How to Convert Hours and Minutes to Decimal Hours

Minutes to decimal hours chart

Each row is the minutes divided by 60, rounded to four places. Add the result to the whole hours.

Add up a week of time

Five shifts of 7:45, 8:20, 6:50, 7:30 and 9:05 convert to 7.75 + 8.33 + 6.83 + 7.5 + 9.08. Add the minutes first to avoid rounding drift: the hours are 37 and the minutes are 150, which is 2 hours 30 minutes, so the total is 39.5 hours. At $22 an hour that is $869.00.

Tenth-of-an-hour systems

Some timekeeping systems count in six-minute steps, where 6 minutes is 0.1 hour, 12 minutes is 0.2, 18 minutes is 0.3 and so on. If your employer rounds time this way, follow the written policy; this page shows the exact, unrounded value.

Convert decimal hours back to minutes

Multiply the decimal part by 60. For 5.35 hours: 0.35 x 60 = 21, so 5 hours 21 minutes.

If you pay people by the hour

Payroll runs on decimal hours, not hours and minutes. An employee who works 38 hours 45 minutes is paid for 38.75 hours, so at $20 an hour the gross pay is $775.00. Entering 38.45 by mistake would pay $769.00, a $6.00 error that repeats every pay period. Hours past 40 in a week can trigger overtime for covered employees; see the overtime pay calculator, and the employee cost calculator for what an hourly worker costs once taxes and benefits are added. Pay rules vary by state and by whether a worker is an employee or a contractor, so check with your payroll provider or bookkeeper. MCC Solutions LLC offers small business bookkeeping and payroll support from Cranford, NJ.