Semi-Monthly Time Card Calculator (1st-15th / 16th-End)

How semi-monthly periods work

Semi-monthly pay periods follow the calendar, not the 7-day workweek. The first period is the 1st through the 15th. The second is the 16th through the last day of the month, which is 13 days in a non-leap February and up to 16 days in a 31-day month. That is why the number of weekdays in a period changes: March 2026 has 10 weekdays from the 1st to the 15th but 12 from the 16th to the 31st (the tool shows the exact dates).

The workweek, however, is still seven days. When a workweek begins in one period and ends in the next, overtime for that week depends on all of its hours. If you are completing the second period, enter the hours you worked earlier in that same workweek in Hours already worked earlier this workweek, and the calculator counts them toward the 40-hour threshold.

Worked example: a workweek that straddles the 15th

Semi-monthly vs bi-weekly in one paragraph

Bi-weekly checks arrive every other week (26 a year) and always cover exactly two workweeks. Semi-monthly checks arrive twice a month (24 a year) and each one covers roughly half a month. A salaried employee gets the same amount each time (annual salary ÷ 24), but an hourly employee's check varies with how many working days fall in the period. See the full comparison.

Checking your entries

• Switch the pay period selector between 1st to 15th and 16th to end of month; the rows rebuild for the month of the date you chose.
• Use the Monthly option if your employer pays once a month.
• Compare the total with your timesheet. If you are off by a few minutes, check whether rounding is applied by your employer. See rounding time cards.

A quick way to estimate a semi-monthly check

For an hourly employee, count the working days in the period and multiply by the paid hours per day and the hourly rate. For example, March 1-15, 2026 contains 10 weekdays, so 10 × 8 hours = 80 hours; March 16-31 contains 12 weekdays, so 12 × 8 = 96 hours. At $22.00 an hour the two checks are $1,760 and $2,112 before taxes, even though the monthly total of 176 hours is simply 22 working days. Salaried employees do not see this swing because their check is annual salary ÷ 24.

Enter your actual hours above and the per-workweek table will show whether any of those hours cross the 40-hour line.

Entering part of a month

If you started or ended a job mid-period, enter only the days you worked and leave the rest blank. The result is the total for the days you entered. For a final paycheck or a partial first paycheck, compare the total to your pay stub; some employers pay partial periods by days instead of hours, so ask how yours is calculated.