PTO accrual calculator: your balance, rate and when you'll have enough

This PTO accrual calculator tells you how many hours of paid time off you have earned so far, your balance after what you have used, and how many more pay periods until you have enough for the trip you are planning. It handles accrual per pay period, per hour worked, per workday and lump-sum policies, plus carryover and a cap. Fill in your policy and the numbers update as you type.

How to use the PTO accrual calculator

Start with your annual allowance as it appears in your handbook or offer letter, in days or hours. Pick how your employer accrues it: most US payrolls add a slice every pay period, some add a fraction of an hour for every hour worked, and some grant the whole year on January 1. Then enter how far through the year you are (pay periods, hours or workdays so far), anything you carried over, what you have already used, and a cap if your policy has one. The balance updates as you type. The last line tells you how many more pay periods you need for the number of hours you want, which is the question most people come here to answer.

If your PTO is in days but your payroll tracks hours, leave the allowance in days and set your workday hours. Part-time staff on a 6-hour day should set 6, because that changes both the hours total and the day conversion.

How the calculator works: the PTO accrual formula

Every method comes down to one line, which ADP's employer guide to PTO accrual states the same way: accrued PTO equals the accrual rate multiplied by the number of accrual units completed. The calculator turns your policy into that rate and then applies carryover, usage and the cap.

1. Annual hours. Allowance in days × hours in your workday. 15 days × 8 = 120 hours.
2. Accrual rate. Annual hours ÷ accrual units in a year. Biweekly is 26 pay periods, semimonthly 24, weekly 52, monthly 12. Per hour worked divides by your annual hours (2,080 for a 40-hour week). Per workday divides by 260.
3. Accrued so far. Rate × units completed.
4. Balance. Carryover + accrued so far − used. If a cap is set and the balance is above it, the balance is held at the cap and the excess is shown as not accrued. (Caps normally stop accrual the moment you hit them, so if you have been at the cap for a while, the real figure can be a little lower than this simplified version.)
5. Year-end projection. Carryover + full annual hours − used, capped if a cap is set.
6. Time to target. (Target − balance) ÷ rate, rounded up to whole pay periods, then converted to weeks for the method you chose.

Standard PTO accrual rates by pay schedule

These are the rates the calculator produces for an 8-hour day. Use the table to sanity check a pay stub.

ADP's guide gives the same per-hour figure for 15 days, rounded to 0.058, from 120 ÷ 2,080. If your stub shows a rate that does not appear on this table, either your workday is not 8 hours, your allowance is tiered by tenure, or there is a waiting period before accrual starts. All three are common.

Worked example

This is an example with made-up numbers, the ones the calculator loads by default. Someone gets 15 days a year on an 8-hour day, paid biweekly, has completed 20 pay periods, carried 8 hours into this year, has used 60 hours, and wants 80 hours banked for a two-week trip.

• Annual hours: 15 × 8 = 120.
• Rate: 120 ÷ 26 = 4.615 hours per pay period.
• Accrued so far: 4.615 × 20 = 92.31 hours.
• Balance: 8 + 92.31 − 60 = 40.31 hours, which is 5.04 days.
• Year-end projection: 8 + 120 − 60 = 68 hours.
• Time to target: 80 − 40.31 = 39.69 hours short. 39.69 ÷ 4.615 = 8.6, rounded up to 9 more pay periods, about 18 weeks.

That last line is the one to act on. With 6 pay periods left in the year, the trip cannot be fully covered before December under this policy, so the choice is to take some of it unpaid, shorten it, or book it for the new year after the next accruals land.

What the rules say about PTO, caps and carryover

Federal law does not require paid vacation at all. The US Department of Labor's page on vacation leave says the Fair Labor Standards Act "does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations", and that these benefits are "matters of agreement between an employer and an employee". So your handbook is the rulebook, and the calculator can only be as right as the policy you type into it.

State law changes what an employer can do with the balance once it exists. California is the clearest example. The state's vacation FAQ from the Department of Industrial Relations says earned vacation "is considered wages", that a use-it-or-lose-it policy is illegal there, that a cap on accrual is allowed, and that accrued, unused vacation must be paid at the final rate of pay when employment ends. Other states sit anywhere between that position and no rule at all, so if a cap or a forfeiture date on your balance looks wrong, check your state labor department's page before you accept it.

For a sense of what is normal, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' paid vacations factsheet reports that in 2026, 32 percent of private industry workers received 10 to 14 days of paid vacation after 1 year of service, and 30 percent received 15 to 19 days after 10 years. If you are negotiating an offer, that is the range to anchor on, and the salary negotiation email templates include a line for asking for more days instead of more money.

What good looks like and what to do next

A healthy balance is one you can read off a pay stub and reproduce with the formula above to the nearest tenth of an hour. If your number and payroll's number differ by more than a rounding error, the usual causes are a waiting period for new hires, a tenure tier that changed mid-year, unpaid leave that paused accrual, or a cap you did not know about. Ask HR for the accrual rate they use, not the balance, and run it through the calculator yourself.

If you are planning time off, run the target line early. Nine pay periods is four months of notice to yourself. If you are leaving a job, run the year-end projection with the leaving date as the "completed" figure and check whether your state requires a payout of what is left. And if the problem is money rather than days, the salary increase calculator and the guide on how to ask for a raise cover the other side of the same conversation. For the leaving-date math on a subscription or a membership, the prorated refund calculator works the same way.

FAQ: PTO accrual

How do I calculate PTO accrual per pay period?

Divide your annual PTO hours by the number of pay periods in a year, then multiply by the pay periods you have completed. For 120 hours a year paid biweekly, the rate is 120 ÷ 26 = 4.62 hours per period. After 10 periods you have accrued 46.2 hours. Add any carryover and subtract hours used to get your balance.

How much PTO do I accrue per hour worked?

Divide annual PTO hours by annual hours worked. A full-time employee on 2,080 hours a year with 15 days (120 hours) of PTO accrues 120 ÷ 2,080 = 0.0577 hours for every hour worked, which ADP rounds to 0.058. A 40-hour week therefore adds about 2.3 hours. Part-time staff accrue at the same rate but on fewer hours.

What is a PTO accrual cap?

A cap is the most PTO you can hold at once. When your balance reaches it, accrual stops until you use some time and drop below it. Caps are allowed in California, where use-it-or-lose-it forfeiture is not, because a cap pauses earning rather than taking away hours you already earned. Your handbook should state the cap in hours or days.

Does PTO roll over to the next year?

It depends on your policy and your state. Federal law does not require paid vacation, so rollover is a matter of agreement unless state law intervenes. California treats earned vacation as wages that cannot be forfeited, so it rolls over subject to any cap. Other states allow use-it-or-lose-it rules, often only if the policy is written and communicated in advance.

Is accrued PTO paid out when I leave?

Only where state law or your employer's policy requires it. California requires accrued, unused vacation to be paid at your final rate of pay in the final paycheck. Many states leave it to the written policy, and some allow forfeiture on termination if the policy says so. Check your state labor department's page and your handbook before your last day.

How many PTO days is normal in the US?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2026, 32 percent of private industry workers received 10 to 14 days of paid vacation after 1 year of service, and 30 percent received 15 to 19 days after 10 years. Access also varies by employer size, with larger establishments more likely to offer paid vacation than those with fewer than 50 workers.