Frequently Asked Questions

Your real hourly wage is your annual take-home pay, minus all work-related expenses (commute, clothing, meals, childcare), divided by all work-related hours (including commute, getting ready, decompression, and unpaid overtime). Most people discover it's 30–50% lower than their advertised rate.

Hidden money costs include: daily commute expenses (gas, transit, parking), work clothing, work meals, childcare during work hours, professional dues, tools, and continuing education. Hidden time costs include: commute time, getting-ready time beyond your normal routine, decompression time after work, and unpaid overtime.

Decompression time is the time you spend unwinding purely because work drained you — scrolling social media, watching TV you wouldn't otherwise watch, or having drinks you wouldn't otherwise need. This is work-caused time and should be counted against your job's hours.

Multiply the hours the task would take you by your real hourly wage. Adjust for enjoyment — if you hate it, your adjusted cost is higher (×1.5 multiplier); if you love it, lower (×0.3 multiplier). Compare the adjusted cost to the hire price. If hiring costs less, pay someone else. The Is It Worth My Time? tab does this automatically.

Employees pay 7.65% FICA (6.2% Social Security up to $176,100 + 1.45% Medicare). Self-employed individuals pay both the employer and employee shares — 15.3% total. However, you can deduct half the self-employment tax on your federal return, reducing the effective rate slightly. This calculator uses the employee (7.65%) rate.

Yes. When you factor in commute costs, commute time, work clothing, decompression time, and state tax differences, a remote job paying $15,000 less can have a higher real hourly wage. Use the Compare Two Jobs tab to see exactly how two offers stack up.

The calculator uses 2024/2025 IRS federal brackets with standard deductions, and simplified flat-rate state tax approximations. FICA uses the 7.65% employee share. These are estimates — your actual taxes may differ based on deductions, credits, investment income, or state-specific rules. Consult a CPA for precise figures.

No. All calculations happen entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you enter is transmitted to any server. No account is required. The site is fully static — there is no backend, no database, no analytics on your inputs.

The core methodology is inspired by Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, which introduced the concept of measuring expenses and purchases in terms of "life energy" — hours of work — rather than dollars. This calculator formalises that idea into a precise real hourly wage figure.