Overtime Calculator

1. How to calculate overtime pay

Overtime pay is two separate calculations added together. The first is the pay for the hours charged at your base rate. The second is the pay for the hours charged at a higher rate, which is your base rate multiplied by an overtime multiplier. Once you have both numbers, the total for the week is simply their sum.

The step people most often skip is the middle one. It is tempting to multiply the whole 50 hours by $25 and then add a bit on top, but that produces the wrong answer. The premium applies only to the overtime hours, and it applies to the rate rather than to the total, which is why the overtime rate is worked out first and then multiplied by the overtime hours on its own.

It is also worth looking at the effective hourly rate the calculator shows underneath. That figure is the total gross pay divided by the total hours worked, and it tells you what the whole week averaged out to. In the example above, 50 hours producing $1,375 averages $27.50 an hour. That average is useful when you are comparing a week with overtime against a week without it, or against a salaried role that pays the same amount for fewer hours.

Everything on this page is gross pay: the amount earned before any tax, withholding or payroll deduction is applied. Your deposited pay will be lower, and by how much depends on circumstances this calculator deliberately does not model.

2. Overtime pay formula

The whole calculation is three short formulas, plus two more for the totals the calculator displays underneath.

Notice that the multiplier never touches the regular hours. If you change the multiplier from 1.5× to 2×, the regular pay stays exactly where it was and only the overtime portion moves. That separation is deliberate: it keeps the two halves of your pay legible, so you can see precisely how much of the week's total came from the premium hours.

A second point about the multiplier is worth making explicit. In some pay arrangements the premium is described as a full multiple of the base rate, as it is here, and in others it is described as an extra half-rate added on top of hours already counted at the base rate. Both descriptions can land on the same total, but they are not the same arithmetic, so enter the multiplier that matches how your own pay is expressed rather than assuming the two are interchangeable.

3. Overtime pay examples

Each row below assumes 40 regular hours, the overtime hours shown, and a 1.5× multiplier. All figures are gross pay before taxes and deductions.

The pattern across the rows is proportional: at a 1.5× multiplier, every overtime hour is worth one and a half base hours, so ten overtime hours add the equivalent of fifteen regular hours of pay. That is why $20 an hour with ten overtime hours lands on $1,100 rather than $1,000, and why a modest difference in base rate widens noticeably once overtime is included. If your own rate, hours or multiplier are not represented here, enter them in the calculator at the top of the page instead of estimating between rows.

4. What is time and a half?

Time and a half means 1.5 × the regular hourly rate. It is the most common overtime multiplier in pay calculations, which is why the calculator uses it as the default, but whether it applies to a given worker or a given hour depends on circumstances a calculator cannot see.

The arithmetic is straightforward: add half the base rate to the base rate. $20 becomes $20 + $10 = $30, and $25 becomes $25 + $12.50 = $37.50. Rates with odd cents work the same way, though they produce fractions of a cent per hour that payroll systems round according to their own rules, so a real payslip can differ from a clean calculation by a few cents across a week.

5. What is double time?

Double time means 2 × the regular hourly rate. Select the 2× option in the calculator and every overtime hour you entered is charged at twice your base rate.

Double time is often associated with particular shifts, holidays or long days under a specific employer policy or agreement. This page does not claim when double time is required or owed — that depends on applicable rules and the terms you work under. Use the 2× option when you already know double time applies to the hours you are calculating, and use the Custom option when your arrangement uses something in between, such as 1.25× or 1.75×.

6. Does overtime start after 40 hours?

This calculator does not decide which hours count as overtime, and it will not convert hours above 40 into overtime hours on your behalf. Regular hours and overtime hours are two separate inputs that you control, and the tool applies the multiplier only to the overtime figure you entered.

That design is deliberate. Whether a particular hour qualifies for a premium, and what premium applies, can depend on applicable law, jurisdiction, how a role is classified, the terms of a contract or agreement, and how the workweek is defined. Some arrangements count overtime on a daily basis rather than a weekly one; some treat paid leave differently from hours actually worked; some workers are not covered in the way others are. None of that is something a pay-math tool can determine from four numbers.

So the practical approach is to bring your own split. Look at your timesheet, your contract or your employer's policy, decide how many hours are being paid at your base rate and how many at a premium, and enter those two figures. If you are unsure which hours qualify or what rate is owed, that is a question for your employer, your contract or someone qualified to advise on the rules where you work — this page is general information, not legal advice, and it makes no determination about entitlement.

7. How overtime changes your annual pay

A single week of overtime is easy to picture. What is harder to picture is what a recurring overtime pattern would add up to across a year, which is why the calculator also shows an annualized estimate alongside the weekly result.

That $19,500 gap is an illustration of what the pattern is worth, not a prediction of what anyone will earn. Overtime is rarely identical from week to week: it rises with demand, disappears during quiet periods, and can be reduced or withdrawn. Annualizing a single good week overstates a year in the same way annualizing a single quiet week understates it. Treat the figure as a way of sizing the difference overtime makes, and be especially careful about leaning on it for long-term commitments such as a loan application or a budget you cannot flex.

If what you actually want is a plain conversion from an hourly rate to an annual salary with no premium involved, the hourly to salary calculator handles that directly and lets you set your own hours per week and weeks per year.

8. Does this overtime calculator include taxes?

No. Every result on this page is gross pay before taxes and deductions.

Regular pay, overtime pay, total gross pay, the effective hourly rate and the annualized estimate are all pre-deduction figures. What lands in your account depends on withholding, benefits, retirement contributions and other payroll deductions that vary enormously from one person to the next, so this calculator does not attempt to estimate take-home pay and does not model any tax treatment of overtime. For the gross side of the picture — what the hours are worth before anything is withheld — the figures above are complete.

9. Is your pay competitive?

Calculating overtime tells you what a specific workweek pays. It does not tell you whether your base hourly rate is a good rate for the work you do. Those are different questions, and a strong overtime week can quietly disguise a weak base rate — the extra hours are doing work that a higher hourly rate should be doing.

Answering the second question takes a benchmark. Look up your occupation and location below to see the reported median and percentile range from official U.S. wage data, then compare it against your own annual figure.

For help reading the result, see am I underpaid? and what salary should I ask for. If the benchmark suggests your base rate is behind, the salary increase calculator shows what a given raise would be worth, while how to ask for a raise and how to negotiate salary cover the conversation itself.

10. Frequently asked questions