double your hourly wage and add three zeros, so $25 becomes about $50,000, which works because 2,080 is close to 2,000. This shortcut is handy but slightly understates the full-time figure. For part-time work, replace 2,080 with your actual weekly hours times the weeks you work. Always be clear about whether you are describing gross pay or take-home pay, since taxes are not part of this conversion.
Jordan earns $30 per hour full time, so the baseline annual figure is $30 times 2,080, or $62,400. But Jordan takes one unpaid week off each year, dropping paid hours to about 2,040 and real pay to roughly $61,200. When comparing to a salaried offer, Jordan uses the $61,200 figure.
Key takeaways
- Full-time hourly to annual: multiply the wage by 2,080 hours.
- Unpaid time off reduces paid hours below 2,080 and lowers real annual pay.
- To reverse it, divide the salary by the hours you actually work.
- The double-and-add-three-zeros trick estimates the annual figure but understates it slightly.
Common mistakes
- Using 2,080 hours when you routinely take unpaid time off and are not paid for it.
- Comparing a salary to a wage without adjusting for the longer hours a salaried role may require.
- Mixing up gross and net pay when converting, since the formula only produces gross figures.
FAQ
Why is 2,080 the standard number of work hours?
It comes from 40 hours per week multiplied by 52 weeks, the assumption for a full-time schedule with paid time off included.
How do I convert for part-time work?
Multiply your hourly wage by the number of hours you work each week, then by the number of weeks you work in the year.