Overtime Rate Calculator
Your overtime rate is the hourly wage you earn for every hour worked past 40 in a workweek. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), that rate is 1.5 times your regular rate of pay, the familiar time and a half. This calculator finds your overtime rate per hour, then converts it into weekly overtime pay and total gross pay, so you can check any paycheck in seconds.
The only tricky part is the phrase regular rate. For a plain hourly job it is simply your wage, but bonuses, shift differentials, and multiple pay rates all change it. If you earn two different hourly rates in one week, our weighted overtime calculator works out the blended regular rate first. Salaried nonexempt workers can start with the salary plus overtime calculator to convert a weekly salary into an hourly rate.
Quick Answer
At $22 an hour, your overtime rate is $33.00 an hour ($22 x 1.5). Eight overtime hours pay $264.00, and 40 regular hours pay $880.00, for a $1,144.00 week before taxes.
💡 Key takeaways
- Your overtime rate is your regular rate x 1.5 under federal law, not simply your posted wage x 1.5.
- Bonuses and shift differentials must be folded into the regular rate first; most paycheck errors start here.
- Overtime is counted weekly (hours past 40), not daily, except in states like California and Alaska.
- Salaried workers can still be nonexempt: a salary alone does not remove the right to overtime.
- Quick Answer
- How the overtime rate is calculated
- Finding your regular rate of pay
- Worked example: $22 an hour, 48 hours
- Overtime rate vs overtime pay: what is the difference?
- What most overtime calculators get wrong
- State rules that can change the math
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How the overtime rate is calculated
The federal formula has two steps, and both use your regular rate of pay, a legal term that is not always the number on your offer letter.
Overtime pay = Overtime rate x Overtime hours
Gross weekly pay = Regular pay + Overtime pay
So a $22 hourly wage gives a $33 overtime rate, and 8 overtime hours add $264 to the week. The multiplier is the employer’s floor, not a ceiling: union contracts and company policy can pay more, and some states require double time in specific situations.
Finding your regular rate of pay
For one hourly wage with no extras, the regular rate is that wage. Anything else takes a little math, and this is where most people (and plenty of calculators) go wrong.
| How you are paid | Your regular rate |
|---|---|
| One hourly wage, nothing else | Your hourly wage |
| Salaried nonexempt, salary covers 40 hours | Weekly salary divided by 40 |
| Hourly plus a nondiscretionary bonus | (Straight-time earnings + bonus) divided by total hours |
| Two or more hourly rates in one week | Total straight-time earnings divided by total hours (weighted average) |
Nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions tied to production all count toward the regular rate under DOL guidance on bonuses under the FLSA. Discretionary gifts, like a surprise holiday bonus with no promised formula, do not. Enter the blended figure in the calculator above and the rest of the math is identical.
Worked example: $22 an hour, 48 hours
A warehouse associate earns $22 an hour and works 48 hours in one week. Here is the full calculation.
Eight overtime hours, less than a fifth of the week, produced nearly a quarter of the paycheck. That leverage is exactly why verifying the rate matters: a $1 error in the overtime rate costs $8 a week here, over $400 a year.
Overtime rate vs overtime pay: what is the difference?
The overtime rate is a per-hour price: $33.00 for every overtime hour in the example above. Overtime pay is the total dollars those hours earn: $264.00. Confusing the two is the most common mistake in paycheck disputes, because an employer can state the correct rate and still multiply it by the wrong number of hours.
If you already know your rate and only need the hours counted, the overtime hours calculator reconstructs them from clock-in records. If your paycheck shows a rate you do not recognize, work backward: divide the overtime pay line by the overtime hours. The result should equal your regular rate x 1.5.
What most overtime calculators get wrong
We tested the top-ranking overtime tools against real pay scenarios. Four gaps showed up again and again.
- They ignore bonuses in the regular rate. A $500 monthly production bonus spread over the month raises the regular rate, which raises every overtime hour. Tools that ask only for an hourly wage understate the legal rate.
- They divide salary by 40 and stop. That only works when the salary is understood to cover exactly 40 hours. Salaries meant to cover all hours worked use a different method entirely (blended multi-rate situations need a weighted average computed first).
- They treat 1.5x as universal. California requires double time after 12 hours in a day and after 8 hours on the seventh consecutive workday. A federal-only tool quietly underpays Californians.
- They never mention exempt status. Executive, administrative, and professional employees who meet the DOL duties and salary tests are exempt, and no multiplier applies. The DOL exemption fact sheet lists the tests.
This page defaults to the federal 1.5x standard and lets you change the multiplier, so state and contract variations stay in your control instead of hidden in the code.
State rules that can change the math
Federal law sets the floor: 1.5x past 40 hours a week, no averaging across weeks. Several states build on top of it. California requires daily overtime after 8 hours (1.5x) and double time after 12 hours, plus overtime on the seventh consecutive workday. Alaska and Nevada have their own daily triggers, and Colorado requires daily overtime after 12 hours.
Daily premiums stack on the same weekly math: compute each day’s premium hours first, then apply the weekly 40-hour test to what is left. Workers earning shift differentials should run the numbers through the shift differential overtime calculator, since the differential itself must be folded into the regular rate. Curious how the classic multiplier compares to a flat percentage bump? The 1.5x pay calculator shows the same math from the multiplier side.
Frequently asked questions
Time and a half means 1.5 times your regular hourly rate. At $20 an hour, time and a half is $30 an hour. It is the minimum overtime rate federal law requires for nonexempt employees working past 40 hours in a week.
Under federal law, 1.5x is the minimum for hours past 40. Some states and union contracts require double time (2x) in specific cases, such as California after 12 hours in a single day. Your employer can always pay more than the legal minimum.
Often, yes. Being salaried does not automatically make you exempt. Nonexempt salaried employees are entitled to overtime; the salary is converted to an hourly regular rate first. Exemption depends on salary level and job duties under DOL tests, not on the word “salary” in your contract.
Nondiscretionary bonuses, like production or attendance bonuses promised in advance, must be included in the regular rate, which raises your overtime rate. Purely discretionary bonuses, such as an unannounced holiday gift, do not. The DOL explains the distinction in its bonuses fact sheet.
No. Overtime is taxed at your normal marginal rates; there is no special overtime tax. It can feel smaller because the extra income may push a paycheck into a higher withholding bracket for that pay period. The IRS covers supplemental withholding in Publication 15.
California adds daily rules on top of the federal weekly rule: 1.5x after 8 hours in a day, double time after 12 hours, and 1.5x for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive workday (double time after that). See the California DIR overtime FAQ for the full breakdown.
The overtime rate is the per-hour price ($33.00/hour in our example). Overtime pay is the total earned at that rate ($264.00 for 8 hours). To audit a paycheck, divide the overtime pay line by overtime hours and confirm the result equals your regular rate times 1.5.
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References
- U.S. Department of Labor. “Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).” Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Accessed October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Labor. “Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA.” Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Labor. “Fact Sheet #56C: Bonuses under the FLSA.” Fact Sheet #56C: Bonuses under the FLSA. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Labor. “Fact Sheet #17D: Exemptions under the FLSA.” Fact Sheet #17D: Exemptions under the FLSA. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. “29 CFR Part 778: Overtime Compensation.” 29 CFR Part 778: Overtime Compensation. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. “Publication 15: Employer’s Tax Guide.” Publication 15: Employer’s Tax Guide. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- California Department of Industrial Relations. “Overtime FAQ.” Overtime FAQ. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation.” Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.” Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Accessed October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers.” Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers. Accessed October 18, 2026.