Hours Calculator
Work out hours and minutes between a start and end time, minus breaks.
About this calculator
Adding up hours by hand is fiddly because time is base-60, not base-10, and a shift often crosses noon or even midnight. This calculator does it for you: enter a start time and an end time, subtract any unpaid break, and it returns both the hours-and-minutes total and the decimal hours payroll systems actually use.
Decimal hours are the part people get wrong. Payroll multiplies your hourly rate by decimal hours, so 8 hours 30 minutes is 8.5 hours — not 8.30. Thirty minutes is half an hour (0.50), fifteen minutes is a quarter (0.25), and twenty minutes is 0.33. Using the wrong figure quietly under- or over-pays every single shift.
Once you know your true hours, the natural next step is to see what they're worth after tax. Convert an hourly rate to an annual salary with the salary-to-hourly calculator, then run that figure through the take-home-pay calculator to see what actually lands in your account.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60. So 30 minutes is 30 ÷ 60 = 0.5 hours, and 15 minutes is 0.25 hours. Payroll uses decimal hours, not the raw minutes.
Does it handle shifts that cross midnight?
Yes. If the end time is earlier than the start time, the calculator assumes the shift runs past midnight and adds 24 hours automatically.
How are breaks handled?
Enter your unpaid break in minutes and it is subtracted from the total, giving you the paid hours worked.