Real hourly wage calculator
Find what an hour of your time is really worth once commuting, unpaid hours and work costs count.
How to use
A salary divided by the hours in the contract gives the hourly wage on paper. The real one is lower, because work takes more time than the paid hours and costs money to get to. This calculator counts both: the time spent commuting and working unpaid, and the money spent on travel, meals and anything else you pay only because you work.
The formulas: yearly take-home pay = monthly pay × payments per year. Working weeks = 52 − weeks of holiday. Paid hourly wage = yearly pay ÷ (paid hours per week × working weeks). Hours given to work per week = paid hours + unpaid hours + commute minutes × working days ÷ 60. Real hourly wage = (yearly pay − work-related costs per month × 12) ÷ (hours given to work per week × working weeks).
In several countries salaries are paid 13 or 14 times a year; enter the number of payments you actually receive. Weeks of holiday include public holidays, so 25 days of leave plus 10 public holidays make 7 weeks of 5 days.
The price field turns a purchase into time: price ÷ real hourly wage is how many hours of work it takes to pay for it, counting the commute and the unpaid hours that come with them.
The values filled in when the page opens are only an example. Replace them with your own; nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Example
The example: 2,200 a month paid 14 times, 37.5 paid and 3 unpaid hours a week, 80 minutes of commuting a day, 6 weeks of holiday and 180 a month of work costs give a paid wage of 17.86 an hour but a real one of 13.20; a purchase of 1,200 takes 90 h 54 min of work.
1,500 × 12 = 18,000 a yearWith 47 working weeks of 40 paid hours (1,880 hours), the paid hourly wage is 18,000 ÷ 1,880 = 9.57.40 + 2 + 5 × 60 ÷ 60 = 47 hoursTwo unpaid hours a week and an hour of commuting a day take the week to 47 hours given to work.(18,000 − 1,200) ÷ (47 × 47)The real hourly wage is 16,800 ÷ 2,209 = 7.61, about a fifth less than on paper.60 ÷ 7.61Something that costs 60 takes 7 h 53 min of work.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a work-related cost?
Anything you pay only because you work: fuel, parking or public transport to get there, meals out on working days, work clothes, childcare during working hours. Costs you would have anyway, such as rent, do not count.
Should I use gross or take-home pay?
Take-home pay, the amount that reaches your account. That is what you can spend, so it is what an hour of your time really buys.
Why count the commute as work time?
Because you would not spend it if you did not have the job. It is time you give to work without being paid for it.
Does this work for freelancers?
Only roughly. A freelancer's income varies and has to cover tax and business costs; the freelance rate calculator works out the rate to charge instead.