California Overtime Calculator 2026

Enter your regular rate of pay and the hours you worked during one employer-defined workweek. The calculator applies California’s standard daily, weekly, double-time and seventh-consecutive-day rules, then shows your regular hours, 1.5x overtime, 2x double time and estimated gross pay.

This is a standard-rule calculator for covered nonexempt employees. A valid alternative workweek, an overtime exemption, a collective bargaining agreement, or special industry rules can change the result.

2026 reference: California’s statewide minimum wage is $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026. Some cities and industries require a higher rate. The calculator warns about a rate below the statewide floor but does not replace a local or industry wage check.

How California overtime is calculated

Under California’s general overtime rule, covered nonexempt employees can earn overtime based on both daily hours and weekly hours. The calculation is not simply “anything over 40 hours.”

Trigger under the standard rule	Pay rate
More than 8 hours, up to and including 12 hours, in one workday	1.5x the regular rate
More than 12 hours in one workday	2x the regular rate
More than 40 hours in one workweek, using hours not already counted as daily overtime	1.5x the regular rate
First 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day worked in the same workweek	1.5x the regular rate
Hours over 8 on that seventh consecutive day	2x the regular rate

California does not require the same hour to receive multiple overtime premiums. Daily overtime is classified first; only the remaining straight-time hours are tested against the 40-hour weekly threshold. This is often called the rule against “pyramiding” overtime.

Use your employer’s workweek, not just Monday through Sunday

A California workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours – seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It can begin on any day and at any hour. A workday is also an employer-defined consecutive 24-hour period.

That matters for two reasons:
• The 40-hour weekly threshold resets when that employer-defined workweek resets.
• The seventh-consecutive-day premium applies to the seventh day worked within the same workweek, not simply the seventh calendar day in an uninterrupted stretch that crosses a workweek boundary.

In the calculator, treat Day 1 as the first day of your employer’s fixed workweek and Day 7 as the last. If a shift crosses midnight, allocate the hours according to the employer’s established workday rather than assuming midnight automatically creates a new workday.

What rate should you enter?

Enter the regular rate of pay that should be used for overtime, not automatically the base hourly wage.

If your only compensation is one hourly wage, that hourly wage is generally the regular rate. But commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses, piece-rate earnings, shift differentials and other forms of compensation can increase the regular rate used to calculate overtime.

This calculator does not try to reconstruct a complex regular rate from bonuses, commissions or multiple rates. If those apply, use the correct regular rate for the workweek or confirm the calculation with payroll or a qualified employment professional.

Worked example: five 10-hour days at $25 per hour

Suppose an employee earns a $25 regular rate and works 10 hours on each of five workdays. The week contains 50 total hours, but the 10 daily overtime hours are already overtime and are not counted again toward weekly overtime.

Pay bucket	Hours	Rate	Pay
Regular	40	$25.00	$1,000.00
Overtime at 1.5x	10	$37.50	$375.00
Double time	0	$50.00	$0.00
Total	50		$1,375.00

The straight-time value of 50 hours at $25 would be $1,250. California’s overtime rules add a $125 overtime premium, producing $1,375 gross pay for the week.

You can earn overtime even when the week is under 40 hours

California’s daily rule can create overtime in a short workweek. For example, at a $24 regular rate, a 13-hour workday produces 8 regular hours, 4 hours at 1.5x and 1 hour at 2x even if total weekly hours stay below 40.

In a 33-hour example with one 13-hour day and four additional 5-hour days, this calculator returns:

Result	Hours / amount
Regular hours	28
1.5x overtime hours	4
2x double-time hours	1
Estimated gross pay	$864.00

This is why a federal-only 40-hour overtime calculator can understate California overtime.

How the seventh-consecutive-day rule interacts with weekly overtime

If an employee works all seven days inside one workweek, the first eight hours on Day 7 are paid at 1.5x and hours over eight on Day 7 are paid at 2x under the general rule.

The weekly rule can still matter on the other six days. For example, seven 8-hour days at a $25 regular rate produce 56 total hours. The calculator classifies 40 hours as regular and 16 hours at 1.5x: 8 hours because Day 7 is the seventh consecutive day, plus 8 otherwise-regular hours reclassified because the remaining straight-time hours exceeded 40. Gross pay is $1,600.

The key is that each hour is classified once at the highest applicable standard rule; the same hour is not paid twice as separate daily and weekly overtime.

What about a 4×10 alternative workweek?

Do not use this standard-rule calculator as the final answer for a valid alternative workweek schedule. California permits certain properly adopted alternative workweeks in which employees may work scheduled days of up to 10 hours within a 40-hour workweek without daily overtime after hour 8.

