Based on 37.5 hours a week over 52 weeks, £45,000 per year works out to £23.08 an hour.
£23.08 an hour is at or above the UK median hourly pay of £18.56 and well clear of the Real Living Wage of £13.85.
| UK hourly rate benchmark | Rate |
|---|---|
| National Minimum Wage (under 18 & apprentices) | £7.55 |
| National Minimum Wage (18–20) | £10.00 |
| National Living Wage (21+) | £12.21 |
| Real Living Wage (UK) | £12.60 |
| Real Living Wage (London) | £13.85 |
| UK median hourly pay (ONS) | £18.56 |
Annual salary converts to an hourly rate by dividing by the total hours worked in a year. The UK full-time norm is 37.5 hours a week over 52 weeks, which is 1,950 hours a year.
Change hours per week or weeks worked above to see how a different working pattern shifts the hourly equivalent.
The rate here is gross, before Income Tax, National Insurance, pension contributions, and any student loan deductions. For an after-tax figure, use the Salary Calculator with the gross amount you have in mind.
Gross is the right number to use when comparing job offers on paper, but it is not what lands in your bank account each month.
The same annual salary produces different hourly rates depending on the working pattern. Fewer weekly hours, or fewer working weeks, push the hourly equivalent higher.
This is why hourly comparisons between roles only make sense once you agree on the hours assumption behind each figure.
Annual salary suits long-term planning — mortgages, pensions, tax bands. Hourly rate suits thinking about each extra shift, side work, or part-time vs full-time trade-offs.
Both views describe the same pay; neither is inherently more useful. The gap between them is just the working-hours assumption.
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