How to use the salary calculator
Enter the pay figure you have and tell the calculator what it is. That might be an hourly rate, one biweekly check or a yearly salary. It converts that figure to an annual amount first, then splits it into every common pay period.
Everything after that is optional. Bonus, commission and other cash are added on top of base pay. Deductions and a withholding rate you choose turn gross pay into a take-home estimate. The raise field shows what a percentage increase to base pay is worth.
- Enter your gross pay and choose the pay basis, such as hourly, biweekly (26 or 27 checks) or annual.
- Set your hours per week, work days per week and work weeks per year.
- Add any expected bonus, commission or other cash pay that isn't already in the figure you entered.
- Enter pre-tax deductions, a withholding rate, any fixed withholding and post-tax deductions.
- Add employer-paid benefits if you want total compensation, and a raise percentage to compare.
Salary per month, biweekly and weekly
To get monthly pay, divide annual salary by 12. For biweekly pay, divide by 26. For semimonthly pay, divide by 24. For weekly pay, divide by 52. Biweekly and semimonthly sound alike, but biweekly means every two weeks and semimonthly means twice a month, so the checks are different sizes.
| Pay schedule | Checks per year | Gross per check |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | 12 | $5,000.00 |
| Semimonthly | 24 | $2,500.00 |
| Biweekly | 26 | $2,307.69 |
| Biweekly, 27-check year | 27 | $2,222.22 |
| Weekly | 52 | $1,153.85 |
| Weekly, 53-check year | 53 | $1,132.08 |
What about 27 biweekly paychecks?
Some years have 27 biweekly pay dates instead of 26, because 52 weeks leave a day or two over each year and those days add up. The calculator has separate 26 and 27 options so you can check both. The same goes for 52 and 53 weekly checks.
Which one applies depends on how your employer handles it. Starting from one check, a $2,000 biweekly paycheck is $52,000 a year over 26 checks or $54,000 over 27. Starting from a fixed salary, some employers split it across 27 smaller checks instead. Check your payroll calendar.
Salary calculator formulas
Your entry is converted to a yearly base first. Unpaid days, if you enter any, take a proportional share out. Then extra cash is added and your deductions come off in order.
Annual base = pay amount x payments per year (or x hours x weeks for an hourly rate)Annual gross cash = annual base + bonus + commission + other cashWithholding base = annual gross cash - pre-tax deductionsEstimated take-home = annual gross cash - pre-tax deductions - withholding base x rate - fixed withholding - post-tax deductionsSalary after raise = annual base x (1 + raise % / 100)
Worked example: $60,000 with a bonus and deductions
Start with a $60,000 salary, a $5,000 bonus, $3,000 of pre-tax deductions, a 22% withholding rate and $1,200 of post-tax deductions. Gross cash is $65,000. Taking out the pre-tax amount leaves $62,000, and 22% of that is $13,640.
All deductions together come to $17,840, so estimated take-home pay is $47,160 a year, or $3,930 a month. If your employer also spends $12,000 on your benefits, total compensation is $77,000, but your take-home doesn't change.
| Step | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Gross cash | $60,000 + $5,000 bonus | $65,000 |
| Withholding base | $65,000 - $3,000 pre-tax | $62,000 |
| Withholding at 22% | $62,000 x 22% | $13,640 |
| Take-home pay | $65,000 - $17,840 | $47,160 |
| Total compensation | $65,000 + $12,000 benefits | $77,000 |
Raise and salary increase calculator
Enter a raise percentage and the calculator applies it to base pay only. Bonus, deductions, benefits and the withholding rate stay the same, so the difference you see comes from the raise alone. Use a negative number to model a pay cut.
In the example above, a 3% raise lifts base pay from $60,000 to $61,800. Gross cash rises by $1,800. With the 22% withholding rate, take-home pay goes up by $1,404 a year, which is about $117 a month. You can't spend the whole raise, because some of it goes to tax.
| Raise | New salary | Extra per year | New monthly pay | Extra per biweekly check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | $61,200 | $1,200 | $5,100.00 | $46.15 |
| 3% | $61,800 | $1,800 | $5,150.00 | $69.23 |
| 4% | $62,400 | $2,400 | $5,200.00 | $92.31 |
| 5% | $63,000 | $3,000 | $5,250.00 | $115.38 |
| 10% | $66,000 | $6,000 | $5,500.00 | $230.77 |
When to double-check the take-home figure
The take-home result uses the flat withholding rate you type in. Real payroll uses tax brackets, Social Security and Medicare, state or local tax and your W-4 details, so treat this as a planning number. For U.S. federal withholding, the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator is the better check.
The unpaid-leave field takes a simple proportional share out of base pay. Whether an employer can actually dock a salary for a day off depends on your exemption status and local law. Employer-paid benefits add to total compensation and never to cash pay.
Sources
These IRS, Department of Labor and BLS pages cover withholding, salary basis rules and how wages and benefits are measured.