How to convert minutes to decimal hours
Here is how to convert minutes to decimal: divide the number of minutes by 60. An hour has 60 minutes, so each minute is one sixtieth of an hour. The result is the part of an hour those minutes represent.
Decimal hours = minutes ÷ 60
Some examples: 6 minutes is 6 ÷ 60 = 0.1 hours. 20 minutes is 20 ÷ 60 = 0.333, which rounds to 0.33. 50 minutes is 50 ÷ 60 = 0.833, which rounds to 0.83.
Why bother? Because pay is calculated with decimal hours. You cannot multiply 7:45 by an hourly rate. You can multiply 7.75. Every payroll system, spreadsheet and pay stub works this way.
Minutes to decimal chart (time card conversion chart)
This time card conversion chart shows minutes to decimal hours for every minute from 1 to 60, rounded to two decimal places. Find your minutes on the left of a pair and read the decimal next to it.
| Minutes | Decimal | Minutes | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.02 | 31 | 0.52 |
| 2 | 0.03 | 32 | 0.53 |
| 3 | 0.05 | 33 | 0.55 |
| 4 | 0.07 | 34 | 0.57 |
| 5 | 0.08 | 35 | 0.58 |
| 6 | 0.10 | 36 | 0.60 |
| 7 | 0.12 | 37 | 0.62 |
| 8 | 0.13 | 38 | 0.63 |
| 9 | 0.15 | 39 | 0.65 |
| 10 | 0.17 | 40 | 0.67 |
| 11 | 0.18 | 41 | 0.68 |
| 12 | 0.20 | 42 | 0.70 |
| 13 | 0.22 | 43 | 0.72 |
| 14 | 0.23 | 44 | 0.73 |
| 15 | 0.25 | 45 | 0.75 |
| 16 | 0.27 | 46 | 0.77 |
| 17 | 0.28 | 47 | 0.78 |
| 18 | 0.30 | 48 | 0.80 |
| 19 | 0.32 | 49 | 0.82 |
| 20 | 0.33 | 50 | 0.83 |
| 21 | 0.35 | 51 | 0.85 |
| 22 | 0.37 | 52 | 0.87 |
| 23 | 0.38 | 53 | 0.88 |
| 24 | 0.40 | 54 | 0.90 |
| 25 | 0.42 | 55 | 0.92 |
| 26 | 0.43 | 56 | 0.93 |
| 27 | 0.45 | 57 | 0.95 |
| 28 | 0.47 | 58 | 0.97 |
| 29 | 0.48 | 59 | 0.98 |
| 30 | 0.50 | 60 | 1.00 |
Print it and keep it next to the time clock or in the payroll folder. The values are rounded, so for long totals it is more exact to add up all the minutes first and divide by 60 once at the end.
The values you will use most
Many workplaces round punches to 5, 6 or 15 minutes, so a handful of values come up again and again. These are worth knowing by heart.
| Minutes | Fraction of an hour | Decimal hours |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1/12 | 0.08 |
| 6 | 1/10 | 0.10 |
| 10 | 1/6 | 0.17 |
| 15 | 1/4 | 0.25 |
| 20 | 1/3 | 0.33 |
| 30 | 1/2 | 0.50 |
| 40 | 2/3 | 0.67 |
| 45 | 3/4 | 0.75 |
What is 15 minutes in decimal?
15 minutes in decimal is 0.25 hours, because 15 is a quarter of 60. That is why 15-minute rounding is popular: every quarter hour is a clean 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 or 1.00.
What is 45 minutes in decimal?
45 minutes in decimal is 0.75 hours. It is three quarters of an hour: 45 ÷ 60 = 0.75. A 45-minute unpaid lunch takes 0.75 off your daily total.
How to convert hours and minutes to decimal
To convert hours and minutes to decimal, keep the whole hours as they are and convert only the minutes. Then put them together. The hours never change.
- Time worked 7:30
- Hours 7
- Minutes 30 ÷ 60 = 0.50
- Total 7:30 = 7.50 hours
So 7 hours 30 minutes in decimal is 7.5. Likewise 8:45 is 8.75, 6:10 is 6.17 and 9:20 is 9.33.
