A calculator / Vol. 001
It's lying.
That $38 an hour number on your offer letter? It doesn't exist. Not after taxes. Not after the commute you don't get paid for. Not after the lunches, the coffees, the clothes, the childcare, the hours of unpaid overtime, the forty minutes every morning getting ready.
This calculator does the math Your Money or Your Life started in 1992: what's left when you subtract everything your job actually costs you, divided by every hour it actually takes.
A few questions. One uncomfortable number.
No email. No signup. Nothing saved.
More about this calculator
Most salary-to-hourly calculators do one thing: divide your annual pay by 2,080 hours and call it a day. They do not subtract the federal and state taxes that will come out of your paycheck. They do not account for FICA or the additional Medicare surcharge. They ignore the commute you do not get paid for, the work lunches you eat because you are at the office, the professional clothing you own only for the job, or the childcare you need only because you work. And they assume a forty-hour week — as if the unpaid overtime you put in every Sunday evening does not count.
This tool does something different. It calculates your real hourly wage: what you actually take home per hour of your life that work consumes, after everything. Federal and state income tax. FICA. The commute. The lunches. The coffee. The clothing. The childcare. The unpaid hours. What is left, divided by the hours you are really spending, is your real hourly rate. For most people, it is thirty to fifty percent lower than the number on their offer letter.
The concept is not new. Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez introduced it in Your Money or Your Life in 1992. It is the clearest way to answer a question most affordability calculators get wrong: what can you really afford on this salary, once the full cost of earning it is counted? A $6 coffee does not cost $6. It costs however many minutes of your life it takes to earn $6 after the full tax and time drag of your job. A $1,800 couch does not cost $1,800. It costs a specific number of hours of your life.
The calculator above does that math for you. It uses current 2025 US federal tax brackets, FICA rates including the wage base and additional Medicare surcharge, and state income tax rates for every state and DC. It asks you thirteen questions about your salary, your real hours, and your job-related spending. It gives you one uncomfortable number, a breakdown of where your time and money actually go, and a catalog that translates common purchases into the hours of your life they cost you.
Nothing is saved. No email is required. Run the numbers, see what your time is actually worth, and decide what to do with that information.
Frequently asked questions
Your real hourly wage is what you actually take home per hour of your life that work consumes, after federal and state taxes, commute costs, work lunches, coffee, work clothes, and childcare — divided by all the hours work actually takes, including commute, prep time, and unpaid overtime. The concept comes from the 1992 book Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. It is almost always dramatically lower than the hourly rate implied by your salary.
A standard take-home pay calculator stops at after-tax income divided by 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. This calculator goes further. It subtracts the hidden costs of working — money you spend because you have the job — and adds the hidden hours the job consumes. A commute you do not get paid for is still time the job takes. A $15 lunch you only eat because you are at the office is still money the job costs you. Most hourly wage calculators ignore these. This one does not.
Both. If you earn a salary, we convert it to an implied hourly rate based on your official weekly hours, then adjust for taxes and hidden costs. If you are paid hourly, enter your average annual earnings and actual hours. The math is the same: what you actually keep per hour of your life that work takes.
Three reasons. Taxes: federal, state, and FICA take a meaningful cut, even at modest incomes. Hidden work hours: a 40-hour work week often becomes a 50+ hour real work week once you add commute, getting-ready time, and unpaid overtime. Job-related spending: commute costs, work lunches, coffee, professional clothing, and childcare are costs that exist because of the job. Subtract them from take-home pay and divide by the real hours, and the number drops — often 30 to 50 percent below the number on your offer letter.
Yes, indirectly. Most affordability questions assume your take-home pay is what you have to spend. But if you subtract the money you only spend because you work — and count the real hours — you get a more honest picture of what a purchase, rent, or lifestyle change actually costs you in life-hours. The catalog on the results page translates common purchases, from coffee to a down payment, into hours of your actual life at your real wage.
The underlying concept comes from that book, yes. Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez introduced the "real hourly wage" calculation in 1992 and it remains the clearest way to measure what your time is actually worth. This tool implements the math with modern US tax data and a purchase-translation feature. We have no affiliation with the book, the authors, or the FI/FIRE movement that grew out of it.
No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, stored in a database, or associated with you. Close the tab and the numbers are gone. There is no account, no email signup, and no cookies that track you.
Accurate enough to make the point, but not a tax filing. We use 2025 federal brackets, the standard deduction, FICA at statutory rates including the additional Medicare surcharge, and a flat top-marginal state tax rate by state. We do not model itemized deductions, 401(k) contributions, HSAs, tax credits, or local and city taxes. For an exact withholding calculation, use your state tax authority or a CPA. For a directional sense of your real hourly wage, this tool is close.
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