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Household money and budgeting

Pay frequency

How often an employer pays you, usually weekly, every two weeks, twice a month or monthly, which sets how many paychecks you get in a year.

What It Means

Pay frequency is how often an employer pays you: every week, every two weeks (biweekly), twice a month (semimonthly) or once a month. It decides how many paychecks you get in a year, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts at 52, 26, 24 and 12 for those four schedules, and so how big each paycheck is for the same yearly pay. How often an employer must pay is set by state law, and the rules differ from state to state.

Try It: One Salary Paid Four Different Ways

One yearly amount, paid four ways. The salary is an example, before taxes; pick your schedule to highlight it.

Weekly, 52 paychecks$1,000.00
Every two weeks, 26 paychecks$2,000.00
Twice a month, 24 paychecks$2,166.67
Monthly, 12 paychecks$4,333.33
Paydays a year on your schedule26
The same pay as a monthly figure$4,333.33

Paid every two weeks, most months bring two paychecks and usually two months a year bring three.

How It Sounds at Home

  • "We get paid every other Friday."
  • "My new job pays on the 15th and the 30th."
  • "It's a three-paycheck month, so the extra one goes to savings."

The Breakdown

Paychecks a year, per the BLS

SchedulePaydays a year
Weekly52
Every two weeks (biweekly)26
Twice a month (semimonthly)24
Monthly12

Worked example. A job pays $52,000 a year before taxes (a made-up salary). Each paycheck on each schedule:

ScheduleEach paycheck
Weekly$1,000.00
Every two weeks$2,000.00
Twice a month$2,166.67
Monthly$4,333.33

What the result means. Every schedule adds up to the same $52,000. The biweekly and twice-a-month paychecks look alike, but a biweekly paycheck is $166.67 smaller here because there are two more of them in a year. On a biweekly schedule most months carry two paychecks and two months usually carry a third, which is worth planning for ahead of time. To build a monthly budgetBudgetA plan for a set period, usually a month, that lists the money you expect to receive and how you'll spend or save it. See more from biweekly pay, multiply one paycheck by 26 and divide by 12.

How common each schedule is. In the BLS's February 2023 estimates from its Current Employment Statistics survey, 43.0% of private establishments paid every two weeks and 27.0% paid weekly, with semimonthly and then monthly pay less common. Those are shares of businesses, which isn't the same as shares of workers.

Good to Know

How often you must be paid is up to each state, and the U.S. Department of Labor's State Payday Requirements table lists the rules state by state. Some states let an employer choose among several schedules, so two jobs in the same state can pay on different cycles. Your employer's payroll or HR team can tell you which schedule you're on and when the first paycheck arrives, which matters most in the gap after starting a new job.

FAQ

What is the most common pay frequency?

Every two weeks. In the BLS's February 2023 estimates, 43.0% of private establishments paid biweekly and 27.0% paid weekly, with semimonthly and monthly pay less common.

What's the difference between biweekly and semimonthly pay?

Biweekly pay comes every two weeks, 26 times a year, and semimonthly paySemi-monthly payBeing paid twice a month on set dates, 24 paychecks a year, as opposed to biweekly pay every two weeks, which comes to 26. See more comes twice a month, 24 times a year, according to the BLS. For the same salary, each biweekly paycheck is smaller, and usually two months a year bring a third one.

How do I turn biweekly pay into a monthly figure?

Multiply one paycheck by 26, the number of biweekly paydays in a year, and then divide by 12. Weekly pay works the same way with 52 in place of 26.

Do It in Buhata

Budget, repeating entries

Add your salary to Budget as a repeating entry set to your schedule, weekly, every two weeks or twice a month, so each payday shows on the Calendar.

Open Buhata

Related Terms and Categories

  • Semi-monthly pay

    Being paid twice a month on set dates, 24 paychecks a year, as opposed to biweekly pay every two weeks, which comes to 26.

  • Take-home pay

    The money that actually reaches you from a paycheck after taxes and other deductions are taken out, also called net pay or net income.

  • Paycheck budgeting

    Planning money one paycheck at a time, so each bill is paid from the paycheck that arrives before it's due and the rest is spending money.

  • Direct deposit

    A payment, such as a paycheck or government benefit, sent electronically straight into your bank or credit union account instead of as a paper check.

  • Gross income

    The full amount you earn before taxes and other deductions come out. For federal taxes, it's all income you receive unless a law exempts it.

Household money and budgeting

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Length of pay periods in the Current Employment Statistics survey"; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Beyond the Numbers, "How frequently do private businesses pay workers?"; U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, "State Payday Requirements"

Last updated .