Biweekly Pay Calculator
Convert an annual salary or hourly rate into your gross paycheck for a two-week pay period — with overtime included.
Enter your annual salary to see your gross biweekly paycheck — your salary divided across 26 pay periods.
Gross Biweekly Paycheck
$2,500.00
$65,000.00 ÷ 26 pay periods
Weekly
$1,250.00
Semi-monthly
$2,708.33
Monthly
$5,416.67
Running biweekly payroll from manual timesheets? HiveDesk tracks hours and flags overtime automatically for every pay period.
Track it automatically →How Biweekly Pay Works
A biweekly schedule pays every other week on the same weekday — 26 paychecks per year. It is the most common pay frequency in the US because it aligns cleanly with the FLSA workweek used for overtime.
The Formulas
Salaried: Biweekly Gross = Annual Salary ÷ 26
Hourly: Biweekly Gross = (Rate x Hours per Week x 2) + Overtime
Example: $65,000 ÷ 26 = $2,500 gross per paycheck. An hourly employee at $20/hr working 40-hour weeks grosses $1,600 per biweekly paycheck.
Working backwards from a paycheck to an hourly rate? Use our salary to hourly calculator.
Biweekly Paychecks for Common Salaries
| Annual Salary | Gross Biweekly Paycheck |
|---|---|
| $40,000 | $1,538.46 |
| $50,000 | $1,923.08 |
| $60,000 | $2,307.69 |
| $65,000 | $2,500.00 |
| $70,000 | $2,692.31 |
| $75,000 | $2,884.62 |
| $80,000 | $3,076.92 |
| $90,000 | $3,461.54 |
| $100,000 | $3,846.15 |
Gross amounts before taxes and deductions, at 26 pay periods per year.
Biweekly vs Semi-Monthly Pay
The two schedules are often confused, but they differ in paycheck count, size, and how overtime is handled:
| Biweekly | Semi-Monthly | |
|---|---|---|
| Paychecks per year | 26 | 24 |
| Payday | Same weekday, every 2 weeks | Fixed dates (e.g., 15th and last day) |
| Paycheck on $65,000 | $2,500.00 | $2,708.33 |
| Three-paycheck months | 2 per year | Never |
| Overtime alignment | Aligns with FLSA workweeks | Workweeks split across periods |
Accurate Hours In, Accurate Paychecks Out
HiveDesk tracks time automatically and generates payroll-ready timesheets for any pay period — weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly. $5/user/month, 14-day free trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is biweekly pay calculated from an annual salary?
Divide the annual salary by 26, because a biweekly schedule pays every two weeks and there are 52 weeks in a year. A $65,000 salary works out to $2,500 gross per paycheck. This is gross pay — taxes, benefits, and other deductions come out before take-home pay.
How many biweekly paychecks are there in a year?
Twenty-six in a standard year. Because 26 paychecks do not divide evenly across 12 months, two months each year contain three paydays instead of two. Occasionally a year has 27 paydays, depending on which day of the week the schedule starts.
What is the difference between biweekly and semi-monthly pay?
Biweekly pays every two weeks — 26 paychecks per year. Semi-monthly pays twice per month on fixed dates (often the 15th and last day) — 24 paychecks per year. For the same salary, semi-monthly checks are slightly larger ($2,708.33 vs $2,500 on $65,000), but the annual total is identical.
How does overtime work on a biweekly schedule?
Overtime is still calculated per workweek, not per pay period. Under the FLSA, each of the two weeks is evaluated separately against the 40-hour threshold — an employee who works 45 hours one week and 35 the next is owed 5 overtime hours, even though the two-week total is 80.
Which months have three biweekly paychecks?
It depends on the year and your employer's payday schedule. Any month containing three of your paydays is a three-paycheck month — find your first payday of the year, then count forward in two-week steps to map the year.
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