See what overtime really pays
Enter your rate, hours, and costs. Compare scenarios side by side. Print the results for your next shift meeting.
Your pay setup
How this works
Enter your hourly rate and regular hours. Then add the overtime you're thinking about: extra daily hours, weekend shifts, or the occasional double. The simulator calculates gross pay, subtracts estimated taxes and your extra costs, and shows the real take-home difference.
Tax rates are simplified. We apply a flat federal rate, a flat state rate, and the standard 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare. This gives a close estimate but won't match your exact pay stub. Use it for comparison, not tax filing.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring transport. An extra 30 minutes each way plus parking can eat $10-20 per shift. That's $120-240 a month on 12 OT shifts.
- Forgetting meals. If you pack lunch on regular days but buy food on OT days, that's another $8-15 per shift.
- Missing benefits cliffs. Some benefits (like Medicaid or childcare subsidies) have income thresholds. Earning $200 more per month could cost you $500 in lost benefits. Check your state's rules.
- Assuming OT is always worth it. At higher tax brackets with high extra costs, a double shift might net less than you think. Run the numbers first.
Example: Maria's warehouse decision
Maria works 40 hours/week at $19/hour in a warehouse. Her supervisor offers 8 hours of overtime every Saturday for a month. She drives 25 minutes to work and pays $6 for parking on OT days. She also buys a $10 meal because the cafeteria is closed on weekends.
Plugging in the numbers: 8 extra hours/week at 1.5x for 4 weeks, with $16 in extra costs per OT shift. Her gross OT pay is $912 for the month. After taxes and costs, her net gain is $489. That's about $61 per Saturday hour, not the $28.50 gross rate she first assumed.
Maria decides it's still worth it, but now she knows the real number. She prints the comparison to show her partner before committing.
Tips for shift meetings
Print the scenario comparison and bring it to your next union or team meeting. Seeing the numbers side by side helps coworkers understand why some people say no to extra shifts. It also gives supervisors a clear picture of what makes overtime attractive (or not).
If your workplace offers double-time for holidays, switch the multiplier to 2x and see how much that changes the math. Sometimes one holiday shift is worth three regular OT shifts.
Assumptions & limits
This simulator uses flat tax rates, not progressive brackets. It does not model pre-tax deductions like 401(k) or health insurance premiums. It does not account for Earned Income Tax Credit changes at different income levels. For precise planning, compare these results against two or three actual pay stubs.
Last updated: 2026. Version 1.2. If your numbers look wrong, check that your state tax rate is set correctly and that you've entered costs per shift, not per month.
Questions
- Why does my overtime pay less per hour than I expected?
- Overtime is 1.5x your base rate, but it also pushes some income into a higher tax bracket. After federal tax, state tax, Social Security, and Medicare, the net gain per overtime hour is often 30-40% less than the gross premium.
- Should I include transport and childcare costs?
- Yes. If an extra shift costs you $15 in gas and $40 in after-hours childcare, that's $55 less in real income. The simulator has fields for both so you can see the true net.
- Can I compare dropping a shift instead of picking one up?
- Set one scenario with your current hours and another with fewer hours. The difference shows exactly how much you'd save or lose, including any benefits that might change at lower income levels.
- How do I share my scenario with a coworker?
- Use the Print button for a clean single-page summary. Or copy the share link, which encodes your numbers in the URL so anyone with the link sees the same scenario.