Calculate Your Average Hourly Wage: A Simple Guide

At many places of business, an employee is paid a set weekly or monthly salary, rather than an hourly rate. The salary is not based on hours worked, which means that overtime is not counted or paid at the usual rate. Hours missed are also not docked from the normal rate of pay. In most instances, the employee is required to work a minimum number of hours each pay period. Calculating your average hourly rate is not difficult and will only take a few minutes.

Step 1

Calculate the amount that you make each year. This needs to be the gross amount before taxes or other deductions. For example, if you are paid $2,000 a month, you would multiply that amount by 12 to factor your yearly income. If you are paid every two weeks, multiply your salary by 24. If weekly, then your salary would be multiplied by 52.

Step 2

Calculate the number hours you generally work each week. You will then multiple those hours by 52.

Step 3

Divide the amount that you make per year by the number of hours you work each year. The result will be your average hourly pay. For example, if you make $2,000 a month, that results in $24,000 per year. Assuming you work a 40 hour week, you would divide $24,000 by 2,080 (40 hours x 52 weeks), which calculates to $11.53 an hour.