Enter your pay frequency (weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly) and a reference pay date to instantly find your pay period start date, end date, and pay date. You can also enter your gross pay to see your annual salary equivalent across all standard pay schedules.
Current Period Start Date
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Current Period End Date
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Next Pay Date
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Pay Periods Per Year
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Annual Salary Equivalent
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A pay period is the recurring length of time over which employee work is tracked and compensated. Common pay periods include weekly (52 per year), biweekly (26 per year), semi-monthly (24 per year), and monthly (12 per year). At the end of each pay period, employees receive a paycheck covering the hours or salary earned during that window.
Biweekly pay means you are paid every two weeks, resulting in 26 paychecks per year — and two months each year will have three paydays. Semi-monthly pay means you are paid twice a month on fixed dates (commonly the 1st and 15th), resulting in exactly 24 paychecks per year. The total annual pay is the same, but the individual paycheck amounts differ slightly.
Enter a known pay date into the Reference Pay Date field and select your pay frequency. The calculator will work backwards to determine when your current pay period started and when it ends, as well as project upcoming pay periods based on that anchor date.
Biweekly is the most common pay frequency in the United States, used by roughly 36% of employers according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Weekly is popular in hourly-wage industries like construction and manufacturing, while semi-monthly and monthly schedules are more common for salaried professionals.
No — your total annual compensation remains the same regardless of how often you are paid. However, the amount per paycheck changes. For example, a $60,000 annual salary means $1,153.85 per weekly paycheck, $2,307.69 biweekly, $2,500 semi-monthly, or $5,000 monthly.
A pay stub should show your gross earnings for the period, all tax withholdings (federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security, Medicare), any pre-tax deductions (like 401k or health insurance), post-tax deductions, and your final net pay. It should also identify the pay period start and end dates along with the pay date.
The pay period dates themselves generally don't change for holidays, but the actual payment date may shift. If a scheduled pay date falls on a bank holiday or weekend, employers typically pay one business day earlier. Your payroll department or HR system will usually notify you of any adjusted pay dates in advance.
Weekly pay has 52 periods per year, biweekly has 26 (with some years having 27), semi-monthly has exactly 24, and monthly has 12. Biweekly schedules occasionally produce a 27th pay period in certain years because 365 days divided by 14 does not divide evenly — this happens roughly every 11 years.