Comparing Pay That Is Quoted Differently
One job advertises an hourly rate, another a monthly figure, a third an annual salary. They are not comparable until they are in the same unit, and converting between them involves assumptions about hours and weeks that are worth making explicit rather than guessing at.
This converter moves a figure between hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and annual, so two offers can be put side by side.
How to Convert a Salary
The conversion is arithmetic; the assumptions underneath it are where the accuracy comes from.
- Enter the figure you have, in whichever unit it was quoted.
- Set the hours per week. Full time is commonly 40 in North America, 37.5 in much of the UK service sector, and 35 in France.
- Set the weeks per year. Fifty-two is the default; using 48 instead accounts for four weeks of unpaid leave if that applies to you.
- Read the equivalent in every other unit, which is what makes two differently quoted offers comparable.
- Remember that these are gross figures. Take-home pay depends on tax, social contributions and deductions that vary by country and by circumstance.
The Assumptions That Move the Answer
Hours per week is the input that matters most. The same annual salary spread over 35 hours instead of 40 raises the effective hourly rate by more than fourteen per cent, which is why comparing hourly against annual without checking the hours can favour the wrong offer substantially.
Weeks per year matters for hourly and contract work rather than for salaried employment. A salaried employee is normally paid through their holiday, so 52 weeks is correct. A contractor who takes four unpaid weeks is working 48, and quoting an annual equivalent based on 52 overstates their income by around eight per cent.
Hourly to Annual, at Common Hours
Gross annual equivalent of an hourly rate, before any tax, across three standard working weeks.
| Hourly | 35 h/week | 37.5 h/week | 40 h/week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 27,300 | 29,250 | 31,200 |
| 20 | 36,400 | 39,000 | 41,600 |
| 25 | 45,500 | 48,750 | 52,000 |
| 30 | 54,600 | 58,500 | 62,400 |
| 40 | 72,800 | 78,000 | 83,200 |
| 50 | 91,000 | 97,500 | 104,000 |
Based on 52 paid weeks. A useful shortcut for a 40-hour week: double the hourly rate and add three zeros, which gives 41,600 for 20 an hour against a true 41,600. It happens to be exact.
Gross Is Not the Whole Comparison
Two offers with the same gross figure can differ substantially in what reaches your account. Income tax rates and bands, social security or national insurance, pension contributions and health insurance all vary by country and often by region, and an employer contribution to a pension is real compensation that never appears in the headline number.
The same applies to hours that are worked but not counted. A salaried role with regular unpaid overtime has a lower effective hourly rate than its annual figure suggests, and comparing it against an hourly job on the annual number alone hides that entirely. Working out the effective rate from hours actually worked is the more honest comparison.
Cost of living is the factor that a converter cannot supply and that changes the answer most. A salary that looks generous in one city can be worse in real terms than a smaller figure elsewhere once rent, tax and commuting are accounted for. Converting two offers into the same unit makes them arithmetically comparable; it does not make them equivalent, and the gap between those two things is where most relocation regret lives.