The rules for work beyond the alternative schedule, work on nonscheduled days, healthcare schedules and other special arrangements can differ. This calculator intentionally does not try to decide whether an alternative schedule was lawfully adopted or which wage order applies.

Does “No Tax on Overtime” make California overtime tax-free in 2026?

No. Overtime compensation is still generally wages for federal income-tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare. The federal deduction for qualified overtime compensation does not make every dollar of California overtime tax-free.

For 2026, the IRS says the deduction applies to qualified overtime compensation required under section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Overtime paid only because of a state-law rule – such as a daily premium after 8 hours when the employee has not crossed the FLSA weekly threshold – is not automatically qualified for the federal deduction. If an employer pays more than the FLSA requires, only the amount needed to satisfy the FLSA can be qualified overtime compensation.

That is another reason this calculator stops at gross overtime pay. To estimate payroll withholding and take-home pay on the calculated weekly gross, use the California Paycheck Calculator linked in the result panel.

Why your payroll result may differ from this estimate

• Your regular rate is different from your base rate. Commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials or multiple pay rates may change the regular rate.
• You are on a valid alternative workweek. A properly adopted 4×10 or other permitted schedule can change daily overtime thresholds.
• A special wage order or occupation applies. Healthcare, agriculture, live-in domestic work, some transportation jobs and other categories can have different rules or exemptions.
• Your workday or workweek boundaries are different. Calendar days and pay periods do not automatically define California workdays and workweeks.
• Your timecard includes non-worked paid time. Overtime generally depends on hours worked; paid leave and similar items can be treated differently.
• Your employer used a different legally applicable rule or rate. Use the day-by-day audit to identify where the classification differs before assuming payroll is wrong.

From overtime gross pay to take-home pay

This calculator intentionally calculates gross earnings first. Once the week is classified correctly, use the result button to send the gross amount to the California Paycheck Calculator for an estimate of federal withholding, California PIT, Social Security, Medicare, SDI and other deductions.

Keeping the two steps separate avoids a common problem with overtime calculators that apply a single generic “tax percentage” to overtime. Payroll withholding depends on the employee’s full paycheck, W-4, DE 4, deductions and year-to-date wage thresholds.

California overtime calculator FAQs

Is California overtime after 8 hours or after 40 hours?

Under the general rule, both can matter. Hours over 8 up to 12 in a workday can be paid at 1.5x, hours over 12 can be paid at 2x, and remaining straight-time hours over 40 in the workweek can be paid at 1.5x. Valid alternative workweeks and other exceptions can change those thresholds.

When does double time start in California?

Under the standard rule, double time applies to hours worked beyond 12 in a workday and to hours beyond 8 on the seventh consecutive day worked in the same workweek.

Do daily and weekly overtime stack?

Not on the same hour. California’s no-pyramiding rule prevents an hour already classified as daily overtime from being counted again to create a second weekly overtime premium. The calculator applies the daily rules first and then checks only the remaining straight-time hours against 40.

Does working seven days in a row always trigger seventh-day overtime?

The standard seventh-day rule depends on working seven consecutive days within the same employer-defined workweek. A long run of consecutive calendar days that crosses a workweek boundary does not automatically make the seventh calendar day a seventh-day overtime day.

Can I use this for a 4×10 schedule?

Only if the ordinary 8-hour daily rule actually applies to you. A validly adopted alternative workweek can allow scheduled 10-hour days without daily overtime after hour 8. This calculator does not validate alternative-workweek elections, so use the standard result only when the standard rules apply.

What if I receive commissions, bonuses or shift differentials?

Those payments can affect the regular rate used for overtime. Enter the correct regular rate for the workweek rather than automatically using the base hourly wage. Complex regular-rate calculations are outside this calculator’s scope.

Does the calculator include taxes on overtime?

No. P03 calculates gross overtime earnings. After calculating, use the built-in handoff to the California Paycheck Calculator to estimate take-home pay using actual 2026 federal and California payroll-withholding logic.

Is all California overtime eligible for the federal qualified-overtime deduction?

No. The IRS says qualified overtime compensation must be required by the FLSA. State-law-only overtime can be paid correctly under California law without automatically qualifying for the federal deduction. The deduction also applies to the qualifying premium portion, not simply every dollar paid on an overtime hour.

Official sources and methodology

The calculator’s standard-rule logic is based on California Department of Industrial Relations and Division of Labor Standards Enforcement guidance on overtime, workday/workweek definitions, alternative-workweek exceptions and no-pyramiding. The 2026 minimum-wage warning uses the current California statewide rate. The federal qualified-overtime explanation is based on the IRS’s August 2026 updated FAQ.

For the complete formulas, assumptions, limitations and update process, see How Our California Paycheck Calculator Works. This tool provides an estimate for general educational use and is not legal, tax or payroll advice.