It’s always a good idea to know how many work hours in a year when figuring out what you will be getting paid. Whether you’re being paid an hourly wage or a salary, you’ll want to have at least a general understanding of how many hours you will work each year.
Say one day you were surfing the internet for potential jobs and found one that listed an hourly rate of $20 an hour. At first glance, you won’t have a clue what you will end up making over the course of a year.
But when you know the exact amount of hours in a work year, it’s just a simple calculation to figure out your yearly salary.
Most of the time, you will use one of two numbers; the average work hours in a year using a simple calculation or the exact amount of hours worked for the specific year you or in.
How To Calculate Hours Worked in a Year
When it comes to calculating the total number of hours worked in a year, most people will take 52 weeks and multiply it by 40 hours to get a total of 2080 hours worked.
52 weeks is used as the average number of weeks in a standard year. Although, the exact amount of weeks in a year is actually 52.143 weeks. This is found by dividing 365 days by 7 days to get 52.143 weeks.
40 hours represents the standard amount of time a full-time employee works each week. Full-time workers, especially in the United States, are often described as anyone who works at least 40 hours a week.
The definition of a full-time employee is not always straightforward. Depending on which source you use, full-time work may be described as an employee who works an average of at least 30 hours a week.
With all that said, in America, most full-time employees work approximately 40 hours a week. This is why 40 hours is used as the total weekly amount of hours when calculating how many work hours in a year.
Related: $18 an Hour is How Much a Year?
Key Takeaways About Calculating Hours Worked in a Year
You calculate hours worked in a year by multiplying the total weeks in a year by the hours worked in a week to get the total number of hours worked in a year (2080 hours).
Alternatively, you can multiply the number of workdays in a year by the total number of hours worked in a day. There are 260 workdays in a year (52 weeks x 5 weekdays) and the typical number of hours worked in a day is 8. By multiplying 260 workdays by 8 hours a day, we still get a total number of 2080 hours worked in a year.
Total Weeks in a Year: 52 weeks
Total Number of Workdays in a Year: 260 days
Amount of Hours Worked in a Day (Full-Time): 8 Hours
Total Number of Hours in a Work Year: 2080 hours
Keep in mind that these numbers are averages. The specific number of days and hours worked in a year varies from year to year.
For instance, 2022 may have a different number of hours in its work year than the proceeding years will have.
2022 Work Hours and Workdays
There are 260 working days and 2080 work hours in the 2022 work year.
| Month | Number of Workdays | Number of Work Hours |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 – 31 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| February 1 – 28 | 20 days | 160 hours |
| March 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| April 1 – 30 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| May 1 – 31 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| June 1 – 30 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| July 1 – 31 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| August 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| September 1 – 30 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| October 1 – 31 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| November 1 – 30 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| December 1 – 31 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| Total | 260 days | 2080 hours |
2023 Work Hours and Workdays
There are 260 working days and 2080 work hours in the 2023 work year.
| Month | Number of Workdays | Number of Work Hours |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 – 31 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| February 1 – 28 | 20 days | 160 hours |
| March 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| April 1 – 30 | 20 days | 160 hours |
| May 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| June 1 – 30 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| July 1 – 31 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| August 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| September 1 – 30 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| October 1 – 31 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| November 1 – 30 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| December 1 – 31 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| Total | 260 days | 2080 hours |
2024 Work Hours and Workdays
There are 262 working days and 2096 work hours in the 2024 work year.
| Month | Number of Workdays | Number of Work Hours |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| February 1 – 29 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| March 1 – 31 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| April 1 – 30 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| May 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| June 1 – 30 | 20 days | 160 hours |
| July 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| August 1 – 31 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| September 1 – 30 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| October 1 – 31 | 23 days | 184 hours |
| November 1 – 30 | 21 days | 168 hours |
| December 1 – 31 | 22 days | 176 hours |
| Total | 262 days | 2096 hours |
How Many Work Hours in a Month?
The number of total work hours in a month varies depending on the month and year. On average, an employee will work a total of 160 hours a month. This is assuming that they work full-time, 8 hours each day.
For the exact amount of hours an employee will work in a month, check the tables above for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
You will find the exact number ranged anywhere from a minimum of 160 hours to as much as 184 hours, depending on the month.
How Many Work Hours in a Quarter?
Many businesses operate and measure progress based on quarters. Each calendar year has four three-month quarters. Assuming the average employee works 160 hours a month, that would mean over the course of an entire quarter, they would work approximately 480 hours.
Of course, this number will change based on the months included and the year. For example, in quarter 4 (Q4) of 2022, there are a total of 520 work hours.
Quarter 1: January, February, and March
In 2022, Q1 starts Saturday, January 1, and ends Thursday, March 31.
Quarter 2: April, May, and June
Q2 starts Friday, April 1, and ends Thursday, June 30.
Quarter 3: July, August, and September
Q3 starts Friday, July 1, and ends Friday, September 30.
Quarter 4: October, November, and December
Q4 starts Saturday, October 1, and ends Saturday, December 31.
Total Biweekly Work Hours
Many employees receive paychecks biweekly and may want to calculate how many hours they worked for each paycheck. Biweekly means every two weeks. So on average, someone working full-time will work 80 hours each biweekly pay period.
Biweekly Work Hours: 80 hours
How Holidays Affect Work Hours
There are a couple of variables that can affect how many work hours are in a year. Holidays are one of these variables. Which holidays someone has off will depend on where they work.
In the United States, businesses will typically be closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. However, some remain open.
Here is a list of all the U.S. federal holidays in 2022:
| Holiday | Date |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Friday, December 31 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Monday, January 17 |
| Washington’s Birthday | Monday, February 21 |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 30 |
| Juneteenth | Sunday, June 19 |
| Independence Day | Monday, July 4 |
| Labor Day | Monday, September 5 |
| Veterans Day | Friday, November 11 |
| Thanksgiving | Thursday, November 24 |
| Christmas | Sunday, December 25 |
It’s a good idea to check with your employer, as each company has different policies regarding which holidays employees have off.
