Friendship Hours Calculator
How Many Hours Does It Take to Make a Friend?
A study by Jeffrey Hall counted the hours it takes to make a friend. Tell us how often you meet someone. The calculator shows when you could reach each level of friendship.
It's free and you don't need to sign up.
Where is the friendship now?
How often do you meet?
Hours each time
A Siena dinner lasts about 2 hours.
What kind of time is it?
Which group fits you best?
Your friendship timeline
You could be casual friends by 15 September 2027.
Counted towards the milestones: 2 hours a week.
Casual friend
About 11 months
About 94 hours together
Around 15 September 2027
Range: 5 to 11 months
Friend
About 19 months
About 164 hours together
Around 17 May 2028
Range: 9 to 19 months
Close friend
About 25 months
About 219 hours together
Around 26 November 2028
Range: 23 to 25 months
The study gives two sets of numbers. We show the estimate for your group and a range that includes Hall's own summary across both studies.
Get the printable friendship tracker
A free A4 PDF with the three milestones and a 12-week grid to tally your hours. It also has a 4-week meetup routine for London. We also email you the link.
Start your first 2 hours this Thursday
Book a Siena dinner and meet new people in London
Tables of six, every Thursday in London. Just £12.99.
What the friendship hours study found
Jeffrey Hall is a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas. In 2018 he published the study "How many hours does it take to make a friend?" in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
The first study surveyed 355 adults who had moved to a new city in the last six months. Each person thought of someone they had met since the move. They estimated the hours they had spent together and rated how close they were.
The second study followed 112 first-year students at the University of Kansas. The students reported their hours with two new acquaintances three times over nine weeks.
In both studies, more hours together went with closer friendships. The kind of hours mattered too. Leisure time predicted closeness. Hours at work or in class did not.
| Level | Hall's summary of both studies | Adults who had moved city | First-year students |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casual friend | 40 to 60 | 94 | 43 |
| Friend | 80 to 100 | 164 | 57 |
| Close friend | More than 200 | 219 | 119 |
Source: Hall, J. A. (2019). How many hours does it take to make a friend? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 36(4), 1278-1296. doi:10.1177/0265407518761225
Frequently asked questions
Jeffrey Hall's study gives about 50 hours to become casual friends and about 90 hours to become friends. Close friends need more than 200 hours together. Adults who had moved city needed more time: about 94, 164 and 219 hours.
It depends on how often you meet. Say you meet one person for a 2-hour dinner each week. You reach 50 hours after about 25 weeks. Meet twice a week and you get there in about 13 weeks. Enter your own routine in the calculator above.
Yes, that figure comes from Hall's study. He estimated more than 200 hours together to become close friends. The adults in the study needed about 219 hours. The first-year students needed about 119 hours.
Hall found that hours at work or in class did not predict closer friendships. Leisure time did. To build a friendship with a colleague, meet outside the task. Go for lunch or a drink together.
The two studies used different groups. One study asked adults who had moved city in the last six months. The other followed first-year students over their first nine weeks. Pick the group closest to your life in the calculator.
Leisure time builds friendship. Hall found this in the adult study. In the student study, some kinds of everyday talk, such as catching up and joking around, went with closer friendships. A long dinner gives you both.
The calculator uses the averages from the study. Your own friendships can move faster or slower. For this reason we show a range for each milestone. Use the dates as a guide to plan your time.
Siena hosts dinners with strangers in London every Thursday. You book a seat and we put together a table of six. Each dinner lasts about 2 hours. That gives you your first hours with five new people.