How to Convert Hours and Minutes to Decimal Hours
The formula, a quick mental shortcut, a minutes-to-decimal table, and why payroll uses decimals in the first place.
Actualizado 2026-10-20
Esta guía está disponible en inglés por ahora; la traducción al español llegará pronto.
Payroll systems multiply hours by a rate, and you cannot multiply 7:45 by $20. So 7 hours 45 minutes becomes 7.75 hours, and 7.75 × $20 = $155.00. Converting is one division.
The formula
decimal hours = hours + minutes ÷ 607:45 → 7 + 45/60 = 7 + 0.75 = 7.75. 8:20 → 8 + 20/60 = 8.3333, usually shown as 8.33.
Quick reference
| Minutes | Decimal | Minutes | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0.08 | 35 | 0.58 |
| 10 | 0.17 | 40 | 0.67 |
| 15 | 0.25 | 45 | 0.75 |
| 20 | 0.33 | 50 | 0.83 |
| 25 | 0.42 | 55 | 0.92 |
| 30 | 0.50 | 60 | 1.00 |
The full 1 to 60 table is on the minutes-to-decimal chart page.
Mental shortcuts
- Quarter hours are exact: 15 = .25, 30 = .50, 45 = .75.
- Tenths: 6 minutes = 0.1, so 18 minutes = 0.3 and 42 minutes = 0.7.
- Anything else: divide by 6 and move the decimal. 20 minutes ÷ 6 = 3.33 → 0.33.
Rounding
Two decimals is the payroll norm. Round half up, once, at the end: 8:20 is 8.3333, shown as 8.33; 8:40 is 8.6667, shown as 8.67. Do not round each day and then add the rounded values; 5 days of 8:20 are 41:40 = 41.67 hours, but 5 × 8.33 = 41.65, two cents short at $20 an hour.
Some payroll systems want quarter-hour or tenth-hour increments. That is a rounding policy, not a conversion, and it legally applies per punch rather than per total.
In Excel
If the cell holds a real time (8:20 AM), multiply by 24: =A1*24 → 8.3333. If it holds text like “8:20”, convert first: =TIMEVALUE(A1)*24. Hours and minutes in separate cells: =A1+B1/60.
Going the other way
Decimal to H:MM: the whole number is hours; multiply the fraction by 60 for minutes. 7.75 → 7 hours, 0.75 × 60 = 45 minutes. When the minutes round to 60, carry: 7.999 → 0.999 × 60 = 59.94 → 60 → 8:00, not 7:60. The decimal-to-hours converter handles the carry for you.
Converting a whole timesheet
Add the H:MM values first, then convert once. A week of 8:20, 8:40, 7:55, 9:05 and 8:00 is 42:00 exactly, which is 42.00 hours. Converting each day to two decimals and adding gives 8.33 + 8.67 + 7.92 + 9.08 + 8.00 = 42.00 here, but with other values the rounded sum can differ by a hundredth from the true total. Payroll departments that convert daily entries and sum them are accepting that small error; the alternative is to store minutes.
Seconds
If your clock records seconds, convert them too: decimal hours = hours + minutes ÷ 60 + seconds ÷ 3600. 7:45:30 is 7 + 0.75 + 0.00833 = 7.7583, shown as 7.76. Most payroll systems ignore seconds, which is a form of rounding down; a clock that drops seconds costs the employee up to 59 seconds per punch.
Frequently asked
Is 7.45 the same as 7:45? No. 7:45 is 7.75 hours. 7.45 hours is 7 hours 27 minutes. Mixing the two notations is the single most common timesheet error.
What is 8:15 in decimal? 8.25.
What is 0.25 hours? 15 minutes. 0.5 is 30 minutes, 0.75 is 45 minutes.
How many decimal places should payroll use? Two is standard. Some systems accept four, which removes the rounding drift described above.
What about 24-hour totals? The conversion is identical: 45:30 is 45.5 hours. The only trap is in spreadsheets, where a time formatted without square brackets wraps at 24 hours.
Do I convert before or after rounding to the nearest quarter hour? Rounding is a policy applied to punches, not totals. Round the punches first (8:07 to 8:00, 4:52 to 4:45), subtract to get H:MM, then convert. The time rounding calculator shows both the rounded and unrounded results.
Why does my payroll show 41.67 for 41:40? 40 ÷ 60 = 0.6667, rounded to 0.67. The conversion is correct.
Can I type the decimal into a time card instead? Most time clocks want clock times, but the Hours Calculator accepts decimal durations such as 1.5 directly and adds them.