North Carolina ties its state minimum wage directly to the federal rate, meaning the effective minimum for most NC workers is $7.25 per hour — the same floor set by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and unchanged since July 24, 2009. Whether you live in Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro or a rural county, this calculator converts that hourly rate (or any wage you enter) into the numbers that matter for everyday budgeting: weekly gross, monthly gross and annual gross, with federal overtime baked in automatically whenever you work more than 40 hours.
How it works
Enter your hourly wage and your average hours per week. The calculator divides your time into two buckets:
- Regular time — the first 40 hours each week, paid at your straight-time rate.
- Overtime — any hours beyond 40, paid at 1.5 times your regular rate under FLSA Section 7(a)(1).
The formulas are:
Weekly gross = (regular hours x wage) + (overtime hours x wage x 1.5)
Monthly gross = weekly gross x 52 / 12
Annual gross = weekly gross x 52
The monthly figure uses the 52-week average so it correctly spans short and long months alike. All calculations run in your browser — no numbers are uploaded or stored anywhere.
Worked example
Suppose you work 45 hours per week at North Carolina’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour:
| Metric | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Regular pay | 40h x $7.25 | $290.00 |
| Overtime pay | 5h x $10.875 (1.5x) | $54.38 |
| Weekly gross | $290.00 + $54.38 | $344.38 |
| Monthly gross | $344.38 x 52 / 12 | $1,492.31 |
| Annual gross | $344.38 x 52 | $17,907.76 |
At a straightforward 40 hours per week with no overtime, the $7.25 minimum yields a weekly gross of $290.00, a monthly gross of $1,256.67 and an annual gross of $15,080.00 — all before federal income tax, North Carolina state income tax (currently a flat 4.5%), Social Security (6.2%) or Medicare (1.45%) deductions.
The calculator also shows a federal minimum comparison panel. Because North Carolina mirrors the federal rate, a worker at exactly the NC minimum will see “Equal” in that panel. Enter a higher wage to instantly see the annual premium your rate generates above the $7.25 floor.
North Carolina minimum wage in context
North Carolina’s minimum wage framework is governed by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.3, which pegs the state rate to the federal minimum. Since Congress last raised the FLSA minimum to $7.25 in 2009, neither the NC General Assembly nor any local government has been able to supplement it — state law explicitly preempts municipalities from setting higher local floors. This distinguishes North Carolina from states like California ($16.50/hr in 2025) or New York ($16.50/hr in New York City), where state law independently exceeds the federal floor.
North Carolina’s flat state income tax of 4.5% (reduced from 5.25% over recent years as part of a scheduled phase-down) means that take-home pay on minimum wage is eroded faster than in states with no income tax such as Florida or Texas. At $15,080 annual gross, the NC state tax bite alone is roughly $679, before federal taxes, FICA or any deductions.
Tipped workers are a special case: employers may pay a direct cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour under the federal tip credit, provided tips bring the effective hourly rate to at least $7.25. North Carolina follows this federal provision and imposes no higher tipped minimum of its own. If tips fall short in any workweek, the employer is legally required to make up the gap to reach the $7.25 floor.
Use the calculator to model any wage scenario — for example, what $10/hr, $12/hr or $15/hr would mean annually — so you can compare job offers, negotiate a pay rise or build a household budget with real numbers.