Employer-policy PTO calculator (United States)

Work out how much PTO you have accrued and what is left, using your employer's own policy. US employees can absolutely have paid leave — it comes from an employer's policy rather than a federal minimum, so every figure here is based on the policy you enter.

United States. There is no federal statutory paid vacation. Paid time off comes from your employer's policy, so these tools work from the policy you enter. Rules checked 16 September 2026.

How is PTO accrual calculated in the US?

No federal law requires paid vacation or PTO, so your allowance comes from your employer's policy. Policies usually either grant the year's hours up front, or accrue them each pay period, or accrue them per hour worked.

Accrued hours minus hours used, plus any carryover, is your balance. That is separate from statutory paid sick or earned leave, which some states do require — that is handled by the state accrual calculator.

How does your policy give PTO?

Take this from your employee handbook or PTO policy — there is no federal minimum to fall back on.

Pay schedule

PTO hours earned each pay period

Accrual periods completed so far this policy year

Count the pay dates that have actually passed. Biweekly years can hold 27 periods, semi-monthly years always hold 24.

Balance carried into this policy year (optional)

Only carryover from last year. Do not repeat this year's grant here.

PTO hours already used this policy year (optional)

More policy options

Maximum balance your policy allows (optional)

Hours in your working day (optional)

Your hourly pay rate in dollars (optional)

Used only for a gross value estimate. It does not mean the balance is legally payable to you.

Enter your employer's policy and select “Work out my PTO balance”. Your balance and the full workings appear here.

What to do next

There is no federal PTO entitlement

The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked, including vacation. The US Department of Labor states plainly that paid vacation is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee. So this is arithmetic on your policy, not a statement of what you are legally entitled to.

State and local law can still matter — several states treat accrued vacation as earned wages that must be paid out when employment ends, some restrict “use it or lose it” policies, and separate paid-sick-leave laws exist in many places. Those rules decide what happens to a balance; they do not usually change how a policy balance is counted, so this page does not ask for a state. To see the statutory minimum your state requires you to accrue, use the PTO accrual calculator by state.

The three common policy methods

Granted up front: The whole year's allowance appears on day one of the policy year. 80 hours granted, 16 used, leaves 64 hours.
Earned each pay period: 4.62 hours per biweekly period × 13 completed periods = 60.06 hours accrued. Add an 8 hour carryover and subtract 16 hours used, and 52.06 hours remain.
Earned per hour worked: 0.0385 hours of PTO per eligible hour worked × 900 hours = 34.65 hours accrued. Common for hourly and part-time staff.

Pay schedules are not interchangeable

Biweekly means every two weeks, so most years hold 26 accrual events but some hold 27. Semi-monthly means twice a month, which is always exactly 24. Weekly is 52 and monthly is 12. Because of that, the calculator asks how many periods have actually passed rather than guessing from the date — enter the pay dates that have already happened.

A carryover balance and this year's accrual are counted separately so they are never added twice. If your policy grants the full year up front, the carryover field is the only balance you should add to it.

Unlimited PTO

Under a genuinely unlimited or discretionary policy nothing accrues, so there is no numeric balance to show and usually nothing to pay out when you leave. Choosing that option returns an explanation rather than a number.

Common questions

How many PTO hours do I earn per pay period?: Divide the annual allowance by the number of pay periods: 80 hours over 26 biweekly periods is about 3.08 hours each. Per-hour-worked policies use a ratio instead, often 1 hour for every 30 or 40 hours worked.
Is PTO the same as paid sick leave?: No. PTO here is your employer's own vacation or combined time-off policy. Around twenty states and DC separately require paid sick or earned leave by statute, with their own accrual rates and caps — those are in the state paid leave calculator.
Does my employer have to pay out unused PTO?: It depends on the state and the policy. Some states treat accrued vacation as earned wages that must be paid on separation; others let a written policy say otherwise. This calculator shows a balance, not a payout entitlement.
What is an accrual cap?: A ceiling written into the policy: once your balance reaches it, you stop accruing until you use some time. That is different from a use-it-or-lose-it rule, which wipes a balance at the year end and is restricted in some states.

Limits of this tool

It follows the policy you enter. It does not verify that the policy complies with state or local law.
The optional dollar figure is your balance multiplied by the rate you enter, before tax. It is not a statement that the money is owed to you.
Statutory sick leave, FMLA and termination-payout rules are out of scope for this first version.
Government-contract rules such as Executive Order 13706 and Service Contract Act fringe benefits are not modelled.
Caps and carryover are applied exactly as you enter them; accrual caps that stop accrual mid-year are not modelled separately.

Official sources

Rules checked 16 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.