Updated · Built and checked by the PlinzoTools team, formulas tested against published sources
Calculate total jury duty pay from days served and your court's daily rate.
This tool calculates days served × daily rate for jury duty pay. Federal district courts pay a commonly cited reference rate of $50/day, but state and county courts set their own rates (often lower, and sometimes $0 for the first day or two) -- check your actual jury summons for the rate that applies to you.
Enter your days served and your court's daily rate (from your summons). Your total jury duty pay appears instantly.
The tool multiplies two numbers and nothing else: the days you enter and the daily rate you enter. It starts with 3 days and a rate of 50 as defaults, so the first thing you see is 150.00. If either box holds a negative number, that value is treated as zero, so the result never goes below 0.00. The output is always shown with two decimal places and a dollar sign, regardless of what you type.
Total jury duty pay = days served x daily rate
Because the formula is a flat multiplication, the calculator does not know about anything specific to your court. It does not apply a lower rate for the first few days, it does not add mileage or parking, and it does not subtract taxes. Whatever rules your court uses, you translate them into the two boxes yourself.
Many courts pay one amount for the early days of service and a different amount later, or pay nothing on day one. The tool takes a single rate, so the way to handle that is to run it in pieces and add the results. Suppose, purely hypothetically, that a court pays 0 for day one, 15 per day for days two through five, and 40 per day from day six on, and you serve 8 days.
These numbers are invented to show the method. Your summons or the court clerk will tell you the real tiers and the exact day on which any change takes effect.
The days box accepts decimals, so you can enter 2.5 if a court pays a half-day rate. Whether a half day counts as a full day, and whether you are paid for days you were called in but sent home early, is a court policy question. Some courts pay for a day that you report and are dismissed, and others pay only when you are physically present past a certain hour. Check how your court defines a day of service before relying on a total.
Also think about what counts as a day. Weekends and court holidays during a multi-week trial are normally not paid days, so count only the days you actually attended, not the calendar span from the first date to the last.
The result is a gross amount before any tax question is considered. Whether jury fees count as taxable income, and how they are reported, depends on the rules that apply to you, so ask a tax professional or read the guidance on IRS.gov and your state tax agency. This calculator is not tax advice.
Jury fees are also separate from anything your employer does. If your employer keeps paying you during service, or asks you to hand over your jury check, that is an employment policy or state-law matter. The tool only estimates the court payment.
One practical use is a quick comparison. Enter your court's rate and the number of days you expect to serve, then compare the total against your normal daily earnings for the same period. If the gap is large, it can help you decide whether to ask the court about a hardship deferral, or to ask your employer whether it offers paid jury leave. Courts generally have their own process and deadlines for requesting a deferral or excusal, so raise it early and in writing if instructed to.
Keep the final figure as an estimate. Rates, day-counting rules and payment timing come from the court that summoned you, and the amount actually paid may differ from what this tool shows.
It depends on your state and employer policy -- some states require employers to continue paying employees during jury service (at least for a limited time), others don't. Check your state's law and your employer's policy.
Yes. The days box accepts decimal values such as 0.5 or 2.5, and the result is simply the number multiplied by your rate. Whether your court actually pays a half-day rate is a question for the clerk or your summons.
Negative values in either box are treated as zero, so the total will show 0.00 instead of a negative amount.
Run the tool once for each rate period, using the number of days in that period, and add the totals together. For example, calculate the low-rate days first, then the higher-rate days, then sum the two results.
No. The tool only multiplies days by a daily rate. If your court reimburses travel or parking, calculate that separately using the court's published rules.
Reference: U.S. Department of Labor