PTO hours earned each pay period, your balance under a cap, and when you reach a goal
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 30 Oct 2026.PTO accrual per pay period is the yearly allowance divided by the pay periods in a year. With 80 hours a year paid every two weeks, that is 80 / 26 = 3.08 hours each paycheck. Starting from 12 hours, reaching 40 hours takes 10 pay periods, about 140 days.
Rates and rules read from U.S. Department of Labor, Vacation leave on 30 Oct 2026; they may have changed since.
Under "Your policy gives", pick "Hours a year" or "Hours per hours worked", and enter the rate from your handbook.
Pick how often you are "Paid".
Enter "Balance today", "Target balance", the "Cap (0 = no cap)" and "Pay periods left this year".
Under "At year end", choose whether carryover is limited and set "Most hours carried over".
Read "PTO earned each pay period" and "Pay periods to target", then press Share result.
Paid time off rarely arrives all at once. Most US employers let it build up a little on each paycheck, stop it at a cap, and limit how much rolls into the next year. This calculator follows those three rules with your own policy's numbers.
Two ways to state the rate. A policy either gives hours a year, such as 80 hours (two weeks of 8-hour days), spread evenly over the pay periods, or hours per hours worked, such as 1 hour for every 30 worked. Choose the one your handbook uses. Paid every two weeks, 80 hours a year is 3.08 hours a paycheck; 1 hour per 30 on an 80-hour period is 2.67 hours.
The cap. Many policies stop accrual once the balance reaches a maximum. The calculator adds each pay period in turn and stops at the cap, then shows the hours you would have earned but did not. Using some time off before you reach the cap is the only way to keep earning.
Carryover. At the end of the year, a policy may let everything carry over, a set number of hours, or nothing. The calculator shows what the balance will be when the year resets, what carries over and what is forfeited, unless your employer pays it out.
Time to a goal. Enter the balance you want, for a week's trip or a planned leave, to see how many pay periods it takes and roughly how many days.
What this calculator does not do: it does not know your employer's policy or the law where you work. There is no federal requirement to offer paid vacation in the US, while several states and cities require paid sick leave with their own accrual rates, caps and carryover rules, and some require unused vacation to be paid out when you leave. Read the rates from your handbook or pay stub and check your state labor department for the rules that apply to you.
The results are estimates in hours; payroll may round each period differently.
With 80 hours a year: 1.54 hours a week, 3.08 every two weeks, 3.33 twice a month and 6.67 a month. With 120 hours a year: 2.31, 4.62, 5 and 10. Each is the yearly hours divided by the pay periods in a year: 52, 26, 24 or 12. The calculator rounds to two decimals and stops the balance at your cap.
The arithmetic is the same. Vacation hours, sick hours or combined PTO accrue either as a yearly allowance divided by pay periods or as hours earned per hours worked. One hour for every 40 hours worked, with 80 hours worked in a two-week period, gives 2 hours a paycheck. Enter a vacation-only policy here and read the balance, cap and year-end carryover the same way.
Divide the hours of PTO you earn in a year by the number of pay periods in a year. With 80 hours and biweekly pay, 80 divided by 26 is 3.08 hours per paycheck; with semimonthly pay it is 80 divided by 24, or 3.33 hours. For a per-hour policy, divide the hours worked by the policy's figure, such as 30.
At 40 hours a week, 1 hour for every 30 worked comes to 1.33 hours a week, 2.67 hours every two weeks and about 69 hours a year. Part-time staff earn less in proportion to the hours they work. Enter your own hours per pay period to see your figure.
A cap is the most PTO a policy lets you hold at one time. Once the balance reaches it, new hours stop being added until you use some. With a 120-hour cap and a 115-hour balance, only 5 more hours can be earned. The calculator shows how many hours a cap would cost you.
Policies differ. Some let everything carry over, some allow a set number of hours, such as 40, and some reset the balance to zero. Hours above the carryover limit are forfeited unless the employer pays them out, and a few states restrict forfeiting earned vacation. Check your handbook and state labor department.
Two weeks of full-time work is 80 hours, at 8 hours a day for 10 working days. A 7.5-hour workday makes two weeks 75 hours. Set the hours in your workday in the calculator so the yearly total is also shown in days, and so a target such as one week off matches your schedule.
Usually not. Accrual normally follows hours paid or worked, so an unpaid leave or a period on short-term disability often earns nothing, and a per-hour policy earns only on the hours actually worked. The rules are the employer's and the law's, so confirm with human resources before planning around the figures here.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
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