To turn minutes into decimal hours, divide the minutes by 60.

Payroll multiplies your hourly rate by decimal hours, not by hours and minutes. So 7 hours 30 minutes has to be entered as 7.5, not 7.30.

That one difference is the most common timesheet mistake I see, and it moves money in both directions.

The formula

Decimal hours = whole hours + (minutes / 60).

So 7 hours 30 minutes is 7 + (30 / 60) = 7.5. At $20 an hour that is $150. Enter 7.30 instead and you are paid $146. That is $4 gone on a single shift.

Minutes to decimal hours chart

Five minute steps, rounded to two decimals.

  • 5 minutes = 0.08
  • 10 minutes = 0.17
  • 15 minutes = 0.25
  • 20 minutes = 0.33
  • 25 minutes = 0.42
  • 30 minutes = 0.50
  • 35 minutes = 0.58
  • 40 minutes = 0.67
  • 45 minutes = 0.75
  • 50 minutes = 0.83
  • 55 minutes = 0.92
  • 60 minutes = 1.00

The four worth memorizing

Most timekeeping runs on quarter hours. 15 minutes is 0.25, 30 is 0.5, 45 is 0.75, and 60 is 1.0. Remember only those four and you can check most of a timesheet at a glance.

Going back the other way

Multiply the decimal part by 60. For 6.25 hours, 0.25 x 60 = 15, so 6 hours 15 minutes. For 9.4 hours, 0.4 x 60 = 24, so 9 hours 24 minutes.

Rounding and repeating decimals

Some conversions do not come out clean. 10 minutes is 0.1666 and keeps going, usually shown as 0.17. 20 minutes is 0.3333, usually shown as 0.33.

Rounding to two decimals is normal. Just do it once, at the end. Round every day and then add the week up and your total can drift by several minutes against the real figure. Over a year that is not nothing.

Converting a whole week

Add the hours and the minutes separately, carry every 60 minutes into an hour, then convert once. Five shifts of 8 hours 20 minutes is 40 hours and 100 minutes, which becomes 41 hours 40 minutes, or 41.67 in decimal.

Skip the arithmetic

The Decimal Hours Converter turns hours and minutes into payroll decimals and back again. The Time Card Calculator totals a full week and reports it in decimal hours directly, so you never do the carrying by hand.

Frequently asked questions

What is 30 minutes in decimal hours?

0.5 hours, because 30 divided by 60 is 0.5. So 7 hours 30 minutes is 7.5 in decimal, not 7.30.

Why does payroll use decimal hours?

Because pay is a multiplication. Your rate times 7.5 gives the right answer, while your rate times 7.30 quietly pays you for 7 hours 18 minutes.

What is 10 minutes in decimal hours?

0.1666 and repeating, normally written as 0.17. The small rounding is fine as long as you do it once at the end rather than on every daily entry.

How do I convert decimal hours back to minutes?

Multiply the part after the decimal point by 60. For 9.4 hours, 0.4 x 60 = 24, which gives 9 hours 24 minutes.