How many work hours in a year? A full-time job of 40 hours a week works out to 2,080 hours a year (40 x 52 weeks). That's the number to use when you turn an hourly wage into a yearly salary. Holidays and vacation cut the hours you actually work, and part-time schedules scale down the same way.
The math is simple: 40 hours a week times 52 weeks equals 2,080 hours. It's the cleanest number for quick pay conversions, and it's the one this guide uses unless it says otherwise.
A calendar year is actually a little longer than 52 weeks. A normal year has 365 days, which is 52 weeks and 1 day. A leap year has 52 weeks and 2 days. So a year has 260, 261 or 262 weekdays, depending on where the extra days land. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notes the same range of 260 to 262 workdays.
2026: 261 weekdays, or 2,088 hours at 8 hours a day.
2027: 261 weekdays, or 2,088 hours.
2028: 260 weekdays (a leap year that starts on a Saturday), or 2,080 hours.
Why some employers use 2,087 hours. To smooth out those extra days, OPM computes federal hourly pay by dividing annual basic pay by 2,087 hours. OPM says a 1981 GAO study found an average of 2,087 work hours per calendar year over a 28-year cycle. Before 1984, the divisor was 2,080. If your hourly rate looks a few cents different from your own math, ask which divisor your employer uses.
Keep two numbers apart: the hours you're paid for and the hours you actually work. Paid holidays and paid vacation lower your worked hours but not your paid hours. Unpaid time off lowers both.
In the U.S., the Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or holidays. Those benefits come from the agreement between you and your employer, so check your offer letter or handbook.
Here's a worked example for a full-time employee. OPM lists 11 federal holidays for 2026, and each one falls on or is observed on a weekday. Say your employer gives all 11 as paid days off, and you take two weeks of vacation and five sick days:
Standard year: 2,080 hours
Minus 11 holidays at 8 hours each: 2,080 minus 88 = 1,992 hours
Minus 10 vacation days: 1,992 minus 80 = 1,912 hours
Minus 5 sick days: 1,912 minus 40 = 1,872 hours actually worked
If all that time off is paid, you're still paid for 2,080 hours. If the two vacation weeks were unpaid, your paid hours would drop to 2,000. Private employers choose their own holiday lists, so swap in your own numbers.
Multiply your average weekly hours by 52:
20 hours a week: 1,040 hours a year
25 hours a week: 1,300 hours
30 hours a week: 1,560 hours
32 hours a week (four 8-hour days): 1,664 hours
35 hours a week: 1,820 hours
37.5 hours a week: 1,950 hours
Three 12-hour shifts a week: 36 x 52 = 1,872 hours
If your schedule changes from week to week, add up your hours over a full cycle, such as a two-week rotation. Divide by the number of weeks to get your weekly average, then multiply by 52. Hours over 40 in a week may count as overtime, paid at a higher rate. Our guide to calculating time and a half walks through it.
Use this formula: hourly rate x hours per week x paid weeks per year.
$20 an hour, 40 hours, 52 weeks: 20 x 40 x 52 = $41,600 a year
$18.50 an hour, 30 hours, 52 weeks: 18.50 x 30 x 52 = $28,860 a year
$25 an hour, 40 hours, 50 paid weeks (two unpaid weeks off): 25 x 40 x 50 = $50,000 a year
A quick mental shortcut: double the hourly rate and add three zeros. $20 an hour becomes about $40,000. The shortcut assumes 2,000 hours, so it runs a little low for a full 2,080-hour year. That makes it a handy, cautious number for budgeting.
These are gross figures, before taxes and deductions. Overtime, shift premiums and tips are extra, so add them on separately.
Divide the salary by the hours you're paid for in a year:
$52,000 divided by 2,080 = $25.00 an hour
$60,000 divided by 2,080 = $28.85 an hour (rounded)
$60,000 divided by 2,087 = $28.75 an hour (the federal divisor)
$45,000 on a 37.5-hour week: 45,000 divided by 1,950 = $23.08 an hour
To see what your time is really worth, divide by the hours you actually work. Someone on a $52,000 salary who regularly works 45 hours a week puts in 2,340 hours a year (45 x 52). That's about $22.22 an hour, not $25.
For federally regulated workplaces in Canada, the Government of Canada says standard hours of work are 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. That makes 2,080 hours the standard year there too. Hours beyond the standard count as overtime, paid at no less than 1.5 times the regular hourly wage. If you don't work in a federally regulated workplace, check your province's or territory's rules. Ontario, for example, uses a 44-hour weekly overtime threshold, which our Ontario overtime guide explains.
2,080 hours, based on 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. Some employers, including the U.S. federal government, use 2,087 hours to average out the extra weekdays in some years.
Usually 260 to 262 weekdays, and 2026 has 261. Take away your paid holidays and vacation days to get the days you actually work. For example, 261 minus the 11 U.S. federal holidays leaves 250.
About $41,600 before taxes, if you work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. At 30 hours a week, it's $31,200.
Multiply your weekly hours by 52. At 20 hours a week, that's 1,040 hours a year. At 30 hours a week, it's 1,560 hours.
EarnCheck: Shift & Pay Tracker lets you confirm a finished shift with one tap or adjust its start, end or unpaid break, then shows estimated gross pay building across the pay period. It has overtime presets for the U.S. federal 40-hour rule and Ontario's 44-hour rule, and its Payday Check compares your pay statement lines by gross amount. Your records are stored on your device, with no account and no bank or employer login.
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Computing hourly rates of pay using the 2,087-hour divisor
Government of Canada: Hours of work, federally regulated workplaces