Vacation Accrual Calculator
Turn an annual PTO allowance into the per-paycheck accrual rate — and project your balance forward.
Assumes even accrual with no cap. Many employers cap balances — check your policy.
How PTO accrual works
Most U.S. employers grant vacation as an accrual — you earn a slice each pay period — rather than a lump sum on January 1. It protects the company from someone using a full year of PTO and quitting in February, and it’s why your PTO balance is never a round number.
Worked example
15 days/year (120 hours) on a biweekly schedule accrues 4.62 hours per paycheck. Starting from a 20-hour balance, ten paychecks later you’ll have 66.2 hours — about 8.3 days. From zero, a full week off (40 h) takes about 8.7 pay periods ≈ 4 months.
Common accrual structures
| Structure | How it works | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Per pay period (most common) | Equal slice each paycheck | Waiting period for new hires (30–90 days) |
| Per hours worked | e.g., 1 h PTO per 30 h worked — standard for part-time & required by many state sick-leave laws | Overtime hours may or may not accrue |
| Lump sum ("front-loaded") | Full allowance granted on Jan 1 or anniversary | May be prorated/clawed back at exit |
| Tenure tiers | 10 days years 1–2 → 15 days years 3–5 → 20 days after | When the bump applies (anniversary vs. calendar year) |
| “Unlimited” PTO | No accrual, no balance | Nothing to pay out when you leave — that's the point |
Caps, carryover and the fine print
- Accrual caps: many policies stop accrual once your balance hits a ceiling (often 1.5–2× the annual rate). If you’re near the cap, every period you don’t take time off is PTO silently forfeited.
- Use-it-or-lose-it: allowed in most states with notice, but banned in California, Montana and Nebraska, where earned PTO can’t expire (caps are the legal workaround).
- Carryover limits: a common middle ground — roll over up to N days, lose the rest each January.
- Negative balances: borrowing PTO before it accrues is at employer discretion, and the debt is typically deducted from a final paycheck where state law allows.
- Leaving soon? Pair this with the PTO payout calculator to see what your accrued hours are worth in cash.
Frequently asked questions
How much PTO do I accrue per pay period?
Annual hours ÷ periods per year. Fifteen days (120 h) biweekly = 4.62 h/check; twenty days (160 h) semi-monthly = 6.67 h/check. Your paystub usually prints the exact rate.
How much PTO is typical, and who decides?
Your employer’s written policy or contract decides. The state laws cited on this page (California § 227.3, Nebraska § 48-1229) govern what happens to vacation once it is earned — whether it can be forfeited and whether it is paid out at separation — not how much must be offered. Many policies step the accrual rate up with years of service, and some merge vacation and sick time into a single PTO bank; enter your own plan’s rate above rather than relying on a national average.
Does PTO accrue during overtime or unpaid leave?
Hours-worked accrual plans usually count overtime hours (check the plan); per-period plans accrue the same regardless of hours. Unpaid leave commonly pauses accrual — periods with no paid hours often earn no PTO.
Can my employer take away PTO I already accrued?
Prospective policy changes (lower future accrual, new caps) are generally legal with notice. Retroactively confiscating already-accrued hours is not, in states that treat PTO as earned wages — and is a fast way to trigger wage claims anywhere.
Official sources
Every rate and threshold on this page comes from the issuing agency. Verify anything here against the primary source:
- California Labor Code § 227.3 (vested vacation) — an employment contract or employer policy “shall not provide for forfeiture of vested vacation time upon termination” — the basis of California’s use-it-or-lose-it ban
- California Labor Code § 246 (paid sick days accrual) — the “one hour per every 30 hours worked” accrual rate; no accrual or carryover is required when the full amount is front-loaded at the start of each year
- Nebraska Revised Statutes § 48-1229 — earned but unused vacation leave is part of the wages due at separation
Last reviewed: 2026-09-30 · Report an issue