Figuring out how many work hours in a year allows you to plan your year, create a realistic budget and achieve work-life balance.
We work to pay the bills, put food on the table, and afford all our needs and wants. But have you ever thought about how many work hours you work in a year?
Besides the actual number of hours you work, it also pays to know the number of your paid holiday hours and overtime hours.
It may seem trivial when your brain and body are wired to wake up and go to work every day. But when you know many hours you work in a day, week, month, or year, you also know if you are being paid enough (0r fairly, at least) because it gives you a clearer idea of your actual hours and income.

Why You Should Know How Many Work Hours in a Year?
There are a couple of reasons you’d want to know how many hours you devote to work in a year.
Did you know, according to Gettysburg College, an average person work spends one-third of his life working!? This study further says that we spend an average of 90,000 hours working in our lifetime.
One lifetime can be too difficult to quantify in terms of working hours, so let’s narrow it down and find our average working hours in a year, month and week.
Here are more reasons why you’d want to know how many hours you spend working:
- To determine your hourly salary
This is especially useful for salaried employees who want to know how much they make on an hourly basis. Knowing your hourly pay could also determine if you are putting in more hours at work than you should, which could lead to a decline in productivity and burnout.
- To know your annual salary
If you work at an hourly rate, you need to know the number of hours you need to work to achieve your desired annual salary. People who are paid hourly pay can re-evaluate their number of working hours and nail down that sweet spot where they make good money without tiring or stressing out too much.
- Achieve work-life balance
Working too many hours can take a toll on your health. By knowing how many work hours you need to work, you’ll also be able to design a lifestyle or routine that keeps you both happy and healthy. With a good work-life balance, you get to pursue passions outside of your work and have a healthier stance in your professional and personal life.
How Many Work Hours in a Year?
First, let’s find out the number of hours you devote to work in a year.
One year has a total of 52 weeks. Assuming that you’re an average full-time employee who spends eight hours of work per day and works 40 hours per week. We find your working hours in a year by multiplying them, so:
52 weeks x 40 hours per week = 2,080 hours per year
Therefore, full-time employees’ average working hours per year is 2,080 hours.
That is the average annual working hours, but if we are going to get technical about it, this isn’t really the exact figure. There are 52.143 to 52.286 weeks in a year (depending if it’s a leap year). The number of work days could vary between 260 to 262. And the total number of hours in a year can be somewhere between 2080-2096.
This can be a little complicated, so most people stick with the average working hours per year, which is 2080 hours.
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How Many Working Hours for Part-Time Employees
If you work part-time, the number of hours worked per year depends on the hours you dedicate to the job daily or weekly.
For instance, if you work 30 hours per week, then we multiply that by 52, and so the total number of hours worked is 1,560 per year.
Let’s say you work a total of four hours per day, so that’s 20 hours per week. Then the total of hours worked per year is 1,040 hours.
What About Paid Holidays and Paid Vacation Days?
Employees who have satisfied specific service requirements are entitled to paid holidays and vacation days.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, paid vacation time depends on the length of service you have rendered so far with the company. Private workers who have at least one year of service get 10-14 vacation days, while those who have stayed with the company for at least 10 years get 15-19 days of vacation time.
Additionally, paid vacation time may also include sick days and paid holidays. So the actual number of hours worked in a year is less than 2,080.
For example, you’re a full-time employee who works 2,080 hours. But your actual number of work hours is lesser when we consider paid time off, federal holidays, and sick leave.

In the US, there are 11 paid federal holidays. Let’s just say that you also get 80 hours of paid time off and are entitled to a sick leave accumulating to seven days.
So we convert these to hourly units: 88 paid holiday hours (for 11 days paid holidays) + 80 hours paid time off + 56 hours sick time (7 days) = 224 hours. We now subtract this from your total work hours, so:
2,080 hours – 224 hours = 1,856 hours per year.
This means that while you are paid an annual salary good for 2,080 hours, the total number of hours worked is only good for 1,856 hours.
Most employers also allow accumulating the number of paid time off and sick time into a single block. As we’ve discussed earlier, knowing how many work hours you work in a year is important so you can plan what to do with your vacation time. If you have three to four weeks of accumulated vacation time, then you can make preparations for how you want to spend this free time.
How Many Hours Do You Work in a Month?
Salaried employees typically work 40 hours per week, but these weekly hours could vary for some. But assuming you work 40 hours per week, then you work approximately 160 hours a month. There are months that have five weeks and months that have paid holidays.
But this number is not absolute. Most people divide the number of hours they work in a year by twelve months to find the number of hours they work in a month. So if you work the standard full-time hours, the average number you work in a month is around 173 hours.
How Many Work Hours in a Week?
Here is how you find your weekly hours: find the total hours you work in a day and multiply that by the number of days you work in a week.
You most likely work eight hours daily if you’re a full-time employee. So if you work a total of five days a week (excluding weekends), then you work a total of 40 hours per week.
Are You Working Too Many Hours?
It’s quite incredible that we literally spend a lot of time working. Did you know that the number of working hours can vary from country to country?
Most countries in Europe have shorter work hours than the average set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). According to OECD, the average number of work hours per year in 2020 is 1,687. This boils down to 33.5 hours per week. As a reference, the average working hours in the US is 38.7 hours per week.
For example, people from Germany, Denmark, the UK, and Norway only work 26 hours per week, and that is already full-time!
Meanwhile, Asians tend to work longer hours. People in the UAE spend 52.6 work hours per week!
Why should you care about this?
Working excessive hours could compromise your focus, productivity, and mental health. You also don’t get to enjoy excellent work-life balance as spending too much time at work robs you of the chance to socialize, spend quality time with family and friends, and pursue your other passions.
Conclusion
It is not enough to know your hourly rate or annual salary. You also need to know the number of hours you work to determine if you are working a healthy number of hours and if you are being compensated fairly.
Additionally, knowing your actual annual hours with respect to your hourly pay or annual income allows you to evaluate a job opportunity, whether you’re moving up the ladder or entirely shifting to a new career path.
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