NumberTally Hours Between Two Times Calculator — Shift Length & Pay
Find the hours between any two times — overnight shifts handled automatically — subtract an unpaid break, and turn it into pay at your hourly rate. Compare two shifts side by side, total a whole week, and see the shift on a 24-hour timeline.
Overnight shifts are automatic — if the end time is earlier than the start, it counts as crossing midnight.
Advanced options
Compare a second shift
Weekly totalizer — hours per day
Enter each day’s shift length in decimal hours.
How overnight math works
The core calculation is a subtraction: end minus start. The subtlety is the overnight shift. Clock in at 10:00 PM, out at 6:00 AM, and naive subtraction gives a negative number. The rule: whenever the end time is earlier than (or equal to) the start time, add 24 hours to the end first — 6:00 AM becomes “30:00”, and 30 − 22 = 8 hours. Breaks are subtracted as plain minutes afterwards, then the total converts to decimal hours (minutes ÷ 60) for payroll.
For a full week of shifts with daily in/out times, the Work Hours Calculator is the right tool; this page answers the single-shift question instantly.
From hours to paycheck
Enter your hourly rate and the calculator multiplies it by the post-break decimal hours — that is gross pay for the shift, before taxes. Overtime rules (time-and-a-half past 40 hours/week in the US) are not applied here; for those, use the Overtime Calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many hours are between 9am and 5pm?
8 hours — and 7.5 with a 30-minute unpaid lunch. Enter 09:00 and 17:00 above with a 30-minute break to see it worked out.
Does this calculator handle shifts past midnight?
Yes, automatically. If the end time is earlier than the start time, 24 hours are added to the end before subtracting. 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM reads as 8 hours.
How are breaks subtracted?
As plain minutes off the total: (end − start) − break. A 30-minute unpaid break on an 8-hour shift leaves 7.5 paid hours.
What are decimal hours and why are they shown?
Payroll math uses decimals: 7 hours 30 minutes = 7.5 hours, which multiplies cleanly by an hourly rate. Decimal hours = total minutes ÷ 60.
Why does 11:30 PM to 11:30 PM show 24 hours?
Because end equals start, the calculator treats it as a full 24-hour span crossing midnight — the standard convention. For a zero-length instant, the result would be 0:00 only if the two times differ.