The most common mistake is to copy the minutes straight after the decimal point: writing 7:30 as 7.30 or 8:45 as 8.45. That always shortchanges the hours, because 0.30 hours is only 18 minutes and 0.45 hours is only 27 minutes.
- Start 8:30 AM
- End 5:15 PM
- Break 0:30
- Total 8:15 = 8.25 hours
Decimal hours to hours and minutes
To go the other way, from decimal to minutes, multiply the decimal part by 60. The whole number stays as hours.
- 7.25 hours: 0.25 × 60 = 15, so 7 hours 15 minutes.
- 6.8 hours: 0.8 × 60 = 48, so 6 hours 48 minutes.
- 4.1 hours: 0.1 × 60 = 6, so 4 hours 6 minutes.
- 38.4 hours: 0.4 × 60 = 24, so 38 hours 24 minutes.
This is handy when a pay stub or report shows decimal hours and you want to compare them to the times on your own record. If your notes say 38:24 and the stub says 38.4, they match.
Using decimal hours for payroll
For payroll, convert the total hours to decimal and multiply by the hourly rate. If someone worked 37 hours 45 minutes at $16 an hour, that is 37.75 × 16 = $604.
- Weekly total 37:45
- Decimal 37 + 45 ÷ 60 = 37.75 hours
- Rate $16.00
- Gross pay 37.75 × 16 = $604.00
Now the same week with the common mistake: 37.45 × 16 = $599.20. That is $4.80 short for a single week, just from writing the minutes wrong.
Round once, at the end
If you convert each day to two decimals and then add them, small rounding gaps can build up. The cleaner method: add all hours and minutes for the week, convert the total once, then round. Both are common, but whichever you choose, use it the same way every pay period.
The time card calculator converts and totals a full week for you
Hundredths vs tenths of an hour
Most payroll uses hundredths, two decimal places, as in the chart above. Some time clocks and invoices use tenths, one decimal place, where each tenth is 6 minutes.
| Tenths | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 0.1 | 6 |
| 0.2 | 12 |
| 0.3 | 18 |
| 0.4 | 24 |
| 0.5 | 30 |
| 0.6 | 36 |
| 0.7 | 42 |
| 0.8 | 48 |
| 0.9 | 54 |
If your employer rounds time, the rounding changes the minutes before you convert them. Rules on how rounding may be applied depend on your country, state and contract, so check what applies to you. The conversion itself is always minutes divided by 60.
Questions
How do you convert minutes to decimal?
Divide the minutes by 60. For example, 36 minutes divided by 60 is 0.6 hours, and 50 minutes divided by 60 is about 0.83 hours. Keep any whole hours as they are and add the decimal part.
What is 15 minutes in decimal?
15 minutes is 0.25 hours in decimal. It is one quarter of an hour, because 15 divided by 60 equals 0.25. Two quarters, 30 minutes, are 0.50, and three quarters, 45 minutes, are 0.75.
What is 7 hours 30 minutes in decimal?
7 hours 30 minutes is 7.5 hours in decimal. Keep the 7 hours and convert the 30 minutes: 30 divided by 60 is 0.5. Do not write it as 7.30, which equals only 7 hours 18 minutes.
How do I convert decimal hours to hours and minutes?
Multiply the decimal part by 60 to get minutes. For 6.75 hours, 0.75 times 60 is 45, so the answer is 6 hours 45 minutes. The whole number in front of the decimal point stays as hours.
Is 7.5 hours 7 hours and 50 minutes?
No, 7.5 hours is 7 hours and 30 minutes. The .5 means half an hour, not 50 minutes. 7 hours 50 minutes would be about 7.83 hours in decimal, because 50 divided by 60 is 0.83.
Why does payroll use decimal hours?
Payroll uses decimal hours because you can multiply them by an hourly rate. Hours and minutes use base 60, so 8:15 times $20 does not work directly. Converted to 8.25 hours, the pay is simply 8.25 times $20, which is $165.