How to use the time card calculator
- 1
Enter your times
For each day you worked, pick a start and end time. Weekdays start filled in with 9 to 5 and a 30-minute break; change or clear them.
- 2
Add unpaid breaks
Type your unpaid break in minutes, like 30 for a lunch break. Leave it blank if your breaks are paid.
- 3
Check totals and pay
The weekly total, overtime and, if you add an hourly rate, estimated gross pay update instantly. Copy the timesheet when you're done.
How hours worked are calculated
For each day, the calculator converts the start and end times to minutes, subtracts one from the other, and then removes your unpaid break. Daily totals are added up for the week. Overtime is any time above the weekly limit you set, 40 hours by default, and regular hours are everything up to that limit.
Friday: 8:30 AM to 6:15 PM, 30-minute lunch = 9h 15m
Week total: 41h 15m (41.25 hours)
Regular: 40h 00m · Overtime: 1h 15m
At $20/hour: 40 × $20 + 1.25 × $30 = $837.50 gross
Minutes to decimal hours
Payroll systems usually record time in decimal hours, so 30 minutes is 0.50 and 15 minutes is 0.25. Use this table to convert minutes, or let the calculator do it: every total is shown both ways.
| Minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 0.08 |
| 6 minutes | 0.10 |
| 10 minutes | 0.17 |
| 12 minutes | 0.20 |
| 15 minutes | 0.25 |
| 18 minutes | 0.30 |
| 20 minutes | 0.33 |
| 24 minutes | 0.40 |
| 30 minutes | 0.50 |
| 36 minutes | 0.60 |
| 40 minutes | 0.67 |
| 42 minutes | 0.70 |
| 45 minutes | 0.75 |
| 48 minutes | 0.80 |
| 50 minutes | 0.83 |
| 54 minutes | 0.90 |
| 55 minutes | 0.92 |
| 60 minutes | 1.00 |
A common mistake is to write 7 hours 30 minutes as 7.30. In decimal, it's 7.50. Mixing the two formats underpays 30 minutes as 18.
Overtime rules in the US and UK
| United States | United Kingdom | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal overtime premium | 1.5× for hours over 40 a week (non-exempt employees) | None by law; set by your contract |
| Daily overtime | Some states, e.g. California: over 8 hours a day | No |
| Weekly hours limit | No federal limit for adults | 48-hour average, unless you opt out |
| Rest breaks | Not required federally; some states require them | 20 minutes if working more than 6 hours |
| Rest between shifts | No federal rule | 11 hours in a row each day |
These are general rules for adult workers. Exemptions, union agreements and state laws can change them, so check with your employer or the US Department of Labor or GOV.UK if you're unsure.
Time clock rounding
Many employers round clock-in and clock-out times. US federal rules allow rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour or quarter hour, as long as it evens out over time and doesn't always favor the employer. Under the common “7-minute rule”, clocking in at 8:07 rounds to 8:00 and 8:08 rounds to 8:15. This calculator uses exact minutes, so your total may differ slightly from a payroll system that rounds.
Night shifts and split shifts
For a shift that runs past midnight, enter the real start and end times. If the end time is earlier than the start, the calculator adds 24 hours, so a 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM shift with a 30-minute break counts as 8 hours. Enter the shift on the day it started. For a split shift, such as 7 to 11 AM and then 4 to 8 PM, enter 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM with a 300-minute break, since the gap between the two parts is unpaid.
Weekly hours to monthly and yearly hours
Useful for comparing job offers or turning an hourly rate into an annual figure. These assume the same hours every week for 52 weeks, before any unpaid time off.
| Hours per week | Per 2 weeks | Per month (avg.) | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 40 | 86.7 | 1,040 |
| 25 | 50 | 108.3 | 1,300 |
| 30 | 60 | 130.0 | 1,560 |
| 35 | 70 | 151.7 | 1,820 |
| 37.5 | 75 | 162.5 | 1,950 |
| 40 | 80 | 173.3 | 2,080 |
| 45 | 90 | 195.0 | 2,340 |
| 50 | 100 | 216.7 | 2,600 |
A full-time 40-hour week works out to 2,080 hours a year, which is why an hourly rate is often converted to a salary by multiplying by 2,080. At $25 an hour, that's $52,000 a year before taxes.
Time cards, timesheets and time clocks
A time card traditionally recorded in and out times for a single week, often punched by a mechanical time clock. A timesheet is the same idea on paper or in software, sometimes also tracking which project or client the hours were for. A time clock is the device or app that captures the times. Whatever your workplace uses, the math is the same: end time minus start time, minus unpaid breaks, added up for the pay period.
Pay periods and hours
| Pay frequency | Pay periods per year | Hours per period (40-hour week) |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 52 | 40 |
| Biweekly (every 2 weeks) | 26 | 80 |
| Semimonthly (twice a month) | 24 | 86.67 on average |
| Monthly | 12 | 173.33 on average |
Under US rules, overtime is calculated per workweek, not per pay period. On a biweekly schedule, a 45-hour week followed by a 35-hour week still includes 5 overtime hours, even though the two weeks add up to 80.
Who uses a time card calculator
Hourly employees
Check your hours before you submit a timesheet, and confirm your paycheck includes all your time and overtime.
Freelancers and contractors
Total billable hours for an invoice, in the decimal format clients expect.
Small business owners
Add up staff hours for payroll when you don't have a time clock system.
Caregivers and nannies
Track irregular hours across the week, including evenings and weekends.
Tips for accurate timesheets
- Record your times each day instead of trying to remember them at the end of the week.
- Only count unpaid breaks. Short paid rest breaks stay in your hours.
- Always write the decimal total for payroll forms, and double-check 15, 30 and 45-minute amounts.
- Keep a copy of every timesheet you submit, in case a paycheck needs correcting.
Need the number of working days in a pay period instead? Use the Business Days Calculator. For the week number used on many timesheets, see What week is it?