Enter your hourly rate and hours worked. Overtime over 40 hours a week is calculated automatically before we estimate your withholding.
From Hourly Rate to Paycheck: Two Steps
An hourly rate isn't a paycheck by itself; two things stand between the two. First, your hours get converted to gross pay, including overtime if you worked more than 40 hours in the week. Second, gross pay runs through the same withholding math as anyone else's paycheck: federal income tax, FICA, and state tax where it applies. This calculator does both steps together: enter your rate and hours, and it handles the overtime math automatically before estimating what comes out.
Step One: Hours to Gross Pay, With Overtime
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a non-exempt hourly employee is owed at least 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. "Non-exempt" describes most hourly jobs; certain roles are classified as exempt and aren't owed overtime regardless of pay structure, and that classification depends on job duties, not just how you're paid. This calculator assumes a standard non-exempt hourly employee and the federal weekly-40-hour overtime rule. A handful of states, California among them, add daily-overtime rules (time-and-a-half after 8 hours in a single day) that can produce a higher overtime total than the federal rule alone; those state-specific daily rules aren't modeled here. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.
The math: hours up to 40 are paid at your regular rate. Hours beyond 40 are paid at 1.5 times that rate. A 45-hour week at $22/hour is 40 hours at $22 ($880) plus 5 overtime hours at $33 ($165), for $1,045 gross that week, not $22 × 45 = $990.
Step Two: Gross Pay to Net Pay
Once your week's gross pay is known, it goes through the same withholding this calculator uses for any paycheck: your weekly pay is annualized (multiplied by 52) to estimate which federal tax bracket applies, the 2026 standard deduction for a single filer ($16,100) is subtracted, and the 2026 marginal brackets are applied. FICA (6.2% Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base, 1.45% Medicare, no cap) comes out the same way it does for a salaried paycheck. State tax, if you pick a state we model, is layered on top. Full detail on each of these: our general paycheck calculator.
A Worked Example: With and Without Overtime
Take $22 an hour in Texas (no state income tax), paid weekly. At a standard 40-hour week, gross pay is $880. Federal tax: $63.68. Social Security: $54.56. Medicare: $12.76. Net pay: $880 − $63.68 − $54.56 − $12.76 = $749.00.
Now the same $22/hour rate at 45 hours, 5 of them overtime: gross pay is $1,045 ($880 regular + $165 overtime). Federal tax rises to $83.48, not just proportionally with the extra $165, because that extra income pushes more of the week into a higher marginal bracket. Social Security: $64.79. Medicare: $15.15. Net pay: $1,045 − $83.48 − $64.79 − $15.15 = $881.58. The 5 overtime hours added $165 to gross pay but only $132.58 to net pay after tax, a useful thing to know before counting on a big overtime check to cover a specific expense.
Why the Same Rate Can Produce Different Take-Home Percentages
Notice that the no-overtime week keeps 85.1% of gross pay ($749.00 of $880), while the overtime week keeps 84.4% ($881.58 of $1,045). That's not a penalty on overtime itself, overtime pay isn't taxed at a special higher rate, it's the mechanical effect of annualizing a bigger single week for the federal bracket estimate. Your actual annual tax liability is based on your real annual income, not any one week in isolation; a single heavy-overtime paycheck just has more withheld from it in the moment, similar to how a large bonus check often sees heavier withholding than a regular paycheck.
If Your Hours Vary Every Week
This calculator treats whatever week you enter as if it repeated all year, useful for a quick estimate, not an exact prediction, especially if you regularly swing between light and heavy weeks. For a fuller year-round tax picture with irregular or gig-style income, our gig worker tax calculator and self-employed tax estimator are built for exactly that variability.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I turn an hourly rate into an estimated paycheck?
Multiply your hourly rate by the hours you actually worked that week (with any hours over 40 paid at 1.5x under federal overtime rules), and that's your gross pay for the week. From there, the same federal tax, FICA, and, where it applies, state tax withholding rules apply as they would to a salaried paycheck. Enter your rate and hours above and this calculator does both steps.
Do I get overtime if I'm paid hourly?
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), non-exempt hourly employees are owed at least 1.5x their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. "Non-exempt" covers most hourly workers; certain roles can be classified as exempt regardless of pay structure, and a small number of states add daily-overtime rules (overtime after 8 hours in a single day, for example) on top of the federal weekly rule, which this calculator does not model. Source: U.S. Department of Labor.
Does this calculator assume my hours are the same every week?
Yes, for the tax-bracket estimate specifically. It takes the single week you enter, multiplies it by 52 to estimate your annual income (needed to figure out which federal tax bracket applies), then shows you that week's actual withholding. If your hours vary a lot week to week, treat the result as a snapshot for a typical week, not an exact annual figure.
Why did my paycheck jump more than expected during a week with overtime?
Two things compound: the overtime hours themselves are paid at 1.5x, and because this calculator (like real payroll withholding) estimates your tax bracket from an annualized version of that week's pay, a single high-overtime week can nudge more of that week's pay into a higher marginal bracket than a normal week would. Your actual annual tax liability evens out over the full year; a single big paycheck just has more withheld from it at the time.
Is a salaried employee's overtime calculated the same way?
No. Salaried-exempt employees generally are not owed overtime under FLSA regardless of hours worked, which is one of the defining features of exempt status. This calculator's overtime math applies to hourly, non-exempt pay only. If you're salaried, use our general paycheck calculator with your per-period salary amount instead.
Does state overtime law ever pay more than federal law?
Yes, in some states. California and a few others require daily overtime (time-and-a-half after 8 hours in a single day, double time after 12) in addition to the federal weekly-40-hour rule, and can produce a higher overtime total than this calculator's federal-only math. This calculator uses the FLSA weekly rule everywhere, so hourly workers in those states may see a real paycheck slightly higher than this estimate during long single-day shifts.
Is this tax or legal advice?
No. It's an educational estimation tool. Confirm your actual overtime eligibility and withholding with your employer's payroll or HR department, or a licensed professional.