Time Card Calculator

The Time Card Calculator helps you total weekly working hours and estimate wages quickly. Enter your daily start and end times, add any break duration, and see daily totals, weekly hours, and an estimated paycheck based on your hourly wage. This tool is designed for individual use and supports printing or saving as a PDF. To plan how this time impacts broader productivity, you might also review the Cost of Meeting Calculator for context on time value.

How to Use This Calculator

  1. Enter your Name, Company Name, Week Start Date, and Hourly Wage. Make sure wage is a non-negative number with up to two decimals.
  2. For each day you worked, add Start and End times using the HH:MM time inputs.
  3. Enter your Break (HH:MM) for that day. If you leave it empty, the calculator treats it as 00:00.
  4. If a shift runs past midnight, toggle Cross-Midnight for that row so End can be earlier than Start.
  5. Review Total Hours per day and the Weekly Total Hours and Total Wage in the table footer.
  6. Use Clear All to reset the sheet, or click Print / Save as PDF to print or export.

For budgeting beyond wages, consider the Expense Tracker to organize costs by category and time period.

Understanding Time Cards

A time card records when work begins and ends each day and subtracts unpaid breaks. The difference is your working time for that period. This calculator converts time entries to minutes and performs arithmetic to avoid confusion with AM/PM formats or time zone issues. It is a purely client-side tool intended for individual records.

What counts as a valid time?

A valid time follows the 24-hour format HH:MM with hours from 00 to 23 and minutes from 00 to 59. When you use the time inputs, your browser supplies a consistent format. If you type directly, the calculator enforces a strict pattern to prevent typos.

How are breaks handled?

Breaks are entered as HH:MM and are subtracted from the shift length. If left empty, a break defaults to 00:00. When a break exceeds the shift length, the calculator sets the total to 0 for that day and displays a warning to help you correct the entry.

Overnight or cross-midnight shifts

Some shifts start late and end after midnight. Enable the Cross-Midnight toggle for that row. The tool then treats an End time that is earlier than or equal to Start as occurring the next day. Without the toggle, End must be strictly later than Start.

Precision and rounding

All calculations operate in minutes to maintain accuracy. Daily totals and weekly totals display as decimal hours with two decimal places. This is helpful when using the totals for payroll estimates or comparing against scheduled hours.

Understanding Your Results

The calculator shows daily total hours, weekly total hours, and an estimated total wage. Daily totals update in real time as you type. The weekly total is the sum of all valid daily totals. The wage multiplies your hourly rate by weekly hours and appears as a currency-formatted value.

If the hourly wage is invalid or missing, the weekly hours still appear, but the total wage displays as zero until a valid wage is provided. This separation helps you validate time first and then add the wage when ready.

To compare the value of your time across tasks or commitments, try the Is It Worth It? Calculator, which translates purchases into hours of work at your wage.

Important Considerations / Limitations

Frequently Asked Questions about Time Cards

Can I leave a day blank?

Yes. If both Start and End are empty for a day, that day is ignored in weekly totals and no error is shown. This is useful for days off or unworked days in a week.

What if I only enter a start or end time?

The calculator requires both Start and End when either is provided. If one is missing, it shows an inline error so you can complete the pair or clear the entry.

How do I handle an overnight shift?

Enable the Cross-Midnight toggle on that row. This allows an End time that is earlier than the Start time to be treated as the next day for calculation purposes.

Related calculators