Hours Calculator

Calculate the number of hours and minutes between two times, or add and subtract time durations across multiple entries.

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Hours Worked

8h 0m

Decimal hours 8
Total minutes 480
Overnight No

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Time Calculator

Hours calculator: time between two times in hours and minutes

The hours calculator finds the exact number of hours and minutes between a start time and an end time, handling overnight spans automatically. Whether you need to track working hours, calculate a shift length, or measure any time interval, enter the start and end times and the result appears instantly in both decimal hours and hours-and-minutes format.

How the hours calculator works

The calculator converts both times to total minutes elapsed since midnight. The end time in minutes minus the start time in minutes gives the duration. If the result is negative — meaning the end time is earlier than the start time on the clock face — the calculator adds 1 440 minutes (24 hours) to account for an overnight span crossing midnight.

The result is expressed in two ways: as a decimal number of hours (useful for payroll calculations where 7 hours 30 minutes equals 7.5 hours) and as hours and minutes (useful for scheduling and planning). The decimal conversion is simply the total minutes divided by 60.

Duration (min) = End time (min) − Start time (min)

If the result is negative, add 1 440 to handle overnight spans.

Duration (decimal hours) = Duration (min) ÷ 60

For example, 450 minutes ÷ 60 = 7.5 hours.

Practical uses and tips

Shift workers and freelancers use the hours calculator most often. For payroll, always use the decimal form: multiply decimal hours by the hourly rate to get gross pay without converting minutes manually. For an overnight shift from 22:00 to 06:30, the calculator correctly returns 8.5 hours rather than a negative value.

When logging multiple time segments in a day, calculate each segment separately and sum the decimal values before multiplying by the rate. This avoids rounding errors that build up when minutes are converted piecemeal. For project estimation, convert the decimal result back to hours and minutes for client-facing quotes, as people find "3 hours 45 minutes" clearer than "3.75 hours".

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate hours worked overnight?

Enter the start time and the end time as normal. If the end time is before the start time (for example, start 22:00, end 06:00), the calculator automatically adds 24 hours to the end time, giving the correct 8-hour result. You do not need to adjust anything manually.

 How do I convert hours and minutes to a decimal for payroll?

Divide the minutes portion by 60 and add it to the whole hours. For example, 7 hours 45 minutes becomes 7 + (45 ÷ 60) = 7.75 hours. Multiply 7.75 by your hourly rate to get gross pay.

 Can I calculate the total hours across multiple shifts?

Calculate each shift individually to get the decimal hours for each, then add all the decimal values together. This is more accurate than adding up hours and minutes separately, because carrying over 60 minutes to an hour is easy to get wrong manually.

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