Prorated Salary Calculator
Work out prorated gross pay for a mid-period hire, exit, or salary change, by working days or calendar days, then estimate take-home after FICA and withholding.
Prorated Salary Calculator
Salary and pay period
Days worked and method
Leave these at the period bounds for a full, un-prorated check. Set the first day for a mid-period hire, the last day for a termination.
Counted as compensable working days. Only applies to the working-days method.
Take-home is the prorated gross minus FICA and the estimated federal withholding. Withholding uses simplified 2026 brackets and the standard deduction; actual employer withholding uses IRS Pub 15-T percentage-method tables.
What is a prorated salary?
A prorated salary is pay adjusted to match the part of a pay period an employee actually worked. Instead of the full period paycheck, they get a share based on their days on the job. It comes up whenever someone doesn't work a full period: a new hire starting mid-cycle, a termination or resignation partway through, an unpaid leave, or a salary that changes mid-cycle.
The math is proportional. You start with the normal period gross, work out a daily rate, and multiply by the days worked. FICA and federal withholding then come out of that smaller gross exactly as they would on a normal check.
Working days vs. calendar days: which method to use
The working-days method divides the period gross across scheduled work days, Monday through Friday, which works out to roughly 260 days a year (2,080 hours). It's the HR standard because a salaried worker is paid for work days, not weekends. This calculator defaults to it and lets you add paid holidays as compensable days.
The calendar-days method spreads the same period gross across every day in the period, weekends included. That gives you a lower daily rate, so the same span of worked days pays less than it would under the working-days method. Use calendar days only when a contract or company policy specifically requires it.
How to calculate prorated pay, step by step
Four steps get you to the prorated gross:
- Period gross: annual salary divided by paychecks per year.
- Day-count basis: working days (or calendar days) in the full period.
- Daily rate: period gross divided by the day-count basis.
- Prorated gross: daily rate times the days actually worked.
Take a monthly example: a $75,000 salary with 22 working days in the month, where the employee worked 15 of them, gives ($75,000 / 12) / 22 x 15 = $4,261.36. Taxes then apply as usual, so 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare come off the prorated gross, followed by federal income tax withholding.
Prorating for special cases
Exempt vs. non-exempt: the FLSA lets you prorate an exempt salary for a partial first or last week of employment and for full-day qualifying absences, but not for partial-day docking. Mid-period raises: run the calculator twice, once per salary at each sub-span, and add the results. Final paychecks: set the last day worked to the termination date and check your state final-pay deadline. Unpaid leave: shorten the worked span so it leaves out the unpaid days.
This page handles one paycheck at a time. To run a full team payroll with per-employee year-to-date tracking, state tax, and employer SUTA and FUTA, the Payroll Calculator app does the exact math for every worker. You can also compare a full, un-prorated check with the salary-to-paycheck calculator or model a mid-period team with the multi-employee payroll calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about prorated salary calculator
How do I calculate a prorated salary for a new hire who started mid-pay-period?
Take the period gross (annual salary divided by paychecks per year), divide it by the number of working days in the period to get a daily rate, then multiply by the days the new hire actually worked. Set the first day worked to their start date and leave the last day worked at the period end. The salary-to-paycheck calculator covers a full, un-prorated check.
Should I prorate by working days or calendar days, and which is correct?
Working days is the HR standard, and it is what ADP, Patriot, and Indeed recommend, because a salaried worker is paid for scheduled work days (about 260 a year), not weekends. Calendar days spreads the same period gross across every day including weekends, which lowers the daily rate. Use calendar days only if a contract or policy specifically calls for it.
What's the formula for prorated salary?
Prorated gross = (annual salary / paychecks per year) / days in the period x days worked, where "days" are working days under the recommended method. For a monthly example: ($75,000 / 12) / 22 working days x 15 days worked = $4,261.36.
How do I prorate a salaried employee's final paycheck when they leave mid-period?
Set the last day worked to their termination date and leave the first day worked at the period start. The tool counts the days from the period start through the last day worked and applies the daily rate. Check your state final-pay deadline rules too, since some states require the last check sooner than the normal payday.
Can I prorate an exempt (salaried) employee, and when is it legal under the FLSA?
The FLSA lets you prorate an exempt salary for a partial first or last week of employment and for full-day absences that qualify under the salary-basis rules. It does not allow docking an exempt employee for partial-day absences. This tool models proration of the salary itself for partial first or last periods, not partial-day deductions.
How do I handle a mid-period pay raise or salary change?
Run the calculator twice. First run: use the old salary with the worked span up to the day before the change. Second run: use the new salary from the change date through the period end. Add the two prorated gross figures together for the total check. Running it twice and summing is simpler and harder to get wrong than a single dual-salary input.
Are prorated wages taxed differently from a normal paycheck?
No. Prorated wages are ordinary wages, so the same FICA (6.2% Social Security, 1.45% Medicare) and federal income tax withholding apply to the prorated gross. Since a prorated check is smaller than a normal one, annualized withholding on it comes out lower, so treat the estimate here as a planning figure rather than the exact amount your employer will withhold.
Is prorated pay calculated on gross or net salary?
Proration works on gross salary. You reduce the gross pay in proportion to the time worked, then FICA and withholding come out of that prorated gross to get net. Never prorate a net figure directly. For full multi-employee payroll with year-to-date tracking, the Payroll Calculator app runs the exact math.