PTO Calculator

A PTO calculator translates the line in your offer letter, such as "15 days of PTO per year", into the numbers that actually show up on a pay stub: hours earned per paycheck, the balance a few months from now and what that balance is worth in dollars. The same math works as a vacation accrual calculator for vacation-only banks and for combined PTO policies that also cover sick days.

How PTO accrual works

Most employers do not hand out the whole year's PTO on January 1. Instead it accrues: a small amount is added with every paycheck or for every hour worked, so a new hire builds a balance over time. Others front-load the full amount at the start of the year. Federal law requires neither: the Department of Labor states that the FLSA does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or holidays. Paid time off is a benefit set by policy, contract or, for sick leave in some places, state and local law. Front-loading has one wrinkle: an employee who leaves early may have used more PTO than they would have earned, and how that is settled depends on the policy and on state rules for deductions from wages.

The PTO accrual formulas

Worked example: 15 days on a biweekly payroll

These are the calculator's defaults: 15 PTO days, 8-hour days, a 40-hour week and a biweekly payroll.

• Yearly PTO hours: 15 × 8 = 120 hours.
• Per biweekly paycheck: 120 ÷ 26 = 4.62 hours.
• Per paid hour: 120 ÷ 2,080 = 0.0577 hours, one hour per 17.33 hours.
• Per hour actually worked: 120 ÷ 1,960 = 0.0612 hours, one hour per 16.33 hours.

Starting from a 40-hour balance and taking 80 hours of PTO over the next year, the balance climbs by 1.54 hours per paycheck and ends at 80 hours. The cap of 180 hours is never reached, so no accrual is lost.

Worked example: what a PTO balance is worth

A salary of $62,400 on a 40-hour week is $62,400 ÷ 2,080 = $30.00 an hour. The yearly 120 hours of PTO are worth $3,600, each 8-hour day is worth $240, and a balance of 86.5 hours is worth 86.5 × $30.00 = $2,595.00 gross. If that balance is paid out at separation in addition to regular wages, IRS Publication 15 treats it as a supplemental wage payment, so the employer may withhold federal income tax at a flat 22% plus Social Security and Medicare. On $2,595.00 that is $570.90 of federal income tax, $160.89 of Social Security and $37.63 of Medicare, leaving $1,825.58 before any state tax. Withholding is not the final bill: the tax you owe depends on your income for the whole year.

PTO accrual rates for 10 to 30 days

Computed for 8-hour days and a 2,080-hour year:

Notice that biweekly and semimonthly are not interchangeable: 26 paychecks of 4.62 hours and 24 of 5.00 hours both add up to 120 hours.

Average PTO by years of service

BLS publishes average paid vacation days for private-industry workers by length of service. Turned into accrual rates with the same formulas (March 2026 data, 8-hour days):

The same survey found 7 paid sick days on average, 8 paid holidays (2025) and paid vacation for 80% of private-industry workers.

Per hour worked: two ways to count

Some hourly policies say "1 hour of PTO for every 30 hours worked". The catch is which hours count. If every paid hour earns PTO, including hours on PTO, divide by all paid hours (2,080 on a full-time year). If only hours actually worked earn PTO, divide by paid hours minus the PTO itself, which gives a slightly higher rate for the same yearly total, 0.0612 instead of 0.0577 for 120 hours. The federal government shows the idea neatly. OPM's annual leave rules give full-time employees 4, 6 or 8 hours per biweekly pay period by years of service, and part-time employees 1 hour for every 20, 13 or 10 hours in a pay status, the same rates expressed per hour.

Caps, carryover and use-it-or-lose-it

An accrual cap stops new PTO once the balance reaches a limit. Take 20 days a year (6.15 hours per biweekly paycheck), a 200-hour balance and a 240-hour cap. With no time off, the cap is reached in pay period 7 and 120 hours are never earned, $4,200 at $35.00 an hour. Using 80 hours during the year delays the cap to period 14 and cuts the loss to 40 hours; using 160 hours avoids it. A carryover limit works differently: hours above it disappear at the end of the leave year. With 15 days a year, a 40-hour start, 40 hours used and a 40-hour carryover limit, 80 hours ($2,400 at $30.00) would be forfeited. Whether that is lawful depends on the state, which is why the calculator warns about it.

Is PTO paid out when you leave?

Rules we verified on official state sites in October 2026. This is not a complete list; in other states the employer's written policy usually controls.

How to use this calculator

1. Enter your yearly PTO in days or hours, the length of a PTO day and your weekly hours.
2. Pick your pay frequency, then enter your salary or hourly rate for the dollar values.
3. Add your current balance, the hours you plan to use in the next 12 months, and your cap or carryover limit if you have one.
4. Read the accrual per paycheck and per hour, the value of your PTO and the period-by-period projection.

Who this calculator is for

Employees checking their pay stub or planning a long trip, new hires comparing offers with different PTO policies, people about to leave a job who want to know what their balance is worth, HR or payroll staff setting up accrual rules, and small business owners deciding how generous a policy they can afford.

Key terms

• Accrual: PTO earned gradually, per paycheck or per hour.
• Front-loading: granting the whole year's PTO at once.
• Accrual cap: a maximum balance; no new PTO until some is used.
• Carryover limit: the most hours that roll into the next leave year.
• Payout: cash paid for unused PTO, usually at separation.

What changes your accrual

• Hours in a PTO day: 15 days are 120 hours at 8 hours a day but 90 hours at 6.
• Scheduled hours: a per-hour rate earns less on a part-time schedule; 0.0385 at 25 hours a week gives 50 hours a year.
• The counting basis: paid hours or hours actually worked, 0.0577 versus 0.0612 for the same 120 hours.
• Caps and carryover limits: they do not change the rate, but they decide how much of it you keep.
• Years of service: many policies step up the rate on an anniversary, as the BLS averages show.

Tips

• Find the pay frequency on your stub before you check the accrual; most errors are biweekly confused with semimonthly.
• Plan time off before you reach a cap, since hours above it are never earned.
• Read the payout clause of the handbook before you resign, and ask for any balance in writing.
• Compare offers in hours and dollars, not days, because the length of a day varies.

Limitations

The calculator assumes one accrual rate for the whole year, even use and a 52-week schedule. It does not model a tier change on your service anniversary, front-loaded grants, separate sick-leave banks required by state or local law, or holiday schedules, and it values hours at your current rate, while some policies pay out at a different one. It also treats the balance you enter as earned; front-loaded or advanced hours may be handled differently when you leave.

Related calculators

• Find your hourly rate with the Salary to Hourly Calculator.
• See what PTO costs an employer with the Employee Cost Calculator, and price night or weekend work with the Shift Differential Calculator.
• For hours over 40, use the Overtime Calculator; for the employer's taxes on a payout, the Payroll Tax Calculator.
• Count workdays before a trip with the Business Days Calculator.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Labor: Vacation Leave.
• IRS: Publication 15 (2026), supplemental wages and vacation pay.
• BLS: vacation and sick days by service, March 2026; Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2026; paid holidays, 2025.
• OPM: Annual Leave fact sheet.
• States: California DLSE; Colorado CDLE; Illinois IDOL; Louisiana R.S. 23:631; Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries (M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148); Montana DLI; Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-1229 and the Nebraska DOL paid sick time FAQ (question 24); North Dakota Labor; Rhode Island DLT and R.I. Gen. Laws 28-14-4.