Conversion calculators
Convert between annual salary, monthly pay and hourly rates, both gross and after tax. Useful for comparing job offers, checking a contract rate, or seeing how your pay stacks up against the National Minimum Wage.
Live tools (2 available)
Salary to hourly rate
Work out your gross and after-tax hourly rate from your annual salary, with NMW check and student loan support.
CalculatePercentage Calculator
Find a percentage of a number, what percentage one value is of another, the change between two numbers, or add and remove a percentage.
CalculateThe divisor decides the answer
Converting a salary to an hourly rate sounds like one sum, but the result changes depending on how many hours you divide by. There are two reasonable answers and they're answering different questions.
Divide by 46.4 working weeks (52 weeks minus the 28 days of statutory holiday) and you get what you earn for each hour you're actually at work. Divide by all 52 weeks and you get the calendar rate, which is the one to use when checking a contract or comparing against a contractor's day rate. On a £35,000 salary and a 37 hour week, that's £20.39 an hour against £18.19. Same salary, both figures correct.
Gross and after tax are far apart
A headline hourly rate ignores everything that comes out before you're paid. For 2026/27 that's income tax above the £12,570 personal allowance, National Insurance at 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above, plus any pension contribution and student loan repayment.
The £35,000 salary above is worth about £20.39 an hour gross and roughly £16.70 after tax. The gap grows with income, so comparing two offers on gross hourly rate flatters the higher one. It matters more across the border: Scotland uses six income tax bands rather than the three used in the rest of the UK, so the same gross salary produces a different net hourly rate depending on where you live.
Minimum wage rates for 2026/27
The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over. For 18 to 20 year olds it's £10.85, and for under 18s and apprentices it's £8.00. These change on 1 April, five days before the tax year starts on 6 April, so early April payslips can straddle two sets of rates.
Salaried work has to clear the minimum wage once converted to an hourly figure. On a 37 hour week across all 52 weeks, £12.71 an hour is roughly £24,450 a year, so a full-time salary below that is worth checking.
Which calculator to use
For pay conversions, including the minimum wage check and student loan deductions, use the salary to hourly rate calculator. For percentage of a number, percentage change between two values, or adding and removing a percentage, use the percentage calculator.
If you want the full monthly and weekly breakdown rather than an hourly figure, the take-home pay calculator covers it, and how much tax do I pay explains what's coming out.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert an annual salary to an hourly rate?
Divide the salary by the hours you actually work in a year. On a 37 hour week over 46.4 working weeks (52 weeks minus the 28 days of statutory holiday), that is 1,716.8 hours, so £35,000 comes to about £20.39 an hour. Dividing by all 52 weeks instead gives a lower calendar rate of around £18.19, because it counts your paid holiday as hours worked.
Why is my after-tax hourly rate so much lower than the gross one?
Income tax and National Insurance come out of every hour above the thresholds. On a £35,000 salary worked over 1,716.8 hours the gross rate is about £20.39, while the take-home rate is closer to £16.70. The gap widens as you earn more, because a larger share of your pay sits in the higher rate band.
What is the National Minimum Wage in 2026/27?
The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour. It is £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8.00 for under 18s and apprentices. These rates apply from 1 April, which is five days before the tax year starts on 6 April.
Does a salaried job pay less per hour than it looks?
It can, if you regularly work beyond your contracted hours. A £45,000 salary on a contracted 37 hour week over 46.4 weeks is about £26.21 an hour, but at a real 45 hours a week it drops to roughly £21.55. Converting to an hourly figure using the hours you actually work is the fair way to compare two offers.
How do I work out a percentage increase between two numbers?
Subtract the old value from the new one, divide by the old value, then multiply by 100. Going from £30,000 to £33,000 is a 10 per cent rise. Note that a 10 per cent fall followed by a 10 per cent rise does not return you to where you started, because the second percentage is taken from a smaller base.
Should I compare job offers on gross or net pay?
Compare net, especially across the border. Scotland and the rest of the UK use different income tax bands, so two offers with the same gross salary can leave you with different amounts. Pension contributions and student loan repayments also change the comparison, and neither shows up in the headline number.