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How to Use the Overtime Calculator
The overtime calculatorabove works in two modes. The Overtime Pay tab handles a single week: enter your hourly rate, regular hours, overtime hours, and your employer's overtime multiplier. The tool instantly shows your regular pay, your overtime earnings, your total weekly paycheck, and the effective blended hourly rate for that week. The Annual Earnings tab projects your full-year compensation by accounting for time-and-a-half hours, double-time hours, and the number of weeks you work per year.
The overtime pay calculator supports three multiplier options. The default is 1.5x, the federal minimum under the Fair Labor Standards Act for non-exempt employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek. The 2.0x option calculates double-time pay, which applies on holidays, seventh-consecutive-day shifts in some states, or under many union contracts. The custom option accepts any decimal multiplier, so workers whose contracts specify 1.75x or other non-standard rates can still get an accurate calculation.
Once you have your gross weekly or annual figure, pair it with our salary calculator to model federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare withholdings and see exactly how much of your overtime earnings you will actually take home. Gross overtime pay and net overtime pay can differ substantially depending on your total income and filing status.
How Overtime Pay Works Under the FLSA
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay covered non-exempt employees at least 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a workweek is defined as any fixed recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods. Employers cannot average hours across two weeks to avoid overtime liability; each workweek stands alone.
The FLSA's overtime rule applies to the workweek, not the workday. Working 10 hours on Monday does not automatically trigger overtime; only crossing the 40-hour threshold for the week does. California, Alaska, Nevada, and several other states impose additional daily overtime rules, typically time and a half after 8 hours in a day and double time after 12 hours in a day. If you work in one of those states, your actual overtime earnings may be higher than the federal-only calculation this overtime hours calculator produces.
Not all workers are entitled to overtime. The FLSA exempts "white-collar" employees who meet both a salary-basis test and a duties test, generally executive, administrative, and professional roles earning above the salary threshold set by the Department of Labor. As of the most recent rule update, the threshold is $684 per week ($35,568 annually). Workers earning less than this threshold are entitled to overtime regardless of their job title. Use our hourly to salary calculator to determine whether your earnings fall above or below the exemption threshold.
Time and a Half vs. Double Time: Key Differences
Time and a half pay means you receive your regular rate plus an additional 50 percent for each overtime hour. At $22 per hour, time and a half equals $33 per overtime hour. This is the baseline overtime rate required by federal law and the most common rate for hours worked between 40 and 60 per week in most industries. The time and a half calculator tab makes it straightforward to verify your paycheck for any combination of regular and overtime hours.
Double time pay, 2.0x your regular rate, is not federally mandated, but it is standard in many industries and labor contracts. California law requires double time for hours beyond 12 in a workday or for all hours on the seventh consecutive workday in a workweek. Many union contracts require double time on certain holidays or for emergency call-ins. Healthcare workers in critical access settings often negotiate double-time clauses. The Annual Earnings tab of this overtime calculator separates time-and-a-half earnings from double-time earnings so you can see the precise value of each tier.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 4 percent of all wage and salary workers work overtime hours in a typical week. In manufacturing, construction, and healthcare, overtime rates are significantly higher. For workers in those sectors, overtime pay can add 10 to 30 percent to annual gross earnings, making accurate overtime calculation a key part of personal financial planning.
Using the Overtime Calculator for Annual Financial Planning
Most workers think of overtime as a week-by-week bonus, but consistent overtime has a dramatic effect on annual income. The Annual Earnings tab of this overtime pay calculator shows just how large that effect is. An employee earning $22 per hour at 40 regular hours per week makes $45,760 per year without overtime. Working just 5 overtime hours per week at time and a half increases that annual figure to $53,020, a difference of more than $7,000 before taxes.
The pay period breakdown table makes it easy to translate annual overtime earnings into per-paycheck figures. Many workers are paid biweekly (every two weeks) or semi-monthly (twice per month). Knowing how much overtime contributes to each paycheck helps with monthly budgeting, savings goals, and understanding which paychecks will be larger due to overtime hours worked in the prior pay period. Use the results from the annual tab alongside our tax bracket calculator to understand how overtime income affects your marginal federal tax rate.
The comparison between "with overtime" and "without overtime" annual totals is especially useful for workers evaluating job offers. A salary offer that looks competitive on paper may actually represent a pay cut if it replaces a position where you currently earn significant overtime. Salaried exempt employees do not receive overtime pay, so moving from an hourly position with regular overtime to a salaried exempt role can reduce total compensation even when the stated salary is higher than your base hourly rate annualized. Explore our full suite of personal finance planners to build a complete picture of your compensation and take-home pay.
Overtime Pay and Tax Withholding: What to Expect
A common misconception is that overtime pay is taxed at a higher rate. In reality, overtime earnings are ordinary income subject to the same federal marginal tax rates as regular wages. What confuses many workers is that payroll withholding tables are designed to annualize each paycheck. When a large overtime paycheck is processed, the withholding system treats that amount as if you earned it every pay period, projecting a higher annual income and temporarily withholding at a higher rate. At tax filing time, your actual annual income determines your real tax liability, and any excess withholding is returned as a refund.
Social Security and Medicare taxes, collectively FICA, are withheld on all wages including overtime. The Social Security tax rate is 6.2 percent up to the annual wage base ($168,600 in 2024), and the Medicare tax rate is 1.45 percent on all wages with an additional 0.9 percent on wages above $200,000 for single filers. These rates apply to every dollar of overtime earnings in addition to regular pay.
For workers who consistently earn overtime, it is worth reviewing your Form W-4 withholding allowances each year to ensure you are neither over-withholding (giving the government an interest-free loan) nor under-withholding (facing a tax bill in April). The gross annual figures from this overtime calculator give you the annual income estimate you need to complete the IRS withholding estimator accurately. Learn more about how overtime impacts your tax bracket with our hourly to salary calculator, which converts your total hourly compensation, including overtime, into an annual figure for tax planning purposes. For more detail on overtime pay regulations, visit Investopedia's overtime pay guide.