PTO Accrual Rates: How Much You Earn Per Pay Period
PTO accrual rate formulas and tables for 10, 15, and 20 days a year on weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and hourly schedules, plus caps and carryover rules.
Your PTO accrual rate is your annual PTO divided by the number of times you get paid. Fifteen days a year is 120 hours; on a biweekly payroll that is 120 ÷ 26 = 4.615 hours every paycheck. This page has the formulas, tables for the common allowances on every pay schedule, and the cap and carryover rules that decide whether you keep what you earn. To run your own numbers, including part-time hours and a start date, use the PTO accrual calculator.
The accrual formulas
Everything starts with annual hours, because days are ambiguous (an 8-hour day and a 10-hour day are not the same amount of leave). Convert days to hours first: days × hours per workday, so 10 days × 8 = 80 hours.
| Accrual method | Formula | Example: 120 hours a year |
|---|---|---|
| Per pay period | Annual hours ÷ pay periods per year | 120 ÷ 26 = 4.615 h per biweekly paycheck |
| Per hour worked | Annual hours ÷ annual work hours (usually 2,080) | 120 ÷ 2,080 = 0.0577 h per hour |
| Per week | Annual hours ÷ 52 | 120 ÷ 52 = 2.308 h per week |
| Per month | Annual hours ÷ 12 | 120 ÷ 12 = 10 h per month |
| Front-loaded | Full balance granted on a set date | 120 h on January 1 or your anniversary |
Pay periods per year: weekly 52, biweekly 26, semimonthly 24, monthly 12.
Accrual per pay period
Hours of PTO earned each paycheck, based on an 8-hour day. Values are rounded to three places; most payroll systems store four or more and round only the displayed balance.
| Annual PTO | Hours a year | Weekly (52) | Biweekly (26) | Semimonthly (24) | Monthly (12) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 days | 40 | 0.769 | 1.538 | 1.667 | 3.333 |
| 10 days | 80 | 1.538 | 3.077 | 3.333 | 6.667 |
| 15 days | 120 | 2.308 | 4.615 | 5.000 | 10.000 |
| 20 days | 160 | 3.077 | 6.154 | 6.667 | 13.333 |
| 25 days | 200 | 3.846 | 7.692 | 8.333 | 16.667 |
The same rates expressed in days per paycheck, for anyone whose policy is written that way: 10 days a year is 0.385 days biweekly, 15 days is 0.577, and 20 days is 0.769. Multiply by 8 to get the hours in the table.
Accrual per hour worked
Hourly accrual is the fairest method for part-time and variable-hour staff, because the balance tracks hours actually worked. The rate is annual hours divided by 2,080 (40 hours × 52 weeks).
| Annual PTO (full time) | Rate per hour worked | 40-hour week earns | 30-hour week earns | 20-hour week earns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 days (40 h) | 0.01923 | 0.769 h | 0.577 h | 0.385 h |
| 10 days (80 h) | 0.03846 | 1.538 h | 1.154 h | 0.769 h |
| 15 days (120 h) | 0.05769 | 2.308 h | 1.731 h | 1.154 h |
| 20 days (160 h) | 0.07692 | 3.077 h | 2.308 h | 1.538 h |
A 20-hour-a-week employee on the 10-day plan earns 0.769 hours a week, or 40 hours a year: exactly half the full-time allowance, which is the point. Whether overtime hours accrue PTO is a policy choice; many employers cap accrual at 40 hours worked per week.
State paid-sick-leave laws use the same method with fixed rates. The most common is 1 hour of sick leave per 30 hours worked (0.0333 per hour, about 69 hours a year full time), used by California, Arizona, Massachusetts, and others. Some use 1 per 40 (0.025, or 52 hours a year). These are minimums and usually separate from vacation PTO.
How long it takes to earn time off
New employees often want to know when a first day or first week off becomes possible. Pay periods needed = hours wanted ÷ accrual per period, rounded up to the next full period.
| Plan (biweekly) | Per period | One 8-hour day | One 40-hour week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 days a year | 3.077 h | 3 periods (6 weeks) | 13 periods (26 weeks) |
| 15 days a year | 4.615 h | 2 periods (4 weeks) | 9 periods (18 weeks) |
| 20 days a year | 6.154 h | 2 periods (4 weeks) | 7 periods (14 weeks) |
Two policy features change this. A waiting period (commonly 30 to 90 days) delays either accrual or use; if accrual runs during the wait, the balance is there when the wait ends. Front-loading grants the full year's PTO up front, so there is nothing to wait for, but the employer may claw back the unearned portion if you leave early in the year.
