Hours to Decimal Calculator
Turn hours and minutes into decimal hours for payroll, timesheets, and billing. Free, instant, and works both ways.
Hours & Minutes → Decimal
Decimal → Hours & Minutes
Why payroll works in decimal hours
When you clock out, payroll needs one number it can multiply by your hourly rate. “7 hours 30 minutes” cannot be multiplied by $18.50 directly, but 7.50 decimal hours can: 7.50 × 18.50 = $138.75. That is the whole reason timesheets ask for decimals. The conversion itself never changes:
decimal hours = hours + (minutes ÷ 60)
Two more examples. A shift of 8 hours 45 minutes is 8 + (45 ÷ 60) = 8.75. A short 3-hour 20-minute shift is 3 + (20 ÷ 60) = 3.3333, usually rounded to 3.33.
A worked example, step by step
Say your time card shows 5 hours 47 minutes and payroll wants a decimal.
Step 1: set the hours aside. You will add them back at the end, so remember the 5. Step 2: divide the minutes by 60. On paper, 47 ÷ 60 = 0.7833 (the calculator on this page shows four decimal places). Step 3: add the hours back: 5 + 0.7833 = 5.7833.
Most timesheets only want two places, so write 5.78. Check it in the converter above by entering 5 and 47: you get the same 5.7833 before rounding.
The mistake almost everyone makes once
Decimal hours count fractions of an hour in tenths, not in minutes. So 0.30 of an hour is 18 minutes (0.30 × 60), not 30. If you mean “2 hours and 30 minutes,” the decimal is 2.50, because 30 ÷ 60 = 0.50.
A quick self-check: whole quarter hours always end in .00, .25, .50, or .75. So 2 hours 30 minutes must be written 2.50. The entry 2.30 is still a legal value, but it means something different: 2 hours and 18 minutes (0.30 × 60 = 18).
Adding up a full pay period
The real payoff comes at the end of the week. Once every day is in decimal form, the total is plain addition. Say your week looks like this:
Monday 8.00, Tuesday 7.75, Wednesday 8.50, Thursday 7.25, Friday 6.50. The sum is 38.00 hours, and at $18.50 an hour the gross pay is 38.00 × 18.50 = $703.00. If the same entries had stayed in hours-and-minutes form (8h 00m, 7h 45m, 8h 30m, 7h 15m, 6h 30m), you would have to convert each one before you could add anything.
Biweekly pay runs work the same way: convert each day, add all ten working days, then multiply once. Our biweekly timesheet guide walks through a full two-week example, including overtime.
Quarter-hour conversion table (0:15 to 8:00)
| Hours & minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 0h 15m | 0.25 |
| 0h 30m | 0.50 |
| 0h 45m | 0.75 |
| 1h 00m | 1.00 |
| 1h 15m | 1.25 |
| 1h 30m | 1.50 |
| 1h 45m | 1.75 |
| 2h 00m | 2.00 |
| 2h 15m | 2.25 |
| 2h 30m | 2.50 |
| 2h 45m | 2.75 |
| 3h 00m | 3.00 |
| 3h 15m | 3.25 |
| 3h 30m | 3.50 |
| 3h 45m | 3.75 |
| 4h 00m | 4.00 |
| 4h 15m | 4.25 |
| 4h 30m | 4.50 |
| 4h 45m | 4.75 |
| 5h 00m | 5.00 |
| 5h 15m | 5.25 |
| 5h 30m | 5.50 |
| 5h 45m | 5.75 |
| 6h 00m | 6.00 |
| 6h 15m | 6.25 |
| 6h 30m | 6.50 |
| 6h 45m | 6.75 |
| 7h 00m | 7.00 |
| 7h 15m | 7.25 |
| 7h 30m | 7.50 |
| 7h 45m | 7.75 |
| 8h 00m | 8.00 |
Minutes to decimal lookup table
| Minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 0.0833 |
| 10 minutes | 0.1667 |
| 15 minutes | 0.2500 |
| 20 minutes | 0.3333 |
| 25 minutes | 0.4167 |
| 30 minutes | 0.5000 |
| 35 minutes | 0.5833 |
| 40 minutes | 0.6667 |
| 45 minutes | 0.7500 |
| 50 minutes | 0.8333 |
| 55 minutes | 0.9167 |
| 60 minutes | 1.0000 |
For minute counts not in the table, divide by 60, or just enter the full hours and minutes in the converter above.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert hours and minutes to decimal for a timesheet?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add the result to the hours. A shift of 8 hours 45 minutes becomes 8 + (45 ÷ 60) = 8.75 decimal hours. Enter the numbers above and the calculator fills the decimal box as you type.
