Accrual rate in, hours out

PTO Accrual Calculator

Most employers state PTO as a rate rather than a number: one hour earned per 26 hours worked, or four hours per pay period, or 120 hours granted on January 1. Converting that rate into “how many hours will I actually have” is one division plus one multiplication. This page shows the arithmetic, the three ways the rate gets written down, and the four things that quietly change the answer.

The short answer

PTO earned = hours worked ÷ the accrual rate × hours granted per block. At 1 hour per 26 hours worked, six months of 40-hour weeks earns 40 hours — five 8-hour days.

Worked example — 1 hour of PTO per 26 hours worked, 40 hours a week, six months

Hours worked = 40 × 26 weeks = 1,040 hours

PTO earned = 1,040 ÷ 26 = 40 hours

In days = 40 ÷ 8 = 5 days

Six months at 40 hours a week = 40 PTO hours = 5 days

Three ways the same accrual rate gets written down

The number in your handbook can look completely different from a coworker’s and still describe the same policy. What matters is the unit: per hours worked, per pay period, or granted up front.

Per hours worked

1 per 26

“One hour of PTO for every 26 hours worked.” Equal to 0.0385 hours per hour worked, which lands at 80 hours in a 2,080-hour year.

Per pay period

4 per period

“Four hours each biweekly pay period.” Twenty-six periods × 4 = 104 hours a year, or 13 days.

Annual grant

120 up front

“120 hours deposited on January 1.” Front-loaded, not accrued — nothing new builds during the year, and unused time may expire.

Those three examples are not the same benefit: 80 hours, 104 hours and 120 hours a year. The rate is what you compare, not the sentence around it.

How to calculate it

Three steps, and the second one is the only place people go wrong:

Total the hours that count toward accrual. Usually that means straight-time hours actually worked — not overtime hours, not PTO hours you already took.
Divide by the accrual rate. For “1 hour per 26 hours worked” the divisor is 26; for “1 per 30” it is 30.
Convert to days if you need them, at 8 hours per day for a standard full-time schedule.

Going the other way — rate to annual total — is just as quick: divide 2,080 (the hours in a full-time year) by the same divisor. 2,080 ÷ 26 = 80 hours; 2,080 ÷ 30 = 69.33 hours.

Worked examples at common rates

Example A — 1 per 26, one quarter (13 weeks) at 40 hours

Hours worked = 40 × 13 = 520 hours

PTO earned = 520 ÷ 26 = 20 hours

Example B — 1 per 30, six months at 40 hours

Hours worked = 40 × 26 = 1,040 hours

PTO earned = 1,040 ÷ 30 = 34.67 hours

Example C — 1 per 24, six months at 40 hours

Hours worked = 40 × 26 = 1,040 hours

PTO earned = 1,040 ÷ 24 = 43.33 hours

Example D — 4 hours per biweekly pay period, six months

Pay periods = 13 (26 weeks ÷ 2)

PTO earned = 13 × 4 = 52 hours

Example B and Example D cover the same six months of work and differ by 17.33 hours — about two days. Same schedule, different rate.

What each rate is worth per year

Full-time year = 2,080 hours worked (40 × 52). Six months = 1,040 hours.

Accrual rate Hours / year Days / year Hours in 6 months

1 hour per 26 hours worked 80 10 40

1 hour per 30 hours worked 69.33 8.67 34.67

1 hour per 24 hours worked 86.67 10.83 43.33

4 hours per biweekly pay period 104 13 52

120 hours granted each January 120 15 120

The last row is a grant, not an accrual: the full 120 hours is available from day one, so the six-month column shows the whole grant rather than a fraction of it.

The four things that change the answer

Which hours count. Many policies accrue only on straight-time hours worked. Overtime hours and PTO hours already taken often do not build new PTO. A 45-hour week at 1 per 26 earns 45 hours in six months only if all 45 hours count; if only the first 40 count, it earns 40.
A waiting period. A 90-day probation before accrual starts removes roughly 13 weeks — at 1 per 26, that is 20 hours of PTO you never accrue.
An accrual cap. A 120-hour ceiling stops the balance growing. Starting at 100 hours with a 40-hour half-year gain, only 20 hours accrue before the cap holds the balance at 120.
Rounding. Some employers round each pay period to the nearest quarter hour. That is small per period but drifts over a year, in either direction.

Balance, cap and what it is worth when you leave

Accrued PTO is a balance, so the useful number is opening balance plus what the rate adds, minus what you take. Take a starting balance of 24 hours, add the 40 hours from six months at 1 per 26, and the balance is 64 hours — eight 8-hour days, if none of it was used.

Balance and payout — 24 hours carried in, 40 accrued, $22.00/hr

Balance = 24 + 40 = 64 hours

Value = 64 × $22.00 = $1,408.00

That is the gross value of the balance at your regular rate, before tax

Whether that balance is paid out at separation is a separate question from how it accrues. Some states treat vested vacation as wages owed when employment ends; others leave it to the employer’s written policy, and many policies forfeit unused time. Read the handbook section on forfeiture before counting the balance as money.

What the three calculator sites leave out

We read the three sites this project benchmarks against and searched their text for accrual language. None of them explains how an accrual rate converts into hours — the closest any of them gets is a PTO column inside a time card, which records time already taken rather than projecting what you will earn.

Topic redcort.com calculatorsoup.com timecardcalculator.net

Accrual rate converted into hours earned Not covered Not covered Not covered

PTO hours recorded inside a time card Software feature only PTO hours column Not covered

Forward projection: balance after six months Not covered Not covered Not covered

Accrual caps and waiting periods Not covered Not covered Not covered

This page Yes Yes Yes

Sources: text read of redcort.com, calculatorsoup.com and timecardcalculator.net on 2026-10-19. The word “accrual” appears 0 times in all three reads. “PTO” appears 10 times on redcort.com (all inside software marketing for holiday and PTO tracking), 12 times on calculatorsoup.com (the “Add PTO Hours” column of its time card, which records PTO taken and keeps it out of the overtime threshold), and 0 times on timecardcalculator.net.

Questions people actually ask

I accrue 1 hour of PTO for every 26 hours worked. How many hours do I have after six months at 40 hours a week?

40 hours, or five 8-hour days. Forty hours a week for 26 weeks is 1,040 hours worked, and 1,040 ÷ 26 = 40. The answer changes only if some of those hours do not count toward accrual — overtime above 40, or weeks with unpaid time off.

Is 1 hour per 26 hours worked the same as 4 hours per biweekly pay period?

No, and the gap is large. One hour per 26 hours worked is 80 hours a year (2,080 ÷ 26). Four hours per biweekly period is 104 hours a year (26 × 4). Both sound like “a few hours every couple of weeks,” but the second rate is 30% larger.

Do overtime hours count toward PTO accrual?

Usually not, but it is a policy question rather than a legal one. Many handbooks accrue only on straight-time hours worked, so a 45-hour week adds the same PTO as a 40-hour week. Check whether your policy says “hours worked” or “straight-time hours” — that one word decides it.

Does federal law require paid time off?

No. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require paid vacation, holiday or sick leave; paid time off exists because an employer policy or a union agreement creates it. That is also why the accrual rate, the cap and the forfeiture rules are whatever your handbook says they are. One related point does come from federal overtime rules: paid hours you did not work do not count toward the 40-hour overtime threshold.

What happens to unused PTO when I quit?

It depends on your state and your policy. Some states treat earned vacation as wages that must be paid at separation; others let the written policy decide, and policies that forfeit unused time are common. The accrual math on this page tells you the size of the balance, not whether it is payable.