How this instrument works
Weekly pay here is a single number, not two side-by-side lines for regular and overtime hours. The formula adds the straight-time block — rate times regular hours — to the premium block — rate times the multiplier times overtime hours — before the total ever reaches the readout, because most people asking this question want one figure to hold against a competing offer, not a breakdown they have to add up themselves. Equivalent annual salary then takes that single weekly figure and multiplies it by 52, treating the week you just built as the pattern for the entire year.
That framing fits a specific moment: someone holding two job offers side by side, one quoted as a flat yearly salary and the other quoted as an hourly rate with a standing block of overtime built into the schedule. A warehouse role paying $25 an hour with 5 hours of overtime in most weeks does not compare cleanly against a $58,000 salaried offer until the hourly side is converted into the same annual shape — and converted with the overtime premium included, since leaving it out understates the hourly job by thousands of dollars a year.
The 52 in the annual formula is fixed, not a field you can adjust here — it assumes the weekly pattern you entered repeats every single week of the year, with no unpaid holiday, no slow season, and no week where the overtime dries up. That makes Equivalent annual salary, $ a ceiling rather than a forecast: a fast answer to what a schedule amounts to if it holds, not a payroll projection built around time off. It also stops at gross pay — no tax withholding, no benefits, and no state rule that counts overtime by the day instead of by the week.
- Enter your straight-time pay in Hourly rate, $.
- Set Regular hours per week to the standard hours worked before overtime starts, typically 40.
- Set Overtime hours per week to the overtime that shows up most weeks.
- Confirm Overtime multiplier — 1.5 for standard time-and-a-half, or a different figure for a contracted rate.
- Read Weekly pay, $ for the combined total, then check Equivalent annual salary, $ for the full-year figure.
Worked example — $25 an hour with 5 hours of overtime
Set Hourly rate, $ to 25, Regular hours per week to 40, Overtime hours per week to 5, and leave Overtime multiplier at its default of 1.5. Weekly pay, $ adds 25 times 40, which is 1000.00, to 25 times 1.5 times 5, which is 187.50, for a combined total of $1,187.50.
Equivalent annual salary, $ multiplies that week by 52, landing at $61,750.00. A plain 40-hour salary calculation at the same $25 rate, with no overtime line at all, would show $52,000 a year — so the 5 weekly overtime hours alone are worth $9,750 across the year once the 1.5 premium and the 52-week multiplication are both applied.
Questions
Why does the annual figure just multiply by 52 instead of asking for weeks worked?
Because this instrument answers one specific question fast — what a stated hourly-plus-overtime schedule is worth over a full year if it holds — and a fixed 52 keeps that comparison simple. If your real year includes unpaid weeks, treat Equivalent annual salary, $ as an upper bound and subtract roughly one week's Weekly pay, $ for every week you expect to go unpaid.
Why is Weekly pay, $ one number instead of separate regular and overtime lines?
Because the two blocks are added together before the readout, on the assumption that what most people comparing offers want is a single figure to hold against a competing number, not a breakdown to total by hand. The arithmetic behind it still keeps regular pay and overtime pay as two separate terms; only the display combines them into one.
What does the Overtime multiplier field actually change?
It sets how much each overtime hour is worth relative to the straight-time rate. Leave it at 1.5 for standard time-and-a-half, the federal default for hourly, non-exempt employees whose week runs past 40 hours; raise it to 2 to price a contracted double-time rate, or lower it toward 1 to see what the same hours would be worth with no premium at all.
Does Equivalent annual salary, $ include taxes or deductions?
No — both outputs are gross figures, before federal and state withholding, Social Security and Medicare, and any pre-tax deduction such as a retirement contribution or health premium. Use the result to compare what two job offers pay before tax, then run the actual number through a paycheck or withholding tool once an offer is close to final.
Why is the annual number so much bigger than the hourly rate times 2,080 hours?
Because 2,080 hours — 40 times 52 — ignores overtime entirely, and an overtime hour is not worth the same as a regular one. In the default example, 5 weekly overtime hours at a 1.5 multiplier add $9,750 across the year on top of the $52,000 a plain 40-hour calculation would show; the premium and the weekly repetition both compound into that gap.
What if my overtime hours are not the same every week?
Enter a typical week and treat the result as an estimate, not a guarantee. Running the instrument twice — once with a light week's overtime and once with a heavy week's — brackets the likely annual range; because overtime carries the 1.5 multiplier, that range widens faster than the difference in hours alone would suggest.
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.