Updated October 2026 with BLS benefits data
PTO Accrual Calculator
Wondering how much paid time off you’ll have by spring, or what your balance is worth? Enter how you earn PTO to see your accrual per paycheck, per month and per year, plus your projected balance.
- Per-year or per-hour-worked accrual
- Any pay schedule
- Balance projection with a cap
- Dollar value of your PTO
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PTO accrual calculator
Hours and days, any pay schedule
Enter how much PTO you earn and the hours you work each week.
| PTO earned | Hours | Days |
|---|
Assumes steady hours and accrual every pay period. Your employer’s policy decides waiting periods, caps, rollover and payout, so check your handbook or pay stub for the exact rules.
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2026 (private industry, released Sept. 25, 2026); U.S. Department of Labor.
The formula
How PTO Accrual Works
Most accrual policies work one of two ways. Some give you a set amount per year and spread it across your paychecks. Others give you a small amount for every hour you work, which is common for hourly and part-time jobs.
Set amount per year: PTO per paycheck = yearly PTO hours ÷ number of pay periods
Per hour worked: PTO earned = hours worked ÷ hours needed to earn 1 hour of PTO
Say you get 80 hours a year and you’re paid biweekly. You earn 80 ÷ 26, or about 3.08 hours per paycheck. If your policy is 1 hour for every 30 hours worked and you work 40 hours a week, you earn about 1.33 hours a week, or about 69.3 hours over a full year.
Accrual table
How Long It Takes to Earn a Day or a Week Off
Policies are written in different ways, which makes them hard to compare. This table puts common ones side by side for a full-time, 40-hour schedule. The second column is the decimal rate you may see on a pay stub or HR portal:
| Policy | PTO per hour worked | Hours per year | 8-hour days per year | Hours per biweekly check | Weeks to earn 1 day | Weeks to earn 1 week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour per 40 worked | 0.0250 | 52 | 6.5 | 2 | 8 | 40 |
| 1 hour per 30 worked | 0.0333 | 69.3 | 8.7 | 2.67 | 6 | 30 |
| 1 hour per 25 worked | 0.0400 | 83.2 | 10.4 | 3.2 | 5 | 25 |
| 1 hour per 20 worked | 0.0500 | 104 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 20 |
| 40 hours a year | 0.0192 | 40 | 5 | 1.54 | 10.4 | 52 |
| 80 hours a year | 0.0385 | 80 | 10 | 3.08 | 5.2 | 26 |
| 120 hours a year | 0.0577 | 120 | 15 | 4.62 | 3.5 | 17.3 |
| 160 hours a year | 0.0769 | 160 | 20 | 6.15 | 2.6 | 13 |
Assumes 40 hours a week, 52 weeks and 8-hour days. Part-time workers on per-hour policies earn proportionally less.
“employees accrue 0.028 hours of PTO for every 1 hour worked. Essentially, you would need to work 35.71 hours to earn 1 hour of PTO.”
Our take: The poster asked whether that’s slow. Run the numbers: 0.028 × 2,080 hours is about 58 hours a year, or 7.3 eight-hour days at 40 hours a week. At the 40 to 50 hours they said they work, it’s 58 to 73 hours. Either way it’s below the 11-day private-industry average for workers after one year that BLS reported for March 2026 (shown in the next section).
At 1 hour per 30 worked, it takes about 6 weeks of full-time work to earn one 8-hour day and about 30 weeks to earn a full week off. At 80 hours a year, it’s about 5 weeks and 26 weeks.
Benchmarks
How Much PTO Is Typical?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks paid vacation in its National Compensation Survey. Its March 2026 averages show vacation growing with seniority. Here they are converted into the units a PTO policy uses:
| Years of service | Private industry: vacation days | Hours (8-hour days) | Hours per biweekly check | Accrual per hour worked | State and local government: days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 11 | 88 | 3.38 | 0.0423 | 13 |
| 5 years | 16 | 128 | 4.92 | 0.0615 | 16 |
| 10 years | 18 | 144 | 5.54 | 0.0692 | 19 |
| 20 years | 20 | 160 | 6.15 | 0.0769 | 22 |
Source: BLS, Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2026 (released Sept. 25, 2026). Days are averages; hours and accrual rates are our conversions at 40 hours a week.
The same data shows private industry workers averaged 7 days of paid sick leave at every service level. Averages hide a lot of spread, though. BLS found 32 percent of private industry workers got 10 to 14 vacation days after one year of service, and 30 percent got 15 to 19 days after ten years.
