Biweekly Payroll

What biweekly payroll means

Biweekly payroll runs on a fixed two-week cycle: employees are paid every other week, on the same weekday, all year. Fifty-two weeks divides evenly into 26 two-week periods most years, which is why biweekly produces 26 paychecks in a typical year.

A year is not an exact multiple of two weeks (52 weeks is 364 days, a few days short of 365, or 366 in a leap year), and that gap accumulates until it pushes a 27th pay period into the calendar instead of 26.

This happens on a roughly 11-year cycle; the next one lands in 2031. Employees get one extra paycheck that year, but nobody is owed more for the year, just paid on a different split. See How Many Pay Periods in a Year for a breakdown of other pay period options.

Biweekly pay is not the same as semimonthly pay. Semimonthly pays twice a month on fixed calendar dates, usually the 15th and the last day of the month, for 24 pay periods a year. Biweekly pays on a rolling two-week cycle instead, so the pay date moves through the calendar and lands on different dates each month.

Why biweekly payroll matters

The employer chooses (within legal constraints) their pay frequency; the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires a regular, consistent schedule.

Federal law does not require biweekly specifically. It requires whatever frequency you pick to be regular and set in advance, so employees can count on when they will get paid.

Some states set their own minimum in addition to the federal standard. Most states require at least semimonthly pay for salaried employees, with some requiring weekly or biweekly pay for hourly workers in specific industries. State law can require more than the FLSA does, but never less, so your state's exact rule is the one that governs.

Choosing biweekly specifically affects three things you will notice every pay run. Paychecks run smaller than semimonthly (26 payments a year instead of 24) but arrive more often.

Overtime tracking follows the workweek directly, because each biweekly period covers exactly two full workweeks, so hours over 40 in a given week are isolated without a separate calculation layer. And in a 27-pay-period year, year-end reconciliation needs one extra look, since annual totals still have to match what you paid out.

Choosing biweekly pay for your business

Pick the pay frequency for your business before your first payroll run rather than switching mid-year. A mid-year change to pay frequency typically needs advance notice to your employees and a check on your state's notification rules, so getting the choice right the first time avoids a second round of paperwork.

Biweekly payroll offers advantages for employers and employees. For employers, overtime lines up directly with the workweek, since each pay period covers exactly two full weeks, and a team that mixes salaried and hourly workers can run on the same schedule without extra adjustment. For employees, biweekly lands on the same weekday every time and pays more often than semimonthly or monthly, giving them a predictable rhythm to plan around.

Once you have settled on biweekly, setup comes down to three decisions: your first pay date, your processing cutoff, and the pay period calendar for the year.

SurePayroll® By Paychex works with the frequency you set and handles the calcluations from there, including any year with an extra pay period.

Checking your state's pay frequency rules

Start with the U.S. Department of Labor's state payday requirements page for your state's specific minimum-frequency rule. Federal law sets the minimum; your state can require more, and this page is the fastest way to confirm what your state requires before you finalize a schedule.

Biweekly is also the most common pay frequency nationally. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics survey found 43% of U.S. private establishments on a biweekly schedule as of February 2023, the highest share of any pay frequency it tracks.

For the fuller comparison across all four common pay frequencies, including per-period pay calculations, see How Many Pay Periods in a Year. For help deciding between weekly and monthly cycles specifically, see Advantages of Weekly Payroll vs. Monthly Payroll.

Related terms

Pay period is the span of time a paycheck covers. Biweekly is one type of pay period; weekly, semimonthly, and monthly are the others.

Pay frequency is the broader decision: how often you choose to run payroll and pay employees. Biweekly is one pay frequency among the four common ones.