Payroll · Canada
Hourly to salary.
Convert any hourly wage into weekly, monthly, and annual income, with overtime hours factored in. Below: the two Canadian details that change the answer; vacation pay paid as a percentage on top of your wage, and the provincial hour thresholds where time-and-a-half starts.
Inputs
Annual salary
Fill the form and press Calculate.
How the conversion works
Annual salary = (regular hours × rate × weeks) + (overtime hours × rate × 1.5 × weeks). Weekly, monthly, and bi-weekly values are derived from the annual.
Why the naive conversion understates a Canadian hourly job
The standard shortcut is to multiply the hourly rate by 2,080: 40 hours times 52 weeks. It is a fine starting point and it is wrong in three specific ways in Canada, two of which make hourly work worth more than the shortcut suggests.
1. Vacation pay is usually added on top of your wage
This is the difference that most comparisons miss. A salaried employee’s paid vacation is already inside their salary: they take two weeks off and the salary does not change. An hourly employee generally receives vacation pay as a percentage of wages earned, paid either on each cheque or as a lump sum, on top of the hourly rate.
Because that percentage tracks the statutory vacation entitlement, and because the entitlement rises with years of service in every province, an hourly wage quietly becomes worth more per hour the longer you stay. Saskatchewan is the outlier worth knowing about: its minimum vacation entitlement starts at three weeks rather than two, so the percentage there begins higher than elsewhere in Canada. Check your own province’s employment standards for the current percentage and the service milestones; they are set provincially and they differ.
2. Overtime starts at different hours in different provinces
There is no single Canadian overtime threshold. Employment standards are provincial, and the trigger point varies enough to change an annual figure by thousands of dollars for the same schedule:
- Ontario: overtime after 44 hours in a week. No daily threshold, so a 12-hour day inside a 40-hour week earns no premium.
- British Columbia: after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week, and double time past 12 hours in a day. The daily trigger is the significant one: a four-day compressed week generates overtime in BC that would generate none in Ontario.
- Alberta: after 8 hours in a day or 44 in a week, whichever produces more overtime.
- Quebec: after 40 hours in a week.
- Nova Scotia: after 48 hours in a week, the highest threshold among the larger provinces.
Confirm your own jurisdiction before relying on any of this, and note that federally regulated work (banking, telecoms, interprovincial transport, air and rail) runs on the Canada Labour Code rather than provincial rules regardless of which province you sit in.
3. Statutory holidays are paid, and the count varies
Every province requires paid general holidays for eligible employees, but the number of them differs across the country. Hourly employees are typically entitled to general holiday pay for those days, and to premium pay if they work them, which is why an hourly schedule that regularly covers holidays can beat a salary that nominally looks higher.
The comparison that actually matters
Once you have the annual figure, the honest comparison against a salaried offer is not gross against gross. Line up what the salary includes that the hourly rate does not, and vice versa:
- Hours certainty. A salary pays the same in a slow month. Hourly pay does not, and the annualised figure assumes hours you may not get.
- Benefits and pension. Employer-paid health coverage and any pension or RRSP match are real compensation and are usually attached to salaried roles. A match in particular is money you cannot replicate by earning slightly more.
- Overtime access. Being paid a salary does not automatically exempt you from overtime in Canada. Exemptions attach to the role (typically managerial or certain professional work) not to the method of payment. A salaried employee in a non-exempt role who works 50-hour weeks may be owed overtime and often does not know it.
- Statutory deductions. Both are employees, so CPP and EI come off both, and both trigger the same employer-side costs. That symmetry is what makes this comparison simpler than a contractor comparison: see salary to hourly for the contractor version, where it is not symmetric at all.
For what lands in your bank account rather than the gross figure, use the paycheck calculator, which applies federal and provincial deductions.
TNAADO Inc. · Toronto
Why annualising an hourly wage is not just rate x 2,080
The 2,080-hour shortcut (40 hours by 52 weeks) assumes a salaried work year, and an hourly job in Canada is not one. Vacation pay is normally paid as a percentage on top of the wage rather than baked into it, general holidays are paid separately, and overtime starts at a threshold set provincially rather than nationally. Each of those pushes the true annual figure above the shortcut, which is why an hourly rate that looks lower than a salary often is not.
The mistake people make. Assuming there is one Canadian overtime rule. Employment standards are provincial and the trigger point genuinely differs: Ontario pays overtime after 44 hours in a week with no daily threshold at all, while other provinces use a daily trigger that a compressed schedule crosses every week. Confirm your own jurisdiction, and note that federally regulated work (banking, telecoms, interprovincial transport, air and rail) runs on the Canada Labour Code regardless of which province you sit in.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert an hourly wage to an annual salary?
Multiply the hourly rate by hours worked per week, then by weeks worked per year. Full-time at 40 hours across all 52 weeks gives 2,080 hours, so a $30 rate annualises to $62,400 before any overtime.
Adjust the weeks figure if any of your time off is unpaid, and add overtime hours separately at time-and-a-half rather than folding them into the regular rate. In Canada you should also add vacation pay if your employer pays it as a percentage on top of your wage rather than as paid time off.
Is 2,080 hours the right number to use for a year?
It is the right convention for a 40-hour week and it is not the number of hours you will actually work. A year contains slightly more than 52 weeks, and paid statutory holidays and vacation come out of the total, so actual hours worked usually land closer to 1,900 for a full-time schedule.
Which figure to use depends on the question. Use 2,080 to annualise a wage into a comparable salary. Use actual hours worked when you want to know what a salary pays you per hour of your life, which is what the salary to hourly calculator computes.
Does vacation pay get added to my hourly wage in Canada?
Usually, yes, and it is the detail that makes an hourly rate worth more than a straight multiplication suggests. Hourly employees are commonly paid vacation pay as a percentage of wages earned, either on every cheque or as a lump sum, rather than receiving paid weeks off inside a fixed salary.
The percentage follows the statutory vacation entitlement in your province and rises with years of service, so the same hourly rate becomes worth more per hour over time. Entitlements are set provincially and differ (Saskatchewan’s minimum starts at three weeks rather than two) so confirm the current figure with your own province’s employment standards.
When does overtime start in Canada?
It depends on your province, and there is no national rule. Ontario triggers overtime after 44 hours in a week with no daily threshold at all. British Columbia triggers after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week, with double time past 12 hours in a day. Alberta uses 8 hours a day or 44 a week, whichever yields more. Quebec uses 40 a week and Nova Scotia 48.
Two things surprise people. A daily threshold means a compressed schedule can earn overtime even in a normal-length week, so the same roster pays differently in BC than in Ontario. And being salaried does not exempt you: overtime exemptions in Canada attach to the role, not to the pay method. Federally regulated industries follow the Canada Labour Code instead of provincial standards.
Disclaimer
Estimates for educational purposes only. Actual gross pay depends on schedules, paid time off, statutory holidays, and your collective agreement or employment contract.