Overtime Pay Calculator

Overtime pay is the higher rate you earn for hours worked beyond a standard threshold — typically anything over 40 hours in a week in the United States. It exists to compensate workers for extra time and to discourage employers from overworking staff. The extra is expressed as a multiplier of your normal hourly rate, and knowing how it's calculated helps you check that your paycheck is correct and decide whether picking up additional hours is worthwhile.

The most common multiplier is 1.5×, known as "time and a half." If you earn $20 an hour, your overtime rate is $30. Some situations — holidays, Sundays, or hours beyond a second threshold — pay 2×, called "double time," which would make that same worker $40 an hour. Your total weekly pay is simply your regular hours at your normal rate plus your overtime hours at the higher rate. Eight overtime hours at time and a half on a $20 wage adds $240 to a $800 regular week, for $1,040 total.

The rules around who qualifies for overtime and when it kicks in vary widely. In the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires at least 1.5× pay for hours over 40 a week for non-exempt employees, though salaried workers above certain thresholds and in certain roles are exempt. Other countries set their own thresholds and rates, and some calculate overtime daily rather than weekly. Employers can also offer more generous terms than the legal minimum.

A couple of things to keep in mind: the figures here are gross, before income tax and deductions, so your take-home from overtime will be somewhat lower. And because overtime can push part of your income into a higher tax bracket, the marginal tax on those extra dollars may be higher than on your base pay — though only the additional income is taxed at the higher rate. Use this calculator to see the gross value of overtime, then weigh it against the time it costs you.