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Pay cycle converter

Convert a pay figure between weekly, fortnightly, twice-monthly and monthly cycles — and see the annual figure everything is anchored on, so the small rounding differences do not mislead you.

Convert a pay figure

What are you starting from?

A pay amount

An hourly rate and hours per week

Amount per pay

Paid

Pay date (to count pay days in a financial year) Any date you get paid — the weekday is what matters.

Why the cycles never line up exactly

A year is 365 days (366 in a leap year). That is 52 weeks and one day, so:

Weekly — 52.14 pay dates a year, so most years pay 52 times and some pay 53.
Fortnightly — 26.07, so a year holds 26 fortnights and occasionally 27.
Twice monthly — 24 exactly: the 1st and the 15th, or the 15th and the last day. Clean, because it is a calendar rule rather than a duration rule.
Monthly — 12 exactly.

This is why the converter anchors everything on the annual figure instead of pretending the cycles divide evenly. Multiply weekly by 52 ÷ 12 to get monthly — not by 4, which loses four weeks a year.

The three-pay-month

If you are paid fortnightly, most months contain two pays, but two months a year contain three. The total is the same; the timing is not. It is why "I get paid an extra time this month" is a real thing for fortnightly employees and a myth for monthly ones.

Hourly rates and ordinary hours

For a flat-rate arrangement the conversion is simply rate × hours. Beyond that it stops being arithmetic:

Ordinary hours, overtime, weekend and public holiday work are usually paid at different multiples of the base rate.
The minimum rate that applies depends on your industry or occupation award, or a registered agreement — see the Fair Work Ombudsman for the current award rate.
Casual employees are generally paid a casual loading instead of paid leave.
Superannuation sits on top (or inside, if the package says so) — see the super guarantee calculator.

So use the hourly mode here to turn a rate into a weekly or annual figure for comparison, not as a payroll calculation.

Tax is not deducted here. Income tax depends on residency, deductions, offsets, HELP debts and Medicare, and a pay-cycle conversion does not know any of that. Deliberately, this tool stops at the gross figure rather than showing you a take-home number that might be badly wrong.

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Common questions

How do I convert a weekly wage to a monthly one?

Multiply the weekly figure by 52 to get the annual amount, then divide by 12. A $1,000 week is $52,000 a year, which is $4,333.33 a month. Multiplying by 4 is the common mistake: it understates the year by $4,000.

Is fortnightly pay better than monthly?

It does not change what you earn in a year — $2,000 a fortnight and $52,000 a year are the same money. It changes cash flow and, for some people, how a budget feels. Fortnightly pay also means two months a year with three pays instead of two.

How many fortnightly pays are there in a year?

26, generally. Because 26 × 14 days is 364 days, one day short of a year, some years contain a 27th fortnightly pay date. A financial year contains 26 or 27 fortnightly pays depending on which weekday you are paid — the count above shows the real number for a chosen pay date.

How do I work out pay from an hourly rate?

Multiply the hourly rate by the hours worked per week to get the weekly figure, then use the converter. A $32.50 rate at 38 hours a week is $1,235.00 a week, or $64,220.00 a year. Remember that ordinary hours, overtime and penalty rates are usually paid at different rates, so a single hourly figure only fits a flat-rate arrangement.

Should a salary package be quoted including or excluding super?

They are different numbers and it is worth asking which one you are being offered. A $90,000 package including super at 12% is $80,357.14 of wages plus $9,642.86 of super. The super calculator on this site splits it for you.