How to Calculate Monthly Wages If You Are Paid Every Two Weeks

Not everyone receives an annual salary paid in the form of monthly income. So, you could be one of those whose pay periods are weekly, bi-weekly or semi-monthly, explains the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

When you receive pay every two weeks, you may think that it's the equivalent of being paid twice per month, or semi-monthly. But while usually you do get paid twice per month when you receive bi-weekly pay, sometimes you get paid more than twice in a month, depending on how many weeks are in the month.

Since there are 52 weeks in a year, there are 26 bi-weekly pay periods. That means that receiving pay every two weeks will result in a different calculation of monthly wages than if you receive your pay twice per month, so multiplying your check by two will not bring you the correct amount.

If you receive bi-weekly pay, you can calculate your monthly earnings using a simple formula.

After multiplying your current wages by ‌26‌ (the number of bi-weekly pay periods in a year) to get the annual income, you can then divide this sum total by ‌12‌ in order to calculate your monthly wages.

So, that would be expressed as follows:

‌Monthly income = (Current wages * 26) / 12‌

Your most recent pay stub should show your gross pay amount for that pay period. The gross pay amount is the amount of money you make before any taxes or other deductions, like insurance, are taken out. The pay stub will likely indicate that a particular amount is your gross pay.

Once you determine your gross pay for that pay period, multiply that figure by ‌26‌, because there are 26 two-week periods in ‌52 weeks‌, or one year. For example, if your gross pay is listed at $2,500, you will multiply 2,500 by 26, which equals $65,000. This is how much you gross in one year.

Because there are 12 months in one year, you can divide this number by ‌12‌ to find out your gross monthly wages. $65,000 divided by 12 is $5,416.67‌.‌ That figure is your monthly gross pay.

Rarely, such as in a leap year or if your pay is issued on ‌January 1‌ in a normal year, you may end up having 27 pay periods that year instead of 26. However, if this is the case, you can use the same formula but use ‌27‌ in the calculation instead of 26.

So, in the example above, if there are 27 pay periods, you would multiply your gross income for the pay period, $2,500, by 27 and then divide the answer by 12. Multiplying 2,500 by 27 results in $67,500, which divided by 12 is $5,625.

You can also use these formulas to calculate your monthly net income (your take-home pay or net pay) by using your take-home pay for that biweekly paycheck as the starting number instead of the gross pay, which tends to be pre-tax.

If you get an hourly wage, then the number of hours you work every two weeks will determine your monthly income. For example, suppose your hourly rate is ‌$24 per hour‌ for regular working hours and ‌$36 per hour‌ as overtime pay. Also, assume that you worked 80 regular working hours and 20 overtime hours every two work weeks for the entire year.

Based on these hourly pay rates, your biweekly pay would be ($24 * 80) + ($36 * 20), which is $2,640.

Since there are ‌26 weeks‌ in a year, the pre-tax total amount of money you earn before payroll deductions, like Social Security and Medicare taxes, federal income taxes or contributions to retirement accounts, would be $2,640 * 26, which is $68,640.

So, you can divide the gross wages, which amount to $68,640, by ‌12‌ to get a gross monthly income of $5,720.

In contrast, semi-monthly pay, which is payment twice per month, results in an average lower monthly pay if the payment amount is the same. If you are paid semi-monthly, Western Michigan University shows that you likely receive your check on two set dates each month, such as the 1st and the 15th.

There are only ‌24‌ semi-monthly pay periods in one year rather than 26, so if you gross $2,500 per pay period but are paid semi-monthly, you would multiply $2,500 by ‌24‌, which equals $60,000 per year.

If you divide $60,000 by ‌12‌, you get $5,000 per month.