Convert your wage to yearly pay, and see what unpaid weeks would cost you.
Hours to days
Turning PTO Hours Into Days Off
PTO is usually tracked in hours, but you take it in days. Divide your balance by the length of your shift. 40 hours is five 8-hour days but only four 10-hour shifts. That’s why the calculator asks how long your workday is. If your shifts vary, use the length of the shifts you plan to take off.
Caps and rollover
Accrual Caps, Rollover and Waiting Periods
Some policies put a ceiling on how much PTO you can bank. Once you reach the cap, you stop earning until you use some, so the hours you would have earned are simply lost. If you add your cap to the calculator, it shows roughly when you’ll hit it.
Policies also differ on whether unused hours roll over into the next year and whether new hires wait before they can use PTO. BLS notes that paid vacation is generally granted after a service requirement such as 90 days, 6 months or 12 months. These rules come from your employer, and in some places from state or local law, so your handbook is the place to confirm them.
Your rights
Is Paid Time Off Required?
Not under federal law. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act “does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or federal or other holidays.” Paid leave is a matter of agreement between you and your employer. Some states and cities have their own paid sick leave laws, so your local rules may give you more.
Most private-sector workers get it anyway. In March 2026, 80 percent of private industry workers had access to paid vacation and 81 percent had access to paid sick leave, according to BLS. Employer size matters: 91 percent of workers at private establishments with 500 or more workers had paid vacation, compared with 71 percent at places with fewer than 50.
If you’re comparing jobs, PTO is part of the pay. Our guide to Target employee benefits shows how paid time off, sick hours and holidays work at one big retailer.
Leaving a job
What to Do With Your PTO Before You Quit
Federal law doesn’t require employers to pay out unused PTO. Whether you get paid for your balance depends on your state’s law and your employer’s written policy, so check before you give notice:
- Check your balance. Look at your latest pay stub or HR portal, and use the calculator to add what you’ll earn before your last day.
- Read the payout rules. Your handbook should say whether unused PTO is paid out, forfeited or capped at departure.
- Check your state. Your state labor department can tell you whether earned vacation must be paid out.
- Decide: use it or cash it. If it won’t be paid out, schedule the time before your last day; if it will, check your final pay stub for it.
“it is literally just a legal loophole designed to rob you when you leave the company.”
Our take: This post about unlimited PTO drew more than 1,800 upvotes, but the top reply pushed back: “My last company (tech) had unlimited PTO and I took 6-7 weeks off annually without issue. It depends on the company and your manager.” Both can be true. With unlimited PTO there’s no banked balance, so there’s usually nothing to pay out when you leave. The value is in the time you actually take, so check how much time off people on the team really use before you treat it as a perk.
Our guide on giving two weeks’ notice covers the rest of the exit, and if you need a single day off, see how to call out of work.
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FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How is PTO accrual calculated?
Divide your yearly PTO by the number of pay periods. 80 hours a year paid biweekly is 80 ÷ 26, or about 3.08 hours per paycheck. If you earn PTO per hour worked, divide your hours worked by the accrual ratio: 40 hours at 1 hour per 30 worked is about 1.33 hours a week.
How much PTO is 1 hour for every 30 hours worked?
At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, that’s 2,080 ÷ 30, or about 69.3 hours a year. In 8-hour days, that’s about 8.7 days.
What does a PTO accrual rate of 0.0385 mean?
You earn 0.0385 hours of PTO for each hour you work. Over a 2,080-hour year that’s about 80 hours, or two weeks of 8-hour days.
How many vacation days is normal?
In March 2026, BLS data showed private industry workers averaged 11 paid vacation days after one year of service, 16 after five years, 18 after ten and 20 after twenty.
Do you earn PTO while you’re on PTO?
It depends on your employer’s policy. Some count paid leave hours toward accrual and some count only hours actually worked. If your policy says you earn PTO per hour worked, ask HR whether vacation and holiday hours count.
How many days is 80 hours of PTO?
80 hours is 10 days if your workday is 8 hours. If you work 10-hour shifts, the same 80 hours covers 8 days off.
Do employers have to pay out unused PTO?
Federal law doesn’t require paid vacation or a payout. Whether unused PTO is paid when you leave depends on your state’s law and your employer’s written policy, so check both before you give notice.