A practical conversion guide using the federal $7.25 rate and the higher state rates now in force, with the overtime rule that changes the weekly total.
Start with the rate that actually applies
The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is still $7.25 an hour. It has stood at that level since 24 July 2009. That is not, however, the rate every worker in the United States is owed.
The U.S. Department of Labor's rule is straightforward: when more than one minimum wage applies, the employee is entitled to the highest of the federal, state or local rates. As of the Wage and Hour Division's consolidated table effective 30 September 2026, 30 states plus the District of Columbia have a state or district rate above $7.25. Thirteen states match the federal rate. The remaining seven states have no state minimum wage, or one below $7.25, so employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act must still pay $7.25.
Among the statewide rates above the federal floor, Washington's $17.13 is the highest. Connecticut is $16.94 and California is $16.90. New York has two state rates: $17.00 in New York City and on Long Island, and $16.00 upstate. The District of Columbia's rate is $18.40. Florida's state rate reached $15.00 on 30 September 2026. Cities and counties can go higher still, which is why the first step is always to identify the place where the work is performed, not only the state.
Convert the hourly rate with a fixed year
Once the hourly rate is known, the usual full-time conversions are:
Weekly pay = hourly rate × hours worked in the workweek, up to 40.
Annual pay = hourly rate × 2,080. That is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks.
Monthly pay = annual pay ÷ 12. Some payrolls instead use a 4.33-week month; the 2,080-hour year divided by 12 is the cleaner annual equivalent.
Biweekly pay = weekly pay × 2, for a regular two-week pay period with no overtime.
At the federal rate, a 40-hour week is $290.00 before taxes, and a 2,080-hour year is $15,080. At $15.00, the same year is $31,200. At Washington's $17.13, it is $35,630.40. At the District of Columbia's $18.40, it is $38,272.
Those annual figures include paid holidays and vacation only if the employer pays them. They are also gross pay. Federal income tax, state income tax where it applies, and the employee's 6.2 percent Social Security plus 1.45 percent Medicare tax (7.65 percent combined under current FICA rates) all come out of the paycheck, as do any benefit deductions.
Overtime changes the weekly total
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, covered nonexempt employees must receive at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. At $7.25, an overtime hour is $10.875. At $17.13, it is $25.695.
A simple example: someone paid the federal minimum who works 45 hours in a week earns 40 × $7.25 plus 5 × $10.875, which is $290.00 + $54.375, or $344.375 before rounding. Most payroll systems would show $344.38. The annual 2,080-hour shortcut does not include those extra hours, so it should not be used as a stand-in for a schedule that regularly runs past 40 hours.
Some states also require daily overtime, or overtime after a different weekly threshold. California is a well-known example of daily overtime rules stacked on top of the federal weekly rule. The federal calculation is the floor, not always the final amount.
What the conversion leaves out
Several legal exceptions can change the starting rate itself. In states that allow a tip credit, an employer may pay a lower cash wage if tips bring the employee up to the full minimum wage for the workweek; if they do not, the employer must pay the difference. Youth, student and learner rates can apply in limited cases under federal certificates. Some workers are exempt from the FLSA's minimum-wage or overtime rules entirely.
The conversion is still useful. It answers a narrow question with clear arithmetic: given a stated hourly rate and a stated number of hours, what is the gross weekly, monthly or yearly amount? It does not answer whether that rate is the one that applies to a particular job. For that, the place of work, the employee's status, and the official state or city rate have to be checked against the federal floor.
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Wage Floor Brief · last reviewed November 2026.