Article — Semi-Monthly Pay Calculator
Semi-monthly pay calculator: how 24 paychecks divide your salary
Semi-monthly pay splits an annual salary into 24 paychecks per year, paid on two fixed calendar dates each month — usually the 1st and 15th, or the 15th and last day. The semi-monthly pay calculator on this page divides your annual salary by 24 and shows the equivalent monthly, biweekly, weekly, daily, and hourly amounts.
It is a frequency calculation, not a tax calculation. The figures the calculator returns are gross before federal and state withholding, FICA, and any benefit deductions.
What semi-monthly pay actually means
A semi-monthly schedule pays twice each calendar month for a total of 24 paychecks per year. The dates are usually fixed: the 1st and 15th, or the 15th and last day of the month. When a scheduled date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the U.S. Department of Labor allows employers to pay on the prior business day under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows about 20% of private-sector U.S. workers are paid semi-monthly, behind biweekly (43%) and weekly (27%). Semi-monthly is more common in white-collar industries such as professional services, finance, and higher education.
The semi-monthly pay formula
The calculator uses one line of arithmetic:
Semi-monthly = Annual ÷ 24Annual = Semi-monthly × 24A $60,000 salary becomes $60,000 ÷ 24 = $2,500.00 per paycheck. A $90,000 salary becomes $3,750.00. A $48,000 salary becomes $2,000.00 — semi-monthly works cleanly when the salary divides evenly by 24.
Every semi-monthly worker earns the same amount each month: exactly two paychecks. Biweekly workers see two months a year that contain three paychecks. Cash flow is therefore more predictable on a semi-monthly schedule even when the annual salary is identical.
Semi-monthly pay vs biweekly
Semi-monthly and biweekly are easy to confuse because the per-paycheck amounts are similar but never identical. Semi-monthly pays on fixed dates; biweekly pays every 14 days, regardless of the calendar.
The per-paycheck gap on a $60,000 salary is $192.31. Biweekly delivers two extra paychecks per year, so total annual pay matches. Salary employees feel no difference at year end; hourly workers can see a small timing effect because overtime rules count workweeks, not pay periods.
Hours in a semi-monthly pay period
For a 40-hour workweek the semi-monthly hours figure is 86.67, not 80. The arithmetic: 40 hours × 52 weeks ÷ 24 pay periods = 86.6667. Using 80 hours under-counts pay by about 8% per period.
For other workweeks: 35 hours per week = 75.83 hours per semi-monthly period; 37.5 hours = 81.25; 45 hours = 97.50. The calculator updates the figure automatically when you change the hours-per-week dropdown.
Hourly workers paid semi-monthly should still track exact hours each workweek, because the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime threshold (40 hours in one workweek) is independent of pay frequency.
Semi-monthly pay examples
- $36,000 = $1,500.00 per paycheck
- $48,000 = $2,000.00 per paycheck
- $60,000 = $2,500.00 per paycheck
- $72,000 = $3,000.00 per paycheck
- $84,000 = $3,500.00 per paycheck
- $96,000 = $4,000.00 per paycheck
- $120,000 = $5,000.00 per paycheck
- $168,600 (2024 Social Security wage base) = $7,025.00 per paycheck
Round-number salaries divide cleanly. Off-round numbers leave fractions of a cent that payroll software resolves by rounding the final paycheck of the year. Multiply your semi-monthly paycheck by 24 and you should land within a few cents of your gross annual salary.
Semi-monthly pay and overtime rules
Overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to hours worked over 40 in a single workweek for non-exempt employees. Payroll frequency does not change that. A worker on a semi-monthly schedule who logs 45 hours in a workweek inside a pay period must receive five hours of overtime at one-and-a-half times the regular rate, regardless of total hours across the 15-day period.
The IRS treats semi-monthly the same as any other schedule for income-tax withholding. Publication 15 (Circular E) lists withholding tables for daily, weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual pay periods. The total federal tax for the year does not depend on which schedule you use; only the per-paycheck withholding does.
Hourly contractors sometimes assume a semi-monthly period equals 80 hours, the way a biweekly period does. That assumption short-pays them by 6.67 hours every period, or 160 hours a year on a 40-hour week. The correct number is 86.67.
Picking a pay schedule
Employers usually pick a schedule by industry norm and software constraints. From a worker's point of view, the practical differences are cash-flow timing, not annual income.
Semi-monthly suits people who pay rent and utilities monthly: two checks per month line up cleanly with monthly obligations. Biweekly suits people who think in two-week cycles and like the boost of two three-check months per year. Weekly suits hourly workers who need money to flow with hours worked. All three deliver the same gross over a calendar year on the same salary.
Switching from biweekly to semi-monthly does not change your annual pay, but it does change every paycheck's gross. On a $60,000 salary, biweekly delivers $2,307.69 every two weeks while semi-monthly delivers $2,500.00 twice a month. Direct-deposit timing, automated savings transfers, and credit-card statement cycles often need a one-time adjustment when an employer changes payroll frequency. The U.S. Department of Labor requires employers to give written notice before changing payday rules in most states.
For employers, the choice also affects payroll cost. Twenty-four pay runs per year cost less to process than 26 (biweekly) or 52 (weekly). Semi-monthly also aligns naturally with monthly accounting close and benefits-accrual calendars, which is why it remains common in finance, professional services, and higher education.