What is 7 hours 30 minutes in decimal hours?
7.50. Thirty minutes is half an hour, so 7h 30m is written 7.50 on a timesheet. This is one of the most common biweekly entries, because it is exactly 15 hours across two weeks at 7.5 hours a day.
How do I turn decimal hours into pay?
Multiply decimal hours by your hourly rate. If you worked 7.75 hours at $18.50 an hour, gross pay is 7.75 × 18.50 = $143.38 (payroll rounds to the cent). Always convert to decimal before multiplying.
Does 8.30 on a timesheet mean 8 hours 30 minutes?
No, and this trips up a lot of people. On a decimal timesheet, 8.30 means 8 hours and 0.30 of an hour, which is 18 minutes. If you worked 8 hours 30 minutes, the correct entry is 8.50. The second box above converts any decimal back to hours and minutes so you can check.
How many decimal places should I use?
Most payroll systems accept two decimal places (7.75), and some time clocks record four (7.7500). Two places is safe for manual timesheets; use four only if your employer asks for it, because 6h 20m is 6.3333 and rounding it to 6.33 loses a third of a minute.
How do you convert hours to decimal by hand?
Keep the whole hours aside, divide the minutes by 60, then add the two results. For 5 hours 47 minutes: 47 ÷ 60 = 0.7833, and 5 + 0.7833 = 5.7833 decimal hours. Worked step by step below.
Is there a mental shortcut for dividing minutes by 60?
Yes. Dividing by 60 is the same as dividing by 6 and then moving the decimal point one place left. For 42 minutes: 42 ÷ 6 = 7, so 42 minutes is 0.7 of an hour. For 24 minutes: 24 ÷ 6 = 4, so 0.4 of an hour.
What are the quarter-hour landmark values worth memorizing?
Four of them cover most timesheet entries: 15 minutes = 0.25, 30 minutes = 0.50, 45 minutes = 0.75, and a full hour = 1.00. If your shift is 6h 45m you can write 6.75 without any division.
What do I do with repeating decimals like 20 ÷ 60?
Round to two decimal places for a manual timesheet (0.3333 becomes 0.33) or to four places if your system records them (3.3333). Over one shift the difference is under a minute; payroll systems that track four places do it so tiny remainders add up fairly across a pay period.
How do I convert seconds as well as minutes?
Convert seconds to minutes first by dividing by 60, then fold the result into the minutes before dividing by 60 again. For 2h 45m 30s: 30 seconds is 0.5 minutes, so you have 2h 45.5m, which is 2 + (45.5 ÷ 60) = 2.7583 decimal hours.
Should I round my time entries before or after converting?
Convert first, then round to the precision your payroll system wants. If you round the minutes first (for example, snapping 47 minutes down to 45) you may lose pay you are entitled to. Employers that round usually do it by the quarter hour, and rounding rules are covered in our time card rounding guide.
Why do employers want decimal hours instead of hours and minutes?
Payroll software multiplies an hourly rate by a single number of hours. Decimal hours make every entry the same format, so 40 hours of entries can be summed and multiplied without anyone converting fractions of an hour by hand at the end of the period.
How do I go back from decimal to hours and minutes?
Use the second box above: type 1.75 and it shows 1h 45m. The whole number is the hours, and multiplying the decimal part by 60 gives the minutes.