How many hours is full time in the US? 30, 35, 40 and who decides

Last verified October 31, 2026

There is no single legal number in the US. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not define full-time work. For its large-employer health coverage rules, the Affordable Care Act counts an employee as full time at an average of at least 30 hours of service a week, or 130 hours in a calendar month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 35 or more usual weekly hours for its surveys. Outside those, the employer mostly decides, within limits other laws set.

Which number applies depends on who is asking and why: a health plan, a statistic, or a payroll policy.

The definitions at a glance

Who	Full-time threshold	What it is used for
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)	None. Left to the employer	Minimum wage and overtime apply the same to full-time and part-time workers
Affordable Care Act (ACA)	An average of at least 30 hours of service a week, or 130 hours in a calendar month	Whether a large employer can owe the IRS a payment for not offering that employee health coverage
Bureau of Labor Statistics (CPS)	35 or more hours a week, usual	Employment statistics, not legal rights
Your employer	Whatever the policy or contract says	Benefits, schedules, PTO, eligibility

What the FLSA says about full time

Nothing. The US Department of Labor's page on full-time employment says: "The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not define full-time employment or part-time employment. This is a matter generally to be determined by the employer."

The same page adds that whether an employee is full time or part time "does not change the application of the FLSA." A part-time worker who goes over 40 hours in a workweek is owed the same overtime as a full-time one, if the job is covered by the Act and not exempt. Overtime is counted one workweek at a time (see federal overtime rules).

What the ACA says: 30 hours a week or 130 a month

The Affordable Care Act's employer shared responsibility rules use a 30-hour line. They do not order an employer to offer coverage; a large employer that does not offer it to full-time employees can owe the IRS a payment (26 U.S.C. 4980H). The Treasury regulation defines a full-time employee as "an employee who is employed an average of at least 30 hours of service per week with an employer" for a calendar month (26 CFR 54.4980H-1). The same regulation treats 130 hours of service in a calendar month as the monthly equivalent.

Three details change how you count:

Hours of service are not only hours worked. They include each hour you are paid for, or entitled to be paid for, even when you do no work: vacation, holiday, illness, jury duty and leave of absence (26 CFR 54.4980H-1).
It applies to large employers. The employer shared responsibility rules cover an employer with at least 50 full-time employees, counting full-time equivalent employees, on average during the prior year. An employer under 50 is not subject to them. Companies with a common owner, or otherwise related, are generally counted together as one employer for this test (IRS).
It is an hours test, not a job title. The regulation measures hours of service, whatever the employer calls the job. The employer also chooses how to measure: month by month, by an optional weekly rule, or by a look-back method that sets status for a stretch of months from average hours over an earlier period (26 CFR 54.4980H-3). Those choices are not covered here.

Worked example, for an employer that counts month by month. November 2027 has 22 weekdays.

6 hours on each weekday: 6 × 22 = 132 hours of service, which is above 130. Full time under the ACA monthly test.
5 hours on each weekday: 5 × 22 = 110 hours, below 130. Not full time under that test.

Paid holidays count as hours of service, so the real figure depends on the payroll record. To total a month of hours, use the hours worked calculator or the time card calculator.

What the BLS says: 35 hours

The Bureau of Labor Statistics sorts people in the Current Population Survey by their usual weekly hours: "Full-time workers are those who usually work 35 or more hours per week. Part-time workers are those who usually work fewer than 35 hours per week."

The BLS states that these definitions are "for statistical purposes only. They are not legal definitions." So a news story that quotes BLS figures on "full-time workers" is using 35. No employer is bound by it.

What your employer decides

For pay, benefits and scheduling, full time is whatever the employer's policy, contract or offer letter says. The DOL says this is generally the employer's call. Common places it shows up:

Eligibility for benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans and PTO. Each plan sets its own terms, within the limits federal law sets for some plans, such as retirement plans.
The weekly hours a job is quoted at when you work out an hourly rate.

State law may add its own hour rules. One example: Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act requires employers, with exclusions such as government employers, to provide health coverage to an employee who meets two tests. The employee works at least 20 hours a week, and earns at least 86.67 times the state minimum hourly wage a month (Hawaii Revised Statutes 393-3 and 393-11). Other states are not covered here; check your state labor department.

If an offer says "full time" without a number, ask for the weekly hours in writing.

The same thresholds in hours a year

Multiply a weekly figure by 52 weeks:

Weekly hours	Hours a year (52 weeks)
30	1,560
35	1,820
40	2,080

The ACA's 130 hours a month is the 30-hour line over an average month: 30 × 52 ÷ 12 = 130, and 26 CFR 54.4980H-1 treats 130 hours in a calendar month as the monthly equivalent. The number of weekdays differs from year to year, so the hours in a specific year differ slightly from 2,080 (work hours in a year, 2026 and 2027). To turn a salary into an hourly rate at any of these hours, use the salary to hourly calculator.

Questions

How many hours is considered full time?

No law sets one number. The ACA uses 30 hours a week or 130 a month, the BLS uses 35 or more, and the employer's own policy usually decides the rest.

Is 32 hours full time?

Under the ACA's large-employer rules, usually yes: 32 hours a week averages above 30.

One catch: a 28-day February holds exactly four weeks, so steady 32-hour weeks add up to 128 hours, under the 130-hour monthly line. An employer using the optional weekly rule compares four weeks of hours with 120, or five weeks with 150, so steady 32-hour weeks clear it every month (26 CFR 54.4980H-1).

Under the BLS definition, no: 32 is under 35. Your employer's policy may differ from both.

Is 35 hours a week full time?

For BLS statistics, yes. Under the ACA's large-employer rules, yes: even a 28-day February comes to 140 hours, over the 130-hour line. For your benefits, check your employer's policy.

Is 40 hours a week full time?

Yes under every definition on this page. It is also the weekly line for federal overtime: a covered, non-exempt worker is owed overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek (DOL Fact Sheet 23).

How many hours is part time?

The FLSA does not define part time either. The BLS counts fewer than 35 usual weekly hours as part time, for statistics. The ACA rules use the term only for a new employee the employer reasonably expects to average under 30 hours of service a week (26 CFR 54.4980H-1); otherwise they ask whether a worker averages 30 hours of service a week.

Do part-time workers get overtime?

Yes. Full-time or part-time status does not change how the FLSA applies, according to the DOL. Overtime depends on hours over 40 in a workweek and on whether the job is covered and not exempt.

How many hours can a minor work?

Different rules apply under age 18. See how many hours can a minor work.

Not legal, tax or payroll advice. Laws change; check the linked official source before relying on a figure.