How to convert minutes to decimal hours for timesheets

7 hours 45 minutes is 7.75 hours, not 7.45. A minutes-to-decimal table, the formula, and how to avoid the most common timesheet and invoicing mistake.

Updated 21 October 2026

Tools for this job: Time Converter · Salary Calculator · Invoice Generator

Payroll systems, invoices and project trackers usually want hours as a decimal: 7.75 rather than 7:45. Typing 7.45 for seven hours and forty-five minutes is one of the most common timesheet errors, and it underpays by 18 minutes every time.

The formula

Decimal hours = hours + minutes ÷ 60

7 h 45 min = 7 + 45 ÷ 60 = 7 + 0.75 = 7.75 hours.

Minutes to decimal table

Every minute from 1 to 60, as minutes ÷ 60 rounded to two decimal places.

Min	Hours	Min	Hours	Min	Hours	Min	Hours
1	0.02	16	0.27	31	0.52	46	0.77
2	0.03	17	0.28	32	0.53	47	0.78
3	0.05	18	0.30	33	0.55	48	0.80
4	0.07	19	0.32	34	0.57	49	0.82
5	0.08	20	0.33	35	0.58	50	0.83
6	0.10	21	0.35	36	0.60	51	0.85
7	0.12	22	0.37	37	0.62	52	0.87
8	0.13	23	0.38	38	0.63	53	0.88
9	0.15	24	0.40	39	0.65	54	0.90
10	0.17	25	0.42	40	0.67	55	0.92
11	0.18	26	0.43	41	0.68	56	0.93
12	0.20	27	0.45	42	0.70	57	0.95
13	0.22	28	0.47	43	0.72	58	0.97
14	0.23	29	0.48	44	0.73	59	0.98
15	0.25	30	0.50	45	0.75	60	1.00

For any other value, enter the minutes in the Time Converter and read the result in hours.

Decimal back to minutes

Multiply the decimal part by 60. 3.4 hours is 3 hours plus 0.4 × 60 = 24 minutes. 1.15 hours is 1 hour 9 minutes, not 1 hour 15.

Adding up a week

Convert each day to decimal first, then add. Adding clock times directly goes wrong as soon as minutes pass 60: 7:45 + 8:30 is not 15.75 or 15:75 but 16:15, which is 16.25 hours.

Monday 7:45 = 7.75
Tuesday 8:30 = 8.50
Wednesday 6:20 = 6.33
Thursday 8:10 = 8.17
Friday 7:15 = 7.25
Total: 38.00 hours

Pay and invoices

Multiply decimal hours by the hourly rate. At 18 an hour, 7.75 hours is 139.50; typing 7.45 would give 134.10, five-forty short for one day. To find an hourly rate from a salary, use the Salary Calculator. Freelancers entering hours as a quantity in the Invoice Generator should use decimal hours too, so the line total is right.

Rounding rules

Many employers and agencies round time to fixed steps: 6 minutes (0.1 hour), 15 minutes (0.25 hour) or similar. Rounding should be applied consistently, and in many places the law restricts rounding that always favours the employer. Lawyers and consultants often bill in 6-minute units, which is why 0.1 hours is a common minimum entry.

Billing clients by the minute

If you track work with a timer that shows minutes only, divide the total minutes by 60 at the end rather than converting each entry. A week of 47 short tasks totalling 1,365 minutes is 22.75 hours. Doing it once avoids rounding 47 small entries separately, and if each entry were rounded up, that drift would add up over a month.

In a spreadsheet

Spreadsheets store times as fractions of a day. To turn a time in cell A2 into decimal hours, use =A2*24 and format the result as a number. To total hours above 24 as a time, format the cell as [h]:mm so it does not roll over to zero. For overtime calculations, see how to calculate overtime pay.