How to use the hours calculator
- Keep the tool on Hours between two times when you want to know how long something lasted.
- Enter the start time, such as the minute you clocked in or the minute you parked.
- Enter the end time. If the end lands earlier on the clock face than the start, the span is read as running past midnight.
- Put unpaid break minutes in the break field, for example
30for a half-hour lunch. Leave it at zero when nothing was deducted. - Read the answer twice: once as hours and minutes, once as decimal hours for payroll.
- Switch to the second mode to shift a time instead of measuring one, then type a starting time and the hours and minutes you want added or taken away.
Counting the hours between two times
Clock arithmetic trips people up because minutes carry at 60 instead of 100. The safe manual method is to walk to the next whole hour, count whole hours, then count the leftover minutes. From 8:20 AM to 12:05 PM that is 40 minutes to reach 9:00, three hours to reach 12:00, and 5 more minutes, so 3 hours 45 minutes. The calculator does the same walk instantly and also subtracts the break you typed.
| Start | End | Break | Worked | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | 3:30 PM | 30 min | 8:00 | 8.00 |
| 11:45 AM | 4:00 PM | none | 4:15 | 4.25 |
| 8:20 AM | 12:05 PM | none | 3:45 | 3.75 |
| 10:00 PM | 6:30 AM | 45 min | 7:45 | 7.75 |
The decimal column is the figure most payroll systems want, since minutes cannot be multiplied by a pay rate directly.
Worked example: a shift that crosses midnight
You start at 9:45 PM and finish at 6:15 AM with an unpaid 30 minute meal break. Split the span at midnight rather than trying to subtract 9:45 from 6:15. From 9:45 PM to 12:00 AM is 2 hours 15 minutes. From 12:00 AM to 6:15 AM is 6 hours 15 minutes. Added together that is 8 hours 30 minutes on the clock. Take off the 30 minute break and the paid figure is 8 hours 00 minutes, or 8.00 decimal hours. At $19.50 an hour that shift pays 8.00 x 19.50 = $156.00.
Notice what happens if you forget the break: you would claim 8.50 hours and $165.75, which is $9.75 more than the shift actually earned. Overnight spans are where most hand-written time sheets go wrong, so it is worth checking each one.
Adding and subtracting time
The second mode answers a different question: not how long, but what time will it be. Say you clock in at 9:15 AM and owe 7 hours 45 minutes before you can leave. Add the whole hours first, which brings you to 4:15 PM, then add the 45 minutes, which lands on 5:00 PM exactly. If an unpaid 30 minute lunch sits inside that day, your actual departure is 5:30 PM, because unpaid time does not count toward the 7:45.
Subtraction works the same way in reverse and is handy for planning. An appointment at 2:30 PM that needs 1 hour 50 minutes of travel and paperwork means leaving at 12:40 PM: back up one hour to 1:30 PM, then back up 50 more minutes.
Everyday spans people measure
- Shifts. Clock in, clock out, minus the meal period. One shift at a time here; for a full week of rows use the timesheet calculator.
- Parking and rentals. Parked at 10:50 AM, back at 2:05 PM, which is 3 hours 15 minutes, or 3.25 hours. At $2.40 an hour that is 3.25 x 2.40 = $7.80 before any daily maximum.
- Appointments and billable calls. A session from 1:10 PM to 2:25 PM is 1 hour 15 minutes, billed as 1.25 hours.
- Sleep, fasting windows, cooking. Any two clock times, including ones that run through the night.
Because this page works on clock times rather than dates, it measures a single span under 24 hours. Anything longer, such as a 30 hour on-call stretch, should be split into two entries and added by hand.
Frequently asked questions
Does the hours calculator handle overnight shifts?
Yes. When the end time is earlier on the clock than the start time, the span is measured through midnight instead of backwards. A 10:30 PM start and a 7:00 AM finish returns 8 hours 30 minutes, not a negative number.
What exactly does the break field remove?
It subtracts that many minutes from the raw span. Use it for unpaid meal periods. Short rest breaks of roughly 5 to 20 minutes are normally paid and should be left in, so do not enter those.
Why is the result shown as both 8:30 and 8.50?
8:30 is how people speak about a shift. 8.50 is how payroll multiplies it by a rate. Both describe the same length, since 30 minutes is half of an hour. The conversion rule is explained on the decimal hours calculator.
How do I add 7 hours and 45 minutes to a time?
Switch to the add and subtract mode, enter the starting clock time, then type 7 in the hours box and 45 in the minutes box. Starting at 9:15 AM the answer is 5:00 PM.
Can I enter times in 24-hour form?
Yes, and the result is shown in a form you can read either way. If you are translating a log full of four-digit times, the military time converter does the whole set.
Does the calculator round to the nearest quarter hour?
No, it reports the exact span you entered. Employers may round to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes if the practice is neutral over time under federal rules, but the rounding happens in their system, not here, and some states restrict it.
Can I total several days at once?
Not on this page, which is built for one span. Enter a week of in and out times on the time card calculator instead, and it will carry daily totals into a weekly figure with overtime.