Paid time off is one of the most valuable parts of your compensation, yet most employees have only a rough idea of how much they actually earn, how much rolled over from last year, and what their balance will look like next December. This PTO calculator turns those numbers into a single, projected year-end balance — in hours and in days off — so you can plan a longer trip without accidentally going into unpaid leave.
Adjust the inputs and every figure updates instantly. Enter how many hours you accrue each pay period, how often you are paid, the hours you already have banked, any carryover from last year, and the time you have already taken this year. The result card shows your annual accrual, your true annual PTO including carryover, and the balance you are projected to hold on the last day of the year.
How to Use
- Enter PTO Hours per Pay Period — the number of paid time-off hours your employer adds to your balance each pay cycle. If you do not know it, divide your total annual PTO hours by your number of pay periods; a common full-time rate is about 3.08 hours per biweekly pay period.
- Choose Pay Periods per Year — 12 for monthly, 24 for semimonthly, 26 for biweekly, or 52 for weekly. Most US salaried employees are on 26 biweekly periods.
- Fill in your Current PTO Balance from your latest pay stub. This is what you have already earned but not yet used as of today.
- Add any Carryover from Last Year. If your employer lets unused PTO roll into the new year, those hours stack on top of what you earn this year — but watch for a carryover cap.
- Enter PTO Hours Used This Year — vacation, sick, and personal days you have already taken. The calculator subtracts these from the projected balance.
The result card then breaks out your annual accrual, your effective annual PTO once carryover is included, how much you accrue per month, your projected year-end balance in hours, and the equivalent number of full days off.
How PTO Accrual Works
PTO usually accrues incrementally rather than arriving all at once on January 1. The core formula is straightforward:
Annual PTO Accrual = Hours per Pay Period × Pay Periods per Year
For example, 3.08 hours per pay period over 26 biweekly periods yields about 80.08 hours per year, or roughly ten full 8-hour workdays. Your projected year-end balance then builds on that:
Projected Year-End Balance = Current Balance + Carryover + Annual Accrual − Hours Used This Year
Most US full-time employees earn between 10 and 25 days of PTO per year, often rising with tenure. Newer employees commonly start around 10–15 days, while staff with five or more years at a company often reach 20–25 days. This calculator does not assume any of that — it uses exactly the accrual rate you enter.
Carryover, Caps, and Use-It-or-Lose-It
A large share of employers place a cap on how much unused PTO may roll into the next year. Common caps are 40 hours (one week) or 80 hours (two weeks); anything above the cap is forfeited at year-end under a "use-it-or-lose-it" policy. Other companies pay you out for unused PTO instead of carrying it over, which is why the carryover field is optional — leave it at zero if your employer does not roll balances forward.
If your projected year-end balance is higher than your employer's carryover cap, that is a signal to schedule some time off in November or December, or ask HR whether a payout is available.
Examples
Example 1 — A standard biweekly employee. Someone accrues 3.08 hours per pay period over 26 periods, starts the year with a 10-hour current balance, has 8 hours of carryover, and has used 16 hours so far. Annual accrual is 80.08 hours; total annual PTO including carryover is 88.08 hours; the projected year-end balance works out to about 82.08 hours, or roughly 10.26 days off. At a $25 per hour wage, those 82.08 hours represent about $2,052 of earned paid time off for the year.
Example 2 — No accrual, only carryover. If an employee has paused accrual (0 hours per pay period) but holds a 5-hour current balance, 5 hours of carryover, and has used 2 hours, the projected year-end balance is simply 8 hours — enough for one full day off.
Example 3 — A large accrual case. A high-earning accrual rate of 1,000,000 hours per period over 26 periods produces an annual accrual of 26,000,000 hours purely to confirm the engine handles very large figures without overflow.
FAQ
How is my PTO balance calculated?
Your annual PTO accrual equals the hours you earn each pay period multiplied by the number of pay periods in a year. Your projected year-end balance is that annual accrual plus your current balance and any carryover from last year, minus the hours you have already used this year.
How many hours of PTO do I accrue per pay period?
Divide your total annual PTO hours by your number of pay periods. For 80 hours a year on a biweekly schedule (26 periods), that is 80 ÷ 26 ≈ 3.08 hours per pay period. On a monthly schedule (12 periods), 80 hours becomes about 6.67 hours per pay period.
What is a normal amount of PTO per year?
In the United States, full-time employees typically earn between 10 and 25 days of paid time off per year. Newer employees often start around 10–15 days, while tenure-based policies commonly reach 20–25 days after five or more years. Unlimited PTO policies are rarer and work differently from accrual-based plans.
What happens to unused PTO at year-end?
It depends on your employer's policy. Some companies let it carry over, often with a cap such as 40 or 80 hours. Others pay you out for unused hours, and a growing number use a "use-it-or-lose-it" model where anything above the cap is forfeited. This calculator treats carryover as an input so you can model your own policy.
How do I convert PTO hours into days?
Divide your balance by your standard workday length. Most full-time schedules use 8-hour days, so 80 hours equals 10 days. If you work 7.5-hour or 9-hour days, divide by that figure instead — the equivalent-days result on this page assumes 8-hour days.
Does sick leave count as PTO?
Sometimes. In the US, "PTO" is often a single bucket that combines vacation, sick, and personal days, so all three count together. In other companies, sick leave is tracked separately and does not accrue or roll over the same way. Check your employee handbook, or enter only the hours from the bucket you want to project.
Disclaimer
This PTO calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, HR, or employment advice. Projections are based on the inputs you enter and the standard accrual formula; actual accrual rates, carryover caps, payout policies, and use-it-or-lose-it rules vary widely by employer, location, and employment agreement. Always confirm your balance and policy directly with your HR department before making scheduling or compensation decisions.