How PTO accrual works
Most US employers don't hand you your whole year of paid time off on day one. Instead you accrue it — earning a small, fixed amount with every paycheck until it adds up to your yearly allowance. The math is straightforward: take your annual PTO in hours and divide it by the number of paychecks you get in a year. With 15 days (120 hours at an 8-hour day) and biweekly pay, that's 120 ÷ 26 = about 4.62 hours of PTO earned per paycheck.
Your current balance is then just that per-paycheck amount multiplied by the number of pay periods you've worked, minus whatever you've already taken. The calculator above does all three steps — the per-period rate, the accrued total, and the balance after time used — and reports the answer in both hours and days, because HR systems usually track PTO in hours but people plan vacations in days.
Common allowances as an accrual rate
Per biweekly paycheck (26 a year), assuming an 8-hour workday:
| PTO / year | Hours / year | Per paycheck |
|---|---|---|
| 10 days | 80 h | 3.08 h |
| 15 days | 120 h | 4.62 h |
| 20 days | 160 h | 6.15 h |
| 25 days | 200 h | 7.69 h |
Per-paycheck vs per-hour-worked accrual
Two accrual styles are common. The first ties PTO to pay periods — you earn the same chunk every paycheck regardless of exact hours, which is typical for salaried staff. The second ties it to hours worked, common for hourly and part-time roles: you earn a set fraction of an hour of PTO for each hour on the clock. A 15-day plan spread over a standard 2,080-hour year works out to about 0.0577 hours of PTO per hour worked. Switch the "Accrual schedule" dropdown to "Per hour worked" and the tool will ask for hours instead of pay periods.
Caps, carryover and waiting periods
One honest caveat: this calculator shows the straight-line accrual, but real policies add rules. Many employers cap how much PTO you can bank, so accrual stops once you hit a ceiling. Some let unused days roll into the next year, others are "use it or lose it." New hires often have a waiting period before accrual starts or before they can take time off. None of those wrinkles change the basic arithmetic — they just adjust the final number — so treat the result here as your earned balance before your company's specific rules are applied. Your handbook or HR portal is the final word.
Frequently asked questions
How is PTO accrual calculated?
Divide your annual PTO hours by your number of paychecks to get the per-period rate, then multiply by pay periods worked. 120 hours over 26 biweekly checks is about 4.62 hours per paycheck.
How much PTO do I earn per paycheck?
Yearly PTO hours ÷ number of paychecks. 15 days (120 h) on biweekly pay is ~4.62 h per check; on monthly pay it's 10 h a month.
How many hours of PTO is two weeks of vacation?
80 hours at a standard 8-hour day (10 working days × 8 hours).
What does "accrue per pay period" mean?
You earn a fixed slice of your yearly PTO with each paycheck instead of getting it all at once.
How do I convert PTO hours to days?
Divide hours by your workday length. At 8 hours a day, 80 hours is 10 days.
What is a typical PTO accrual rate?
Often 10 days for new staff, rising to 15–20 with tenure — roughly 3 to 6 hours per biweekly paycheck.
Does PTO accrue on overtime hours?
It depends on the employer. Many plans accrue only on regular hours; some accrue on all hours. Check your policy.
How much PTO is 15 days?
120 hours at 8 hours a day — about 4.62 hours earned each biweekly paycheck.