How this instrument works
A plain hourly-to-salary projection assumes every paid week looks like every other paid week, with one hours figure multiplied by one rate. Plenty of hourly jobs do not run that way — warehouse, logistics, nursing and hospitality schedules routinely carry a standing block of overtime on top of a standard week, and that block is paid at a different rate. This instrument keeps the two kinds of hours separate from the start: a regular-hours line at straight time and an overtime-hours line at time-and-a-half, so the projection reflects the schedule as it is actually worked rather than as a single flat average.
The 1.5 multiplier on overtime hours is not a rounding convenience — it is the premium the federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires once an hourly, non-exempt employee's workweek crosses 40 hours. Five hours of overtime therefore do not add five hours' worth of pay; they add 7.5 hours' worth, which is why overtime-heavy schedules pull annual pay up faster than the raw hour count suggests. Someone comparing a $20-an-hour job with regular overtime against a flat salaried offer needs that steeper slope in the number, not a flattened average.
Weeks worked per year still does its usual job of trimming the projection down from a theoretical 52. What changes here is that both lines — regular and overtime — get multiplied by the same week count, so a slow season that removes weeks removes overtime pay in the same proportion it removes regular pay. The result is a projection built from the shape of the actual schedule: two hourly rates, two hour counts, and one week count applied consistently to both.
- Enter your base pay in Hourly rate, $ — the straight-time rate before any overtime premium.
- Set Regular hours per week to the standard part of the schedule, capped at 40 for most hourly roles.
- Set Typical overtime hours per week to the hours that regularly run past that standard week.
- Adjust Weeks worked per year if unpaid weeks — leave, shutdowns, seasonal gaps — apply.
- Read Annual pay from regular hours and Annual pay from overtime hours separately, then check Total projected annual pay for the sum.
Worked example — $20 an hour with 5 hours of overtime
Set Hourly rate, $ to 20, Regular hours per week to 40, Typical overtime hours per week to 5, and Weeks worked per year to 50 — a worker on a standard 40-hour week who regularly stays 5 hours past it. Annual pay from regular hours comes to $20 times 40 times 50, which is $40,000.00, the straight-time portion alone.
Annual pay from overtime hours prices those same 5 weekly hours at time-and-a-half: $20 times 1.5 times 5 times 50, which is $7,500.00. Total projected annual pay adds the two lines to $47,500.00 — $7,500 more than a plain hourly-to-salary projection would show for the same worker, because that simpler calculation has no field for a premium rate at all.
Questions
How is this different from a plain hourly-to-salary calculator?
A plain hourly-to-salary calculator multiplies one rate by one hours figure, so overtime has nowhere to go unless you convert it into equivalent regular hours by hand first. This instrument prices overtime hours at 1.5x on its own line, so the premium shows up automatically. For the example above — 40 regular hours plus 5 overtime hours weekly at $20 — that difference is $7,500 a year the single-rate version cannot show without a manual conversion step.
Where does the 1.5x overtime multiplier come from?
It comes from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires covered non-exempt hourly employees to be paid at least one-and-a-half times their regular rate for hours worked past 40 in a single workweek. This instrument applies that same 1.5 factor to whatever you enter as typical weekly overtime hours. It assumes standard federal overtime; some states set stricter rules, and some jobs are exempt entirely, so confirm your own coverage before treating the multiplier as automatic.
Does this use California's daily overtime rule instead?
No — this instrument applies the federal weekly threshold only: hours count as overtime once the week runs past 40, regardless of how any single day was shaped. California and a handful of other states also pay a premium once a single day passes 8 hours, even in a week that never reaches 40 total. A worker under a daily-overtime rule needs a day-by-day tool to price that correctly; this one projects a full year from a typical week instead.
What if my overtime hours vary a lot week to week?
Treat Typical overtime hours per week as an estimate and run it twice. Enter a light week's overtime for a conservative projection and a heavy week's overtime for an optimistic one — the true year likely lands between the two totals. Because overtime pay scales at 1.5x rather than 1x, the gap between a light-week and heavy-week projection grows faster than the gap in hours alone, so it is worth checking both ends rather than trusting one typical figure.
Are Weeks worked per year and overtime pay linked?
Yes — both Annual pay from regular hours and Annual pay from overtime hours are multiplied by the same week count, so a change to Weeks worked per year moves both lines together. Drop from 52 paid weeks to 48 because of an unpaid shutdown, for instance, and overtime pay shrinks by the same share as regular pay does, not just the regular portion. The total keeps that proportion intact automatically.
Is this projection what will actually appear on a paycheck?
No — it is a gross annual projection built from a typical week, not a payroll record. It excludes tax withholding, health and retirement deductions, and any week where the actual overtime differs from what you entered. Use it to compare offers or estimate a year's gross pay from a known schedule, then check a real pay stub against payroll's own hour-by-hour math rather than this one.
References
- U.S. Department of Labor — Overtime Pay under the FLSA
- CFPB — Consumer tools for budgeting and income
Read this first: This instrument shows arithmetic, not advice. Real offers add fees, taxes and terms that vary by lender and place — verify the figures against your actual paperwork before deciding anything.