Convert an hourly rate to a per-minute amount, price a 25-minute interval, reverse-check the result, and scale the same method to a small meeting.
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The calculation
Amount = hourly rate × minutes ÷ 60
Worked example
At $36 per hour, each minute corresponds to $0.60. A 25-minute interval is $15. For three people at the same hourly rate, a 25-minute meeting represents $45 in direct wage-equivalent time.
The calculation is proportional at the rate you choose. Wage-equivalent time, employer labor cost, billable revenue, and opportunity cost are different concepts; do not label the computed amount as automatic extra earnings or savings.
Video chapters
- 0:00 — Give time a stated rate
- 0:14 — Find one minute
- 0:28 — Price twenty-five minutes
- 0:41 — Use the general rule
- 0:55 — Reverse-check the interval
- 1:09 — Scale a meeting carefully
- 1:25 — Name the rate you are measuring
- 1:43 — Recap the proportional method
Read the full transcript
What is twenty-five minutes worth at thirty-six dollars per hour? There is no universal dollar value of a minute. The answer depends on the hourly rate we choose. With that rate stated, the calculation is a simple proportion of a sixty-minute hour.
Divide thirty-six dollars by sixty minutes. That is sixty cents per minute. On the clock, one equal slice out of sixty receives sixty cents. Multiplying those sixty slices back together restores the thirty-six-dollar hourly rate.
Now multiply sixty cents by twenty-five minutes. The result is fifteen dollars. You can also write it in one step: thirty-six dollars per hour times twenty-five sixtieths of an hour. The hours cancel correctly, leaving dollars.
For any hourly rate, multiply by the number of minutes and divide by sixty. The order can change: convert the rate to dollars per minute first, or convert the duration to a fraction of an hour first. Both paths give the same amount.
If fifteen dollars represents this interval, divide fifteen by sixty cents per minute. That returns twenty-five minutes. A reverse check catches a common mistake: forgetting the factor of sixty and treating minutes as though they were whole hours.
Suppose three attendees each have the same thirty-six-dollar hourly rate. A twenty-five-minute meeting represents fifteen dollars of wage-equivalent time per person, or forty-five dollars for all three. With different rates, calculate each person's amount separately and add them.
An hourly wage, an employer's total labor cost, and a freelancer's billing rate are not the same thing. The formula works with any stated rate, but the interpretation changes. Fifteen dollars of wage-equivalent time does not mean an extra fifteen dollars was earned or could automatically be saved.
Start with a clear hourly rate. Divide by sixty to get a per-minute amount, then multiply by the minutes in question. At thirty-six dollars per hour, sixty cents per minute over twenty-five minutes is fifteen dollars. For a group, add the amounts for the people involved.