Accrual caps, carryover, and use-it-or-lose-it
Three separate rules control what happens to the balance, and policies often confuse them:
- Accrual cap. The maximum balance you can hold. Accrual pauses at the cap and resumes when you use time. A 10-day plan with a 1.5× cap stops at 120 hours. Nothing is taken away; you simply stop earning until you take some.
- Carryover limit. The maximum you can bring into the next year. With a 40-hour carryover limit and a 110-hour balance on December 31, 70 hours are forfeited on January 1, where that is legal.
- Use-it-or-lose-it. A carryover limit of zero. The balance resets every year.
Whether carryover limits and forfeiture are enforceable depends on the state. California treats earned vacation as wages: it cannot be forfeited, but a reasonable accrual cap is fine, which is why California employers rely on caps rather than year-end resets. Colorado, Montana, and Nebraska take the same view. Most other states allow forfeiture as long as the policy is written and communicated in advance, and some (including Illinois and Massachusetts) require unused earned vacation to be paid out at separation even if year-end forfeiture is permitted. Rules change, so confirm with your state labor office before assuming a balance is safe.
Worked example of a cap in action: a 15-day plan, biweekly, with a 180-hour cap. An employee with a 176-hour balance accrues 4.615 hours, hitting 180.615, but the balance is held at 180 and the 0.615 hours are not banked. Take a 16-hour long weekend and the next period accrues the full 4.615 again.
Checking your balance
- Find your annual allowance in hours (days × your standard day).
- Divide by your pay periods per year to get the per-period rate, or by 2,080 for the hourly rate.
- Multiply by the periods (or hours) worked since your last known balance, then subtract time taken.
- Compare against the cap; if the balance in step 3 is above it, the real balance is the cap.
The PTO accrual calculator does all four steps and projects the balance to a future date. If your hours vary week to week, work out the hours first with the time card calculator, and remember that hours over 40 are overtime for pay purposes whether or not they accrue PTO.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my PTO accrual rate?
Divide your annual PTO hours by the number of pay periods in a year. 15 days is 120 hours; paid biweekly (26 periods) that is 120 ÷ 26 = 4.615 hours per paycheck. For an hourly rate, divide by 2,080 hours instead: 120 ÷ 2,080 = 0.0577 hours of PTO per hour worked.
What is a normal PTO accrual rate?
In the US, 10 days (80 hours) a year is the common starting point for private-sector employees, rising to 15 and 20 days with tenure. On a biweekly payroll that is 3.08, 4.62, and 6.15 hours per paycheck respectively.
How much PTO do I accrue per hour worked?
Annual PTO hours ÷ 2,080. Ten days a year is 0.0385 hours per hour worked, 15 days is 0.0577, and 20 days is 0.0769. A 40-hour week at the 10-day rate earns 1.54 hours.
How long does it take to accrue one day of PTO?
At 10 days a year on a biweekly payroll you earn 3.077 hours per period, so an 8-hour day takes 2.6 pay periods, or a little over five weeks. At 20 days a year it takes 1.3 periods.
What is a PTO accrual cap?
A ceiling on the balance you can hold. Once you reach it, accrual stops until you use some time. A typical cap is 1.5 to 2 times the annual allowance, so 120 to 160 hours for a 10-day plan. Caps are legal in every state as long as the cap is reasonable and accrual resumes after time is used.
Can my employer take away unused PTO at the end of the year?
It depends on the state. California, Colorado, Montana, and Nebraska treat earned vacation as wages that cannot be forfeited, so use-it-or-lose-it policies are not allowed there, though caps are. Most other states allow forfeiture if the policy is in writing. Check your state labor office.
Is PTO paid out when I leave a job?
Where state law treats earned PTO as wages (California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and others), yes, at your final rate of pay. Elsewhere it depends on the written policy. Front-loaded PTO that has not yet been earned is generally not paid out.
Last updated 2026-09-16. Everything on this page runs in your browser. Nothing you type or upload leaves your device.