A prorated salary is the portion of your regular pay you earn when you work only part of a standard pay period. This commonly happens when you start or leave a job mid-period, take unpaid leave, or receive a salary change partway through a pay cycle. The word "prorated" simply means divided proportionally based on actual time worked.

US employers use two main methods: the working days method (annual salary divided by total working days in the year, then multiplied by days worked) or the calendar days method (annual salary divided by 365, then multiplied by calendar days worked). The working days method is more common for salaried employees. Your employer's method should be stated in your offer letter or employee handbook.

The FLSA does not mandate a specific proration formula, but employers must pay salaried exempt employees their full salary for any week in which they perform work, with limited exceptions. For the first and last week of employment, employers may pay a proportional amount for the actual days worked. State laws may add additional protections. For non-exempt hourly workers, pay is always based on actual hours worked.

The calendar days method divides salary across all 365 days of the year including weekends, which results in a lower daily rate. The working days method divides salary only across scheduled workdays (typically 260 per year), giving a higher daily rate but only counting business days. The two methods can produce notably different results depending on when in the week your partial period falls.

Yes. Your prorated pay is still subject to federal income tax withholding, FICA (Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%), and applicable state income taxes. The amount withheld on a partial paycheck may look different from a full paycheck, but your annual tax liability is calculated on your total income for the year. Use our paycheck calculator to estimate take-home pay after deductions.

Yes. Select the "Salary Change" scenario in this calculator. You enter your old annual salary, your new annual salary, and the date the change becomes effective. The calculator splits the pay period into two portions: days worked at the old rate plus days worked at the new rate. The two amounts are added together for your total prorated paycheck. Use our salary increase calculator to also see your full-year raise impact.

Hourly workers are always paid based on exact hours clocked. Prorated salary applies to salaried employees who normally receive a fixed amount per period regardless of exact hours but need a partial-period adjustment due to a specific circumstance. The prorated calculation converts a fixed salary into a daily rate to determine proportional pay. If you want to understand how your annual salary translates to an hourly rate, use our salary to hourly calculator.

This calculator supports monthly (12x per year), semi-monthly (24x per year), biweekly (26x per year), weekly (52x per year), and annual frequencies. Select the frequency that matches your employment agreement. If you want to compare what different pay schedules mean for your budget, see our biweekly pay calculator and semi-monthly pay calculator.