Pay & Payroll
Gross Pay per Pay Period Calculator
Your paycheck size depends on how often you’re paid. Enter your hourly rate, regular hours per week and weeks worked per year to see gross pay per weekly, biweekly (26 checks), semi-monthly (24 checks) and monthly paycheck. These are before-tax figures; use the Take-Home Pay Calculator to estimate what lands in your account.
Estimates only. Verify important figures against your own records before acting on them. See our disclaimer.
How to use the Gross Pay per Pay Period Calculator
- Enter the hourly rate, hours per week and paid weeks per year.
- Read the highlighted result first, then the breakdown below it. Load the worked example to check the math by hand.
What this calculator includes
What you enter
- Hourly rate
- Hours per week
- Paid weeks per year
What you get back
- Biweekly gross pay
- Weekly gross pay
- Semi-monthly gross pay
- Monthly gross pay
- Annual gross pay
How this calculation works
Annual gross pay is spread evenly over the number of paychecks in a year. Biweekly and semi-monthly sound alike but differ: biweekly is every two weeks (26 checks), semi-monthly is twice a month (24 checks), so each semi-monthly check is larger.
- Weekly = hourly rate × hours per week
- Annual = weekly × paid weeks per year
- Biweekly = annual ÷ 26
- Semi-monthly = annual ÷ 24
- Monthly = annual ÷ 12
What the result means
These are gross paycheck amounts before taxes, benefits and retirement deductions, spread evenly by pay frequency.
Common mistakes and assumptions
- Confusing biweekly (26) with semi-monthly (24).
- Treating gross pay as take-home pay.
- Leaving overtime at the regular rate.
Worked example
$25 an hour, 40 hours a week, paid all 52 weeks.
- 1Weekly = 25 × 40 = $1,000.
- 2Annual = 1,000 × 52 = $52,000.
- 3Biweekly = 52,000 ÷ 26 = $2,000.
- 4Semi-monthly = 52,000 ÷ 24 = $2,166.67; monthly = $4,333.33.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between biweekly and semi-monthly pay?
- Biweekly is every other week — 26 paychecks. Semi-monthly is twice a month on set dates — 24 paychecks. Annual pay is the same, so semi-monthly checks are slightly larger.
- Why do some months have three biweekly paychecks?
- 26 checks don’t divide evenly into 12 months, so two months each year contain a third payday.
- Is this my take-home pay?
- No. These are gross figures before taxes and deductions. Use the Take-Home Pay Calculator for a net estimate.
- How do I handle unpaid time off?
- Reduce the paid weeks per year. Two unpaid weeks means 50.
Disclaimer
This calculator returns estimates based only on the values you enter. It does not account for taxes, financing terms, local regulations, or conditions specific to your operation, and it is not accounting, legal, tax, or investment advice. Confirm any figure that carries real cost before you rely on it.
Calculations run entirely in your browser and the numbers you type are never sent to us or stored. Read how Answerivo calculators are built or report a correction. About Answerivo.