A higher salary can buy more of your week. Before comparing two offers, put the pay, expected working hours, and paid time off on the same page. Then keep benefits, travel, and the questions you still need answered beside the arithmetic.
The free Salary to Hourly Converter helps compare gross salary against modeled hours. It is useful when the advertised week differs from the week you expect to work. The result is an effective comparison figure, not a payroll rate or a conclusion about what an employer may legally pay.
Ask what the working week includes
Write the contracted hours first. Then ask about expected meetings, opening or closing duties, weekend coverage, on-call arrangements, and other work that might extend the week. Do not assume a salary automatically settles whether extra hours must be paid.
The U.S. Department of Labor's exemption guidance explains that job titles alone do not determine exempt status and that applicable duties and pay requirements matter. Use current official guidance or qualified advice for a rights question. The tool's Unpaid extra hours a week field is a scenario input, not an endorsement of unpaid work.
For the practical comparison, mark expected hours as confirmed or estimated. A manager's description of a typical week may need follow-up about busy seasons. If the schedule changes substantially through the year, keep separate seasonal calculations instead of hiding that variation in one confident-looking number.
Compare a fictional pair of offers
Offer A pays $60,000 annually for 40 contracted hours a week, with five additional hours in the scenario. It includes 20 paid days off. Enter those figures in the main fields.
The calculator assumes five days per week when converting paid days off. Twenty days therefore equal four weeks, leaving 48 worked weeks. Contracted annual working hours are 40 times 48, or 1,920. Divide $60,000 by 1,920 and the On paper figure is $31.25.
Adding five weekly hours gives 45 times 48, or 2,160 modeled working hours. The effective figure is $60,000 divided by 2,160, which rounds to $27.78. The added time totals 240 hours a year under this scenario.
Offer B pays $66,000 for 50 total hours per week. With the same 20 paid days off, it contains 2,400 working hours, and $66,000 divided by 2,400 equals $27.50. Offer B has the higher annual salary, while Offer A has the slightly higher gross amount per modeled working hour.
See the hourly comparison behind the salaries
This is gross salary divided by modeled working hours. It is not a payroll calculation or a determination of overtime rights.
What to convert
Holiday plus public holidays.
The conversion
A $58,000 salary across 40 contracted hours a week is $29.59 an hour. Once the 5 unpaid extra hours a week are counted, it is $26.30 an hour, a difference of $3.29. The other offer at $66,000 for 50 hours works out at $26.94 an hour, so the other offer pays more per hour despite the longer week.
Both figures include the hours actually worked.
The other offer is $0.63 an hour better even after the longer week. Worth checking what the extra hours cost you outside work before you decide.
Gross figures only. Pension, health cover and benefits can be worth a large part of a package and are not counted here.
What this assumed
- Uses gross salary. Tax, pension and benefits are not included, and benefits can be worth a large share of a package.
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Not financial advice
This is an illustration, not personalized financial advice. It does not account for your full financial picture, and nobody here is your financial advisor. Talk to a licensed professional before acting on a number from a free calculator.
You ran this on September 7, 2026. Rates and rules change, so check the date before you rely on a saved copy.
How to run it, step by step
- 1Enter Annual salary. Use $60,000 for the first fictional offer. Enter 40 for Hours you are contracted for each week and 5 for Unpaid extra hours a week.
- 2Set Paid days off a year. Enter 20. The model assumes five days per working week and removes four weeks, leaving 48 worked weeks.
- 3Enter the second offer. Set Another offer to compare to $66,000 and Hours a week on that one to 50. Include all expected working hours for that offer in the 50.
- 4Check different leave separately. The comparison uses the same Paid days off a year for both offers. If the second has only 10 paid days off, rerun that offer as the main job with 50 contracted hours and zero additional hours.
How to read what it gives you
- The first offer is $31.25 per contracted working hour and $27.78 after the five extra weekly hours are included.
- At the same 20 paid days off, the $66,000 offer over 50 weekly hours is $27.50 per modeled hour.
- A separate run with 10 paid days off gives the second offer 2,500 annual working hours and $26.40 per hour. Benefits and commute remain outside these figures.
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Check the shared-leave assumption
The calculator has one Paid days off a year field. Both sides of its built-in comparison use that number. If the second offer has different leave, the two displayed figures are not yet a faithful comparison of those actual offers.
Suppose Offer B includes only ten paid days off. Run it separately as the main job: $66,000 salary, 50 contracted hours, zero additional hours, and ten paid days off. That produces 50 worked weeks and 2,500 annual hours. The effective gross figure becomes $26.40 an hour.
Save that result beside Offer A's $27.78. The separate runs preserve each offer's leave assumption. If your work schedule does not fit five days per week, calculate actual expected annual hours separately rather than assuming the tool's leave conversion matches it.
Build the rest of the comparison
Hourly arithmetic cannot tell you whether a health plan meets your needs, whether the commute is manageable, or whether the schedule fits caregiving. It also does not calculate payroll deductions, bonuses, retirement contributions, vesting conditions, or the cost of losing flexibility.
Ask for the benefit information and scheduling expectations in writing where possible. Keep an uncertain bonus separate from guaranteed salary. Record the conditions rather than inventing a dollar value for a benefit you have not reviewed.
Copy this offer worksheet
- Offer, written date, and response deadline:
- Guaranteed annual pay and conditional compensation:
- Contracted hours and expected additional hours:
- Paid leave and actual expected working weeks:
- Gross effective hourly calculation:
- Commute time, commute cost, and work location:
- Health coverage and employee contribution:
- Retirement contribution and eligibility terms:
- Schedule flexibility and care requirements:
- Duties, growth opportunities, and stability questions:
- Missing information and person responsible for answering:
Finish by identifying which difference matters to your decision and whether it is confirmed. The smaller hourly number does not automatically make an offer wrong, and the larger salary does not settle the comparison. A useful worksheet gives you a clear basis for the next conversation before you accept the terms.
Questions people actually ask
Does the effective hourly figure equal my payroll hourly rate?
No. It divides gross annual salary by modeled working hours, adjusting for the paid days off entered. Payroll and legal rate calculations can use different rules.
Can I enter different paid leave for the two offers?
There is one paid-days-off field shared by the on-screen comparison. To compare different leave amounts accurately, run each offer separately as the main job and save both results.
Does receiving a salary mean extra hours may be unpaid?
Not automatically. Overtime eligibility depends on applicable law and the details of the work and pay arrangement. This calculator does not determine legal entitlement.