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How to Calculate Annual Earnings From Hourly Wages

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Knowing exactly how much you are earning is important when you are filling out loan or credit card applications, or when you are comparing a new job offer with your current employment situation. Figuring out how much you earn in a year from your hourly wage can be determined using a simple two- or three-step calculation. All you need to know to figure out your annual earnings is your hourly pay rate and how many hours you work every day or week.

Step 1

Calculate your daily pay. Multiply your hourly wage times the number of hours worked. If you are paid $10 per hour, for example, and you work an 8-hour day, that is $10 times 8 hours, or $80 per day.

Step 2

Calculate your weekly pay. Multiply your daily pay times the number of days you work per week. Assuming you work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, that means you multiply $80 times 5 to get $400 per week.

Step 3

Calculate your annual earnings. Multiply your weekly pay times 52 to determine your annual pay. Using the above example, that means you multiply your weekly pay of $400 times 52 to get annual earnings of $20,800.

Tip

Calculate your annual earnings including overtime by including overtime pay into the weekly pay calculated in Step 2. If you average 5 hours per week of overtime, for example, that would mean adding 5 times $15 (1.5 times usual hourly rate), or $75 to your weekly total, bringing it to $475. Multiplying $475 times 52 per Step 3 gives you annual earnings of $24,700 including overtime.

Tip

Determine your net take-home pay after taxes and deductions using a free web-based salary calculator such as The Salary Calculator.

Warning

The above calculations assume you are not taking any time off and are paid for holidays.

References
Tips
  • Calculate your annual earnings including overtime by including overtime pay into the weekly pay calculated in Step 2. If you average 5 hours per week of overtime, for example, that would mean adding 5 times $15 (1.5 times usual hourly rate), or $75 to your weekly total, bringing it to $475. Multiplying $475 times 52 per Step 3 gives you annual earnings of $24,700 including overtime.
  • Determine your net take-home pay after taxes and deductions using a free web-based salary calculator such as The Salary Calculator.
Warnings
  • The above calculations assume you are not taking any time off and are paid for holidays.
Writer

Clayton Browne has been writing professionally since 1994. He has written and edited everything from science fiction to semiconductor patents to dissertations in linguistics, having worked for Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Steck-Vaughn and The Psychological Corp. Browne has a Master of Science in linguistic anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.