PTO Accrual Calculator: Per Pay Period or Hours Worked

Page last updated 31 Oct 2026

How to use the pto accrual calculator

Choose how your policy earns time: a yearly allowance, hours worked, or a fixed amount per pay period.
Pick your pay frequency and enter the allowance or rate from your policy.
Enter your hours a week if you work part time, and your balance now.
Add a balance cap, a carryover limit and the hours you plan to take, if they apply.
Read the hours per pay period, the balance at the end and the period-by-period table.

How is PTO accrual calculated?

Hours per pay period are the yearly allowance times your share of full time, divided by the pay periods in a year. In a by-hours-worked policy they are your weekly hours times 52, divided by the pay periods and by the hours worked for each hour earned. Each period the earned hours are added, limited by the cap, and the hours you plan to take are subtracted evenly, never below zero. A carryover limit is applied to the balance at the end. Hours are credited at the end of each pay period, which is a simplification; your employer may credit them at another time.

For example, an 80-hour yearly allowance paid biweekly is 3.08 hours per pay period and 80 hours after 26 periods, or 10 eight-hour days. At one hour for every 30 hours worked, a 40-hour week earns 69.33 hours a year; at one for every 40 it earns 52. Starting at 60 hours with a 100-hour cap, the balance reaches the cap in pay period 13. The policy and hours are made up; yours come from what you type.

Who should use the pto accrual calculator

Employees checking that PTO is building up as the policy says
HR and payroll staff modelling a policy before putting it in writing
Part-time workers working out a prorated allowance

Who should not use this

Anyone who needs their official balance; your employer’s system is the record
Anyone looking for tenure tiers or front-loaded grants, which are not built in
Anyone who needs a legal answer on state sick leave minimums

Limitations

Credits hours at the end of each pay period; your employer may credit them at another time.
One accrual rate for the whole projection. Calculate each stretch separately if the rate changes.
Sick leave rates are given for three states only and are not checked against caps or waiting periods.
Results are estimates, not legal, tax, payroll or financial advice.
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How to calculate PTO accrual

Work out how many hours your policy gives you in a year, divide by the number of pay periods, and add that amount to the balance each period. With an 80-hour allowance (ten 8-hour days) paid every two weeks, that is 80 ÷ 26 = 3.08 hours per pay period, and 26 periods bring the balance to 80 hours.

The same 80-hour yearly allowance, by how often you are paid
Pay frequency	Pay periods a year	Hours earned per period	Hours a year
Weekly	52	1.54	80
Biweekly	26	3.08	80
Semi-monthly	24	3.33	80
Monthly	12	6.67	80

The per-period figure is rounded to two places for display, but the calculator keeps the exact amount, so the year adds up to the full allowance. Some payroll systems round each period, which can leave a balance a few hundredths of an hour different at year end.

How is PTO accrued by hours worked?

Some policies, and some state sick leave laws, give one hour for every set number of hours worked. Divide the hours you worked by that number. At one hour for every 30 hours worked, a full-time employee working 40 hours a week earns 40 ÷ 30 = 1.33 hours a week, or 69.33 hours over 52 weeks. At one hour for every 40 hours worked, the same employee earns exactly 52 hours.

Hours earned in a year under a by-hours-worked policy, 52 weeks
Hours worked a week	1 hour per 30 worked	1 hour per 40 worked
40	69.33	52
30	52	39
20	34.67	26
10	17.33	13

Whether overtime hours and paid time off count as hours worked is a policy question. Illinois, for example, says overtime hours count toward accrual under its Paid Leave for All Workers Act, while Washington says employers are not required to credit leave for paid hours not worked, such as vacation. Check your handbook for your own policy.

How is PTO prorated for part-time employees?

Prorating means scaling the allowance by how much you work compared with full time. Working 20 hours when full time is 40 gives a share of 0.5. A 120-hour full-time allowance becomes 60 hours, or 2.5 hours per semi-monthly pay period. In a by-hours-worked policy the scaling happens by itself: at one hour per 40 worked, a 20-hour-a-week employee earns 26 hours a year, and at one per 30 they earn 34.67.

Policies differ on whether part-time employees earn PTO at all, and on how a change in hours midyear is handled. Calculate each stretch of the year at its own hours and add them.

Accrual caps and carryover limits

A cap stops accrual when the balance reaches a set number of hours, and it starts again once the employee takes time. Starting at 60 hours with a 100-hour cap and the 80-hour yearly allowance, the balance reaches the cap in pay period 13, and the remaining 40 hours of that year's accrual are never earned.

A carryover limit is different: time keeps building up during the year, and the excess is removed when the year rolls over. Starting at 20 hours and earning 80 gives 100 hours at year end; a 40-hour carryover limit keeps 40 hours and removes 60. Many states restrict or ban forfeiture of earned vacation, so a carryover limit may not be allowed for vacation in your state. See the PTO payout calculator for seven states read from official sources.

