TIME & DATE

Hours Between Times Calculator

Clock in, clock out, get the answer — in plain hours and minutes and in the payroll-ready decimals your timesheet wants. Unpaid breaks come out automatically, and overnight shifts wrap past midnight on a 24-hour timeline.

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How many hours did that take?

Type a start and end time and watch the timeline paint your shift — break included. Flip to the second tab to turn hours and minutes into the decimal hours payroll systems expect.

How it works: both times are converted to minutes since midnight; the duration is end − start, with 24 hours added whenever the end lands earlier — so overnight shifts just work. Unpaid break minutes are subtracted before anything else, and decimal hours are net minutes ÷ 60.

Why decimals? Payroll systems store time as fractions of an hour, so 8 hours 15 minutes must be entered as 8.25 — not 8.15. Minutes are base-60: divide them by 60 and add to the hours.

How hours-between-times math works

Time math is subtraction with one twist: the clock resets at midnight. The reliable method is to work in minutes — convert both times to minutes since midnight, subtract, and convert back. If the end time is earlier than the start, the shift crossed midnight, so add 24 hours (1,440 minutes) to the end first. That is the whole trick; everything else is bookkeeping.

The formulas

duration (minutes) = end − start, + 1,440 if end < start · net minutes = duration − unpaid break · decimal hours = net minutes ÷ 60 · h:mm: hours = ⌊net ÷ 60⌋, minutes = net mod 60

Worked example: a night shift with a lunch break

The setup: a shift from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM with a 30-minute unpaid break. In minutes: 10:00 PM = 1,320 and 6:00 AM = 360. Because 360 < 1,320, the shift crossed midnight — add 1,440 to the end: 1,800 − 1,320 = 480 minutes (8 hours). Subtract the break: 480 − 30 = 450 minutes = 7h 30m = 7.50 decimal hours.

The timeline: on the 24-hour bar above, this shift would paint two solid blocks — 10:00 PM to midnight, then midnight to 6:00 AM — with the striped break chunk sitting at the end. Same-day shifts paint a single block.

Where this comes in handy

Filling in timesheets: convert the result to decimals with the second tab — most payroll software rejects "7:30" and wants 7.50.
Checking your paycheck: multiply your net hours by your rate — the overtime pay calculator handles the time-and-a-half part when you cross 40 hours.
Counting workdays, not hours: for deadlines measured in days, the business days calculator skips weekends and your holidays.
The full method, by hand: the hours-between-times guide walks through the borrow-from-60 method, breaks, rounding rules, and the 8:15 ≠ 8.15 trap.
Countdowns to the finish line: shift almost over? The countdown calculator ticks down to clock-out time with a shareable link.

Hours between times — frequently asked questions

I clock in at 9:00 and out at 9:00 — is that zero hours or a full day?

By convention it is zero hours — the calculator treats identical start and end times as no time passing. If you genuinely worked a full 24-hour shift, tick the "Ends the next day" box and the same times give you 24.00 hours.

My shift crosses midnight — how does the calculator handle it?

Automatically. If the end time is earlier than the start (say 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM), 24 hours are added to the end before subtracting — 30:00 − 22:00 = 8 hours. On the timeline this paints two blocks: one up to midnight, one after.

Why isn't 8 hours 15 minutes the same as 8.15 hours?

Because minutes are base-60, not base-100. Fifteen minutes is a quarter of an hour: 15 ÷ 60 = 0.25, so 8h 15m = 8.25 decimal hours. Entering 8.15 instead undercounts by 6 minutes a day — nearly half an hour over a work week.

Should I subtract my unpaid break before or after converting to decimals?

Before. Convert only your net time — paid time — into decimals. Subtracting the break after converting gives the same number here, but doing it first keeps timesheets and payroll math honest when rounding enters the picture.

My employer rounds clock times to the nearest 15 minutes — how do I check my paycheck?

Apply their rule to your own numbers first, then compare. The second tab's rounding options cover the common ones (5, 6, 10, 15 minutes). Rounding rules must be neutral over time — an employer may not round in a way that systematically favors them — so a small consistent shortfall is worth raising with HR or payroll.

Do I count the hour lost or gained on daylight-saving weekends?

An overnight shift spanning a clock change is genuinely one hour longer or shorter on the clock. Many employers have a written policy (pay the scheduled hours, or pay actual elapsed time); when in doubt, log what the policy says and confirm with payroll. Most regular shifts never touch a changeover night.

What if my break is paid?

Then leave the break field at 0. A paid break is work time — you were on the clock the whole span — so nothing comes out of the total.