Biweekly pay means you receive a paycheck every two weeks, for a total of 26 pay periods per year. It is the most common pay schedule in the US, used by approximately 43% of private-sector employers according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Biweekly pay is different from semimonthly pay, which results in 24 paychecks per year.

Divide your annual salary by 26. For example, a $65,000 annual salary equals $2,500 biweekly gross pay ($65,000 / 26 = $2,500). This is gross pay before federal taxes, state taxes, FICA, or any deductions. For your net pay, use our paycheck calculator.

Biweekly pay gives you 26 paychecks per year. Semimonthly pay gives you 24 paychecks per year, paid twice per month (typically on the 1st and 15th, or 15th and last day). Your biweekly paycheck will be slightly smaller than your semimonthly check because the annual salary is divided by 26 instead of 24. However, two months each year will have a third biweekly payday.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), overtime is calculated on a workweek basis, not a biweekly pay period basis. You earn 1.5x your regular hourly rate for hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. Even if your employer pays biweekly, each individual workweek within that pay period must be evaluated separately for overtime. Your employer cannot average 80 hours over two weeks to avoid paying overtime. For detailed overtime calculations, use our overtime calculator.

Multiply your hourly rate by your hours per week, then multiply by 2. Formula: (Hourly Rate x Hours Per Week) x 2 = Biweekly Gross Pay. For example: $20/hr x 40 hrs x 2 = $1,600 biweekly. If you have overtime hours in either week, add overtime pay separately using your hourly rate times 1.5 (or your applicable multiplier) times the overtime hours.

Yes. Because 26 biweekly pay periods do not divide evenly into 12 months, two months each year will have three paydays instead of the usual two. The specific months depend on when your pay cycle starts in the calendar year and your employer's payroll schedule. This is often called a "three-paycheck month" and can be a helpful time to pay down debt, build savings, or cover irregular expenses.

This calculator shows gross biweekly pay only, which is your pay before federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security (6.2%), Medicare (1.45%), and any voluntary deductions. Your actual take-home pay will be lower. To estimate your net pay after deductions, use our gross to net calculator or take-home pay calculator.

Based on BLS Q4 2025 data, the median weekly earnings for full-time US workers is $1,188, which equals approximately $2,376 biweekly gross pay. This varies significantly by occupation, industry, education, and location. Healthcare, technology, and finance workers typically earn well above the median, while food service and retail workers often earn below it.