How to Calculate Nurse Pay

1. Count paid hours

Start with the length of the shift and subtract any unpaid break. A 7 PM–7 AM shift is 12 hours; with a 30-minute unpaid meal break, 11.5 hours are paid. A paid break isn't subtracted.

2. Base pay

Base pay = hourly rate × paid hours. At $48/hour, 11.5 paid hours is $552.00.

3. Add differentials

Differentials are extra pay on top of base. They come in three forms:

• Dollars per hour — e.g. $6/hour night differential × 11.5 hours = $69.00.
• Percentage of base — e.g. 10% of $48 = $4.80/hour × paid hours.
• Per shift — a flat amount once per shift, e.g. $50 for charge.

Hourly differentials can apply to the whole shift or only the hours in a set window, such as 11 PM–7 AM. Several differentials can apply at once and simply add up.

4. Add overtime premiums

If some hours are overtime — past a daily threshold like 8 or 12 hours, or past a weekly threshold like 40 hours once earlier shifts are counted — add a premium for those hours:

Overtime premium = overtime hours × (multiplier − 1) × regular rate.

Base pay already paid those hours at 1×, so time-and-a-half adds the other 0.5×. The regular rate is your base rate, often blended with hourly differentials: (base pay + hourly differential pay) ÷ paid hours. Per-shift amounts aren't included.

5. Holiday pay

If the shift is a paid holiday with a holiday multiplier (often 1.5×), a holiday premium of (multiplier − 1) × regular rate is added for every paid hour.

Rounding

Round each line to the cent, then add the lines. That way the total always matches the breakdown — the same way the Nurse Pay app does it.

What this doesn't include

This is gross pay: before taxes, retirement, insurance and other deductions. Which thresholds, multipliers and differentials apply to you is set by your employer, contract, union agreement and applicable law. The overtime guide and differentials guide go deeper.