Real hourly wage calculator
Your salary doesn't tell you what you actually earn per hour. Commute time, rent to be near the office, childcare, and "maintenance" spending all eat into your real hourly wage. This page walks you through the logic – then lets you run the full Real Cost Simulator to see your own numbers.
1. Start with what actually lands in your account
To calculate a meaningful hourly rate, ignore the sticker salary and use your net pay (after tax and payroll deductions). If you only know your gross, divide it by 12 and then subtract income tax, social security / NI, and pension contributions – or just use the "Gross" option in the simulator, which approximates take‑home for you.
2. Add the time you spend on the job – including commute
Your job isn't just the hours in your contract. It's also time spent getting ready, commuting, and recovering from late nights or extra days. On the simulator, you can:
- Set your actual working hours per week
- Add your daily commute time (there & back)
- See your total job time per week, including commute
Your real hourly wage is calculated using this total time – not just what's written in your contract.
3. Subtract the real costs of staying employable
Most "hourly wage" calculators stop at tax. The Real Cost Simulator goes further and subtracts:
- Rent / mortgage (especially if you pay more to live near work)
- Commute costs (transport, fuel, parking, taxis)
- Debt repayments and student loans
- Childcare and support for dependants
- Ongoing "maintenance" spending: clothes for work, lunches out, takeaways when you're exhausted, dating / socialising to stay connected
When these are deducted from your monthly income, you're left with money you actually keep. Divide that by your total job hours and you get your real hourly wage.
4. What a good "real hourly wage" looks like
There's no universal "good" number – it depends on your country, family situation, and what you value. But as a rough guide:
- If your real hourly wage is negative, your costs of working are higher than your income – something may have to change soon.
- If you're keeping less than $5–$10 per hour after everything, you're probably feeling permanently squeezed.
- When you keep a healthy margin per hour, you can save, take time off, or say no to bad offers.
5. Try your own numbers in the simulator
The Real Cost Simulator is built to answer questions like:
- "What happens if I go fully remote?"
- "Is a higher salary with a brutal commute actually worth it?"
- "Would I keep more if I moved somewhere cheaper?"
It gives you a simple headline: how much you keep per hour of your life, after rent, commute, kids, debt, healthcare and lifestyle costs.