PTO payout calculatorTurn a balance into dollars at separation, with a tax estimate and a state note.

How do you convert PTO hours to days?

Divide hours by the length of your work day. At 8 hours a day, 80 hours is 10 days and the 69.33 hours earned at one per 30 is 8.67 days. If you work 10-hour days, 80 hours is only 8 days, which is why the calculator has a field for the hours in a work day. To go the other way, multiply days by hours per day.

Sick leave accrual rates in three states

Federal law does not require paid sick leave for private employers, but many states and cities do. The table gives the accrual rate for three states, each read from an official page. Caps, waiting periods, who is covered and local laws vary, so check the agency page before relying on it.

Required paid sick leave accrual, three states
State	Accrual rate	Other limits on the page read	Source
California	1 hour for every 30 hours worked	Caps and use limits were not read on the page checked, so none are given here	California Department of Industrial Relations, DLSE paid sick leave
Illinois	1 hour for every 40 hours worked	Up to 40 hours in a 12-month period; up to 40 hours carry over; overtime hours count	Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act (820 ILCS 192)
Washington	1 hour for every 40 hours worked	Applies to part-time, temporary and seasonal workers; up to 40 unused hours carry over	Washington Department of Labor & Industries, paid sick leave

This calculator treats sick leave like any other accrual: choose “by hours worked” and enter 30 or 40. It does not check a state’s caps or when leave can first be used.

Can I calculate PTO accrual in Excel or Google Sheets?

Yes. Put the yearly allowance in one cell and the pay periods in another, then divide for the per-period amount. A running balance with a cap is a one-line formula you copy down the column.

Spreadsheet formulas for a PTO accrual schedule
Cell	What it holds	Formula
B1	Yearly allowance (hours)	80
B2	Pay periods a year	26
B3	Hours earned per period	=B1/B2
B4	Balance cap	100
C2 down	Balance after each period	=MIN($B$4, C1 + $B$3) (start C1 at your balance now)
By hours worked	Hours earned in a period	=hours_worked / 30

The calculator above does the same sums, lists every pay period, handles time taken and carryover, and you can copy the result without setting up a sheet.

Common PTO accrual mistakes

Most accrual errors come from using the wrong number of pay periods or mixing up two kinds of limit.

Dividing the yearly allowance by 12 months when you are paid biweekly or weekly.
Counting 26 pay periods in a year with 27 paydays, or forgetting the third pay period in some months.
Treating a cap as a carryover limit, or the reverse.
Forgetting that part-time hours scale the allowance.
Mixing days and hours when the work day is not 8 hours.
Assuming a state sick leave rate applies to vacation. The rates above are for sick leave only.
Using this estimate as a balance. Your employer’s system is the record.

Sources and review

Reviewed on 31 Oct 2026 against the published sources below. Rules and prices change, so check the current position before you rely on a figure.

Common questions

How do I calculate PTO accrual?

Divide the hours your policy gives you in a year by the number of pay periods. 80 hours a year paid biweekly is 80 ÷ 26 = 3.08 hours per pay period.

How to calculate PTO accrual based on hours worked?

Divide the hours worked by the number of hours needed to earn one hour. At one hour per 30 worked, 40 hours a week earns 69.33 hours a year; at one per 40 it earns 52.

How is PTO accrued per pay period?

The yearly allowance is split evenly across the pay periods, so a weekly employee earns a small amount 52 times and a monthly one a larger amount 12 times. 80 hours is 1.54 hours weekly, 3.08 biweekly, 3.33 semi-monthly and 6.67 monthly.

How do you calculate prorated PTO?

Multiply the full-time allowance by your hours divided by full-time hours. 20 hours of a 40-hour week is 0.5, so a 120-hour allowance becomes 60 hours.

How do I convert accrued PTO hours to days?

Divide the hours by the hours in your work day. 80 hours is 10 days at 8 hours a day and 8 days at 10 hours a day.

What is a PTO accrual cap?

It is the most hours a balance can hold. When the balance reaches it, no more time is earned until some is used. It differs from a carryover limit, which removes the excess at year end.

Does the law require employers to accrue PTO?

Not federal law, which does not require paid vacation or PTO. Some states and cities require paid sick leave and set an accrual rate, such as 1 hour for every 30 hours worked in California and 1 for every 40 in Illinois and Washington.

Related tools

Results are estimates, not legal, tax, payroll or financial advice. They follow the rules and rates named under Sources, leave out anything the page does not mention (such as other income, credits, local rules or your employer’s own policy), and can differ from a payroll run, a tax return or an agency’s decision. See the disclaimer. Found a mistake? Report an error in a calculation.