PTO Calculator

How to use the PTO calculator

1. Enter your yearly PTO. Use days or hours, whichever your offer letter or handbook uses. For days, set the length of your workday so the calculator can convert to hours.
2. Pick your pay schedule. Most employers credit PTO with each paycheck, so the accrual per period depends on whether you are paid weekly (52), every two weeks (26), twice a month (24) or monthly (12).
3. Enter your current balance and how many pay periods ahead you want to look, for example until a planned trip or the end of the year.
4. Subtract time off you plan to take and, if your employer caps the balance, enter the cap.
5. Enter your hourly rate or salary to see the cash value of the balance.

The results show the accrual per pay period, the accrual per hour worked, the balance before and after planned time off, and its value at your current rate.

PTO accrual formulas

Worked example. Fifteen days of PTO at 8 hours a day is 120 hours a year. Paid twice a month, you earn 120 ÷ 24 = 5 hours per paycheck. Paid every two weeks, it is 120 ÷ 26 = 4.62 hours. Per hour worked, a full-time 2,080-hour year gives 120 ÷ 2,080 = 0.0577 hours, or one hour of PTO for about every 17.3 hours you work.

A published schedule. The federal government’s annual leave schedule from the Office of Personnel Management shows the same math. Full-time employees with under three years of service earn 4 hours per biweekly pay period, 4 × 26 = 104 hours a year (13 days). With three to fifteen years they earn 6 hours a period plus 10 in the last one, 6 × 25 + 10 = 160 hours (20 days). After fifteen years it is 8 hours a period, 208 hours (26 days).

Accrual per hour worked for part-time and hourly jobs

Many hourly and part-time jobs credit PTO for each hour worked instead of each paycheck. The rate is usually written as “1 hour for every X hours worked.” To convert, divide 1 by X: one hour per 20 worked is 0.05 hours per hour; one per 30 is 0.0333.

OPM’s part-time schedule uses exactly this form: 1 hour of annual leave for each 20, 13 or 10 hours in a pay status, depending on years of service. A part-time employee working 25 hours a week at the 1-per-20 rate earns 25 × 52 ÷ 20 = 65 hours a year.

To use per-hour accrual in the calculator, choose hours per year, enter the hours you expect to work in a year, and enter the yearly PTO those hours produce. The per-hour figure in the results shows the rate as both a decimal and a “1 hour per X” ratio, so you can check it against your handbook.

Balance caps and use-it-or-lose-it policies

Some employers stop accruing PTO once your balance reaches a cap, for example one and a half times the yearly amount. Others let you carry over a set number of hours into the new year and remove the rest. The calculator models the first kind: it adds hours each pay period until the balance reaches the cap, then shows how many hours you would have earned but did not.

Say your balance is 70 hours, you earn 5 hours per paycheck, and the cap is 80. After two paychecks you are at 80, and the next two paychecks add nothing. That is 10 hours of PTO lost. Taking a day off before you hit the cap keeps the accrual going, which is why the results tell you the pay period in which the cap is reached.

Planned time off is subtracted after the last pay period in the projection. If you take it earlier, a capped balance may end up slightly higher, because accrual can continue while you are under the cap.

What unused PTO is worth when you leave

The cash value is your balance multiplied by your hourly rate. For salaried pay, divide the salary by 2,080 hours first: $62,400 a year is $30 an hour, so 64 hours of unused PTO is worth $1,920 before tax.

Whether you actually receive that amount depends on where you work. The U.S. Department of Labor notes that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations; these benefits are a matter of agreement between employer and employee. Some states require earned vacation to be paid out at the end of employment, some only if the policy promises it, and some allow forfeiture. The federal government itself pays a lump sum for unused annual leave but not for unused sick leave, according to OPM.

Before you rely on a payout figure, read your employee handbook’s section on separation and check your state labor department’s guidance. If your employer combines vacation and sick time into one PTO bank, the payout rule usually applies to the whole bank, but policies differ.

Planning time off with the projection

The projection is most useful for two questions: will I have enough hours for a trip, and will I lose hours at year-end? For the first, set the pay periods to the number of paychecks before the trip and enter any other days you plan to take before it. If the balance after planned PTO is below the hours you need, the shortfall is the unpaid time you would have to request or the days you need to move.

For the second, set the pay periods to the end of your plan year and compare the final balance with your carryover limit. Anything above the limit is time you may want to schedule now.

Sources & assumptions

How this calculator gets its numbers. Full method: our methodology.

• Accrual per pay period = PTO hours per year ÷ pay periods per year; accrual per hour worked = PTO hours per year ÷ hours worked per year.
• Days are converted to hours with the workday length you enter.
• The projection adds the same accrual every pay period and stops at the cap if you set one; planned time off is subtracted after the last period.
• Cash value = balance × hourly rate; a salary is converted at 2,080 hours a year. Taxes are not deducted.
• Front-loaded, tenure-based and rollover rules are not modeled; enter the numbers from your own policy.

Sources

1. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Fact Sheet: Annual Leave. A published accrual schedule: 4, 6 or 8 hours per biweekly pay period by years of service (10 hours in the last period for the 6-hour tier), and 1 hour per 20, 13 or 10 hours in a pay status for part-time staff.
2. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Fact Sheet: Lump-Sum Payments for Annual Leave. An example of a payout rule: federal employees who leave receive a lump sum for unused annual leave, but not for unused sick leave.
3. U.S. Department of Labor, Vacation Leave. The FLSA does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays; these benefits are a matter of agreement between employer and employee.
4. U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), 29 CFR 778.218, Pay for certain idle hours. Vacation, holiday and sick pay are not compensation for hours worked, so they are left out of the regular rate and do not count toward overtime hours.

Last reviewed November 2, 2026. Federal law does not require PTO or its payout; your employer’s written policy and state law decide both.