Overtime Pay Calculator

What Is Time and a Half?

Time and a half is the most common form of overtime pay. It means that for every overtime hour you work, you earn 1.5 times your regular hourly rate. If your normal wage is $20 an hour, your time-and-a-half rate is $30 an hour. That extra 50% is the overtime premium — it rewards you for hours worked beyond your standard schedule and gives employers a reason not to overwork their staff. In the United States, time and a half is the minimum overtime rate required by the Fair Labor Standards Act for eligible workers, and many other countries use a similar or higher premium. The math is straightforward: multiply your hourly rate by 1.5 to find what each overtime hour pays, then multiply by the number of overtime hours.

How Overtime Pay Is Calculated

Your total pay for a week is simply your regular pay plus your overtime pay. Regular pay is your hourly rate multiplied by your regular hours. Overtime pay is your hourly rate multiplied by your overtime multiplier, multiplied by your overtime hours. Take a worker earning $20 an hour who puts in 40 regular hours and 10 overtime hours at time and a half. Their regular pay is 20 × 40 = $800, and their overtime pay is 20 × 1.5 × 10 = $300, for a total of $1,100 that week. Those 50 hours would only pay $1,000 at the flat rate, so the overtime premium is worth an extra $100.

A number worth watching is your effective hourly rate: your total pay divided by every hour you worked. In the example above, $1,100 across 50 hours is an effective rate of $22 an hour. This blended figure is useful when you compare jobs or decide whether a raise on your base rate is better than relying on overtime. If a steadier schedule and a higher base rate appeal to you, our pay raise calculator shows how a bump to your base pay compares to the overtime you rely on now.

Who Qualifies for Overtime?

Not everyone is entitled to overtime pay, and the rules hinge on how a job is classified. Workers are generally split into two groups: non-exempt and exempt. Non-exempt employees are legally owed overtime once they pass the applicable hours threshold, which in the United States is typically 40 hours in a workweek. Exempt employees are not, usually because their role meets specific tests around job duties and a minimum salary level — common examples include certain executive, administrative, and professional positions. Importantly, being paid a salary rather than an hourly wage does not automatically make you exempt. Many salaried workers are non-exempt and still earn overtime. The classification depends on the actual duties you perform and your pay, not just your job title. Rules also vary by country and, within the United States, by state, so the exact thresholds where you live may differ. This section is general information, not legal advice; if you are unsure about your status, check with your employer or your local labor authority.

Double Time and Holiday Pay

Double time means being paid twice your regular hourly rate — a $20 wage becomes $40 an hour. Unlike time and a half, double time is not required by U.S. federal law, but it shows up frequently in union agreements, for work on public holidays, or for exceptionally long shifts. Some states go further: California, for instance, requires double time once an employee works more than 12 hours in a single day, or beyond 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek. Holiday pay is a related idea. There is no federal mandate that employers pay extra for holidays in the United States, so any premium for working Thanksgiving or New Year’s Day usually comes from company policy or a contract. When your pay mixes ordinary overtime with a separate double-time rate, use the optional double-time block in this calculator to add those hours on top, and the breakdown will keep them separate so you can see exactly where your earnings come from.

Is Overtime Taxed More?

This is one of the most persistent myths about overtime, and it is worth putting to rest: overtime is not taxed at a higher rate than regular pay. Every dollar you earn, whether from your first hour or your fiftieth, is taxed under the same income tax rules. What actually happens is a quirk of payroll withholding. When you work a big overtime week, your paycheck is larger than usual, and withholding systems often estimate your tax as if you earned that much every single pay period. That can push a single check into a higher estimated bracket and hold back more tax than you truly owe. It can look like the government took a bigger cut of your overtime, but nothing special happened to the overtime itself.

Because income tax is annual and progressive, any over-withholding gets reconciled when you file your return, and the excess comes back to you as a refund. The bottom line is simple: overtime always leaves you with more money than not working it, and the tax on it is no different from the tax on your regular wages. To estimate what you actually keep after tax, try our tax estimator, and to put those extra earnings to work, a clear budget plan helps you decide whether the overtime funds savings, debt payoff, or a specific goal.