Regular Rate of Pay Calculator
Your paycheck says $20 an hour, but after a week of overtime and a bonus, what did you actually earn per hour? The Regular Rate of Pay Calculator below shows two numbers side by side: the simple blended rate most payroll blogs quote, and the FLSA-method regular rate federal law requires overtime to be based on, with the overtime premium it produces.
Your regular rate, two ways
$0.00 per hour
Quick Answer
At $20 an hour with 40 regular hours, 5 overtime hours and a $100 bonus, the blended rate is $23.33 an hour, the FLSA regular rate is $22.22 an hour, the overtime premium is $55.56, and the correct weekly total is $1,055.56. The calculator above is pre-filled with this exact week, so click Calculate to reproduce every number. The premium exists because federal law builds overtime from the regular rate, not from the base wage alone.
Key takeaways
- Two rates answer two questions. The blended rate averages everything you earned; the FLSA regular rate is the legal base for overtime.
- The FLSA regular rate divides straight-time earnings by total hours. The overtime premium is excluded from its numerator, then added back as 0.5 times the rate times overtime hours.
- Non-discretionary bonuses raise your regular rate for the whole week. Surprise discretionary bonuses do not.
- A blank field counts as 0. The only hard stop is entering no hours at all.
- This is an educational estimate, not payroll or legal advice. Classification and state-law questions belong with a professional.
How to use the regular rate of pay calculator
Enter one workweek of numbers and read the two rates side by side. Results stay hidden until you click Calculate.
- Hourly pay rate: your base wage before overtime, for example 20. This is the number on your offer letter, not your overtime rate.
- Regular hours worked: your non-overtime hours for the week, usually 40. Federal law counts overtime past 40 in a fixed 7-day workweek.
- Overtime hours: the hours beyond 40. These drive the premium line; with zero overtime hours the premium is $0.00 and both rates agree when there is no bonus.
- Bonuses and other earnings: non-discretionary bonuses, commissions or other earnings promised in advance for that week. Leave it blank or 0 when there are none.
- Read the result: the headline is the FLSA regular rate, with the blended rate, the overtime premium and the correct weekly total in the rows below. Use Copy my results to save the breakdown or Share results to send it.
If you are checking a paycheck rather than planning a week, the unpaid overtime calculator works the other direction, from hours already worked to wages owed. To see what your hourly rate means annually, the annual income to hourly calculator converts it, and the hourly raise calculator shows what a raise does to the same math.
The two formulas
The blended rate is the all-in average; the FLSA rate is straight-time earnings divided by hours, with the premium computed separately. The two differ exactly by where the overtime premium sits.
FLSA regular rate = (Hourly pay × Total hours + Non-discretionary bonuses) ÷ Total hours
Overtime premium = 0.5 × FLSA regular rate × Overtime hours
Correct weekly total = Straight-time pay + Overtime premium
The FLSA formula is not the page's invention: the Department of Labor's own guidance sends anyone determining a regular rate to its Fact Sheet #56A overview of the regular rate and to the regulations at 29 CFR part 778, and the regulation itself defines the rate as total remuneration for the workweek, minus statutory exclusions, divided by total hours worked (see 29 CFR 778.109). The worked bonus example in 29 CFR 778.110 follows exactly the method this calculator uses: add the bonus to straight-time earnings first, then divide by all hours.
Worked example: $20 an hour, 40 hours, 5 overtime hours, $100 bonus
This is the pre-filled week. Every number below is produced by the calculator above; change any input and the rows update.
| Line | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Total hours | 40 + 5 | 45 |
| Blended rate | ($800 + $150 + $100) ÷ 45 | $23.33/hr |
| FLSA regular rate | ($900 + $100) ÷ 45 | $22.22/hr |
| Overtime premium | 0.5 × $22.2222 × 5 | $55.56 |
| Correct weekly total | $1,000 + $55.56 | $1,055.56 |
Watch what the bonus does. Drop it to zero and rerun: the blended rate falls to $21.11 while the FLSA rate returns to exactly $20.00, the premium drops to $50.00, and the total becomes $950.00. The $100 bonus lifted the FLSA rate by $2.22 an hour, which is $100 divided by 45 hours, and that lift applied to every overtime hour through the premium. This is the single most misunderstood part of overtime math: a bonus does not just add $100 to the week, it reprices every overtime hour in it. The bonus salary calculator models the bonus side of that relationship on its own.
What goes into the regular rate, and what stays out
Almost everything you are paid for the week's work goes in; a short statutory list stays out. The line the regulations draw is remuneration for employment versus payments that are not compensation for hours worked.
