How Is Overtime Pay Calculated?

Overtime pay is the higher rate you earn for hours worked beyond a set threshold — most commonly 1.5× your regular hourly rate (time-and-a-half) for hours over 40 per week. If you earn $25/hour and work 48 hours, the first 40 hours pay $25 and the extra 8 pay $37.50, adding a meaningful premium. This calculator separates your regular and overtime pay cleanly, handles double-time thresholds, and shows your effective hourly rate for the week.

The Overtime Formula

The two variables that matter are the threshold (when overtime kicks in — usually 40 hours per week) and the multiplier (usually 1.5×, sometimes 2× for extreme hours, weekends, or holidays). Some jurisdictions and awards add daily overtime (over 8 hours in a day) or double-time after a higher weekly threshold — this calculator supports a second double-time tier for those cases.

Overtime Rules Around the World

• United States: the FLSA requires 1.5× after 40 hours/week for non-exempt employees; some states (like California) add daily overtime over 8 hours and double-time over 12
• Australia: overtime rates are set by the relevant modern award or agreement — commonly 1.5× for the first few hours then 2×
• United Kingdom: there's no legal requirement to pay a premium for overtime, only that average pay doesn't fall below minimum wage — rates are set by contract
• Canada: generally 1.5× after 40–44 hours/week depending on the province

How to Use This Calculator

Enter your regular hourly rate and total hours worked this week. Set the overtime threshold (40 is the common default) and your multiplier (1.5× for time-and-a-half). If your award or state pays double-time after a higher number of hours, enter that too. You'll get your total weekly pay, regular and overtime amounts separated, overtime hours and rate, and your effective hourly rate across the whole week — useful for seeing what those extra hours are really worth.

Worked Example

At $25/hour working 48 hours with overtime after 40 at 1.5×: regular pay is 40 × $25 = $1,000, and overtime is 8 × $25 × 1.5 = $300, for a total of $1,300. Those 8 overtime hours earned $300 instead of the $200 they'd pay at the regular rate — a $100 premium — and lifted the effective rate to $27.08/hour. If double-time applied after 48 hours, any 49th hour onward would jump to $50/hour.

Overtime and Your Taxes

• Overtime is gross pay before tax — this calculator shows the pre-tax amount you've earned
• It doesn't push all your income into a higher bracket: only the overtime dollars that cross a bracket line are taxed at the higher rate, not your whole paycheck
• Withholding may look high on a big-overtime week because payroll systems annualize that week's pay — it evens out at filing
• Some jurisdictions offer overtime tax relief — check current rules for your country, as these change

See the Rest of Your Pay

Convert your overtime-inclusive weekly pay into an annual figure and see it after tax with the take-home pay calculator. If you also earn variable pay, the commission calculator and bonus tax calculator cover those, and the salary-to-hourly calculator helps compare hourly and salaried offers.

Frequently Asked Questions