How to calculate per day salary
- Enter the monthly salary. Use the gross monthly salary the per day rate should be based on.
- Choose how days are counted. Calendar days in the month, a fixed 30 or 26 days, or the working days in the month.
- Add unpaid days. Enter days of unpaid absence or loss of pay, with half days as 0.5.
- Read per day, hourly and net salary. You get the per day and per hour rate, the deduction and the net salary for the month.
Example: a monthly salary of 45,000 in a 30-day month is 45,000 ÷ 30 = 1,500 a day. With an 8-hour day, that’s 187.50 an hour.
Should you divide by 30 days or 26 days?
Organizations use one of four bases. The right one is whatever your contract, policy or local law says:
- Calendar days (28–31): the daily rate changes each month. Common for monthly-paid staff.
- Fixed 30 days: the same rate every month, with weekly offs counted as paid days.
- Fixed 26 days: only working days are paid days (six-day week with Sunday off). Gives a higher daily rate, often used for wages and overtime.
- Working days in the month: matches the actual days worked, for example 22 with Saturday and Sunday off.
On 45,000, dividing by 30 gives 1,500 a day and dividing by 26 gives 1,730.77. The difference adds up across a team, so pick one basis and apply it the same way to everyone.
Salary deduction for absent days (loss of pay)
Only unpaid days are deducted: absence without leave, or leave beyond the employee’s paid balance. Paid leave, weekly offs and public holidays are not. A half-day absence counts as 0.5. For example, 2.5 unpaid days at 1,500 a day deducts 3,750, leaving 41,250.
The same per-day rate handles joiners and leavers: pay for the days from joining to month end, or from month start to the last working day.
Per day salary table
| Monthly salary | ÷ 30 days | ÷ 26 days | Hourly (÷ 26 ÷ 8) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 | 666.67 | 769.23 | 96.15 |
| 30,000 | 1,000.00 | 1,153.85 | 144.23 |
| 45,000 | 1,500.00 | 1,730.77 | 216.35 |
| 60,000 | 2,000.00 | 2,307.69 | 288.46 |
| 80,000 | 2,666.67 | 3,076.92 | 384.62 |
| 100,000 | 3,333.33 | 3,846.15 | 480.77 |
| 150,000 | 5,000.00 | 5,769.23 | 721.15 |
Per day salary formulas in Excel
Monthly salary in B2, unpaid days in C2, and any date in the salary month in A2:
Counting unpaid days is the hard part at month end. Clocked Live tracks attendance and paid and unpaid leave for every employee, and its payroll-style Excel report lists present, absent, unpaid leave, half days, overtime and payable days per person, ready for your payroll sheet.