Included in the regular rate
- Base hourly wages for all hours
- Non-discretionary bonuses: promised in advance or tied to production, attendance or performance
- Commissions earned for the week
- Shift differentials and similar premiums for the work itself
Excluded from the regular rate
- Genuine discretionary bonuses: true surprises with no prior promise
- Tips and most expense reimbursements
- Paid time off: vacation, holiday and sick pay
- Employer contributions to retirement and benefit plans
The inclusion list is why the bonus field exists on the calculator, and the exclusion list is why the tool asks for "bonuses and other earnings" rather than every dollar that touched your paycheck. The governing provisions are 29 CFR 778.200 for the included-versus-excluded framework and 29 CFR 778.208 specifically for bonuses. Two more facts from the same framework: the regular rate can never be lower than the applicable minimum wage, and for salaried nonexempt workers the salary is divided by the hours it was intended to cover (see 29 CFR 778.113), which the FAQs below spell out.
What competing calculators miss
Most regular-rate tools in this space pick one formula and never say which, which is how two honest calculators end up printing different numbers for the same week:
- The single-formula tools: several top results divide total pay by hours and stop there, with no bonus field at all. Their number is the blended rate, correct for budgeting, wrong for overtime compliance, and they never label it.
- The DOL-method-only tools: at least one rival follows the Department of Labor method exactly but never shows the blended figure, so a reader comparing notes with an employer's payroll blog sees a "different" number and assumes someone is wrong.
- The plain time-and-a-half tools: the common overtime calculator multiplies the base rate by 1.5 and moves on. That is only correct when the regular rate equals the base rate, which fails the moment a bonus, commission or shift differential enters the week.
- The gap this page fills: both rates on one page, each labeled with its formula, a bonus field that reprices the whole week the way the regulation requires, and the overtime premium shown as its own line so the 0.5 times rate times hours step is never a black box. Neither number is a mistake; they answer different questions.
Frequently asked questions
The blended rate averages everything you earned, including the overtime premium already paid. The FLSA rate is the legal building block for overtime: straight-time earnings divided by hours, with the premium computed separately. Use the FLSA rate when checking overtime compliance; the blended rate is fine for budgeting.
Non-discretionary ones: bonuses promised in advance or tied to a formula, production, attendance, or performance. A genuine surprise bonus with no prior promise is excluded. Commissions count.
Tips and most expense reimbursements are excluded from the regular-rate calculation under federal rules.
Some states are stricter than federal law. California, for example, requires daily overtime after 8 hours, not just weekly overtime after 40. This calculator applies the federal 40-hour rule; check your state labor department for local requirements.
A full-time salary normally covers only non-overtime hours, so the regular rate is the weekly salary divided by 40 (for a monthly salary: monthly x 12 / 52 / 40). The exception is the fluctuating-workweek method (29 CFR 778.114), where the salary is understood to cover all hours worked. Each overtime hour is then owed the full time-and-a-half rate (1.5 times the regular rate), because the salary covered only the first 40.
That cannot stand as a regular rate. Under the Department of Labor's rules the regular rate may not be lower than the FLSA minimum wage, or a higher state or local minimum wage where one applies. If your inputs produce a lower figure, the wage itself is the problem, not the math.
Any blank field is treated as zero, so leaving bonuses blank simply means no bonus. The only hard stop is entering no hours at all: with zero total hours there is no rate to compute, and the tool asks you to enter at least some hours worked.
No. It is an educational estimate. Classification questions and state-law edge cases belong with a payroll professional or employment lawyer.
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References
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. WHD Fact Sheets (see Fact Sheet #56A: Overview of the Regular Rate of Pay Under the FLSA). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. Overtime Rulemaking FAQs (directs regular-rate questions to Fact Sheet #56A and 29 CFR part 778). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. Compliance Assistance for New and Small Businesses (FLSA overtime: 1.5 times the regular rate over 40 hours). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. 29 CFR 778.109: The Regular Rate Is an Hourly Rate. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. 29 CFR 778.110: Hourly Rate Employee (worked bonus example). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. 29 CFR 778.113: Salaried Employees, General. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. 29 CFR 778.200: Inclusion, Exclusion, and Crediting of Particular Payments. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. 29 CFR 778.208: Inclusion and Exclusion of Bonuses in the Regular Rate. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. Fact Sheet #22: Hours Worked Under the FLSA. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Texas Association of School Boards. FLSA Opinion Letter: Additional Compensation and the Regular Rate of Pay. Accessed October 23, 2026.