Everyday money
Is It Worth It?
Prices are in dollars. Your life is in hours. Enter what something costs and see how long you'd actually work to pay for it, after taxes.
This costs you
—
Your real take-home per hour—
Per year—
Workdays per year—
How it's calculated
Take-home per hour = (Gross pay − Federal tax − Social Security & Medicare − State tax) ÷ Hours worked per year
Hours of work = Price ÷ Take-home per hour
Hours of work = Price ÷ Take-home per hour
Worked example
A $60,000 salary at 40 hours a week takes home about $23.07 an hour after estimated taxes (4% state). A $6.50 coffee costs 17 minutes of work; every workday for a year, that's 9.2 full workdays.
How it works
We estimate your take-home pay by subtracting 2026 federal income tax (standard deduction), Social Security and Medicare tax, and the state and local rate you enter. Dividing that by the hours you work in a year gives your real hourly pay. Then the price is converted into hours and minutes of work.
It doesn't account for 401(k) contributions, health insurance premiums, tax credits, or a second earner's income, so your real number may be a bit different.
Ideas to try
- Your daily coffee, lunch out, or delivery order (pick "Workdays").
- Every streaming subscription you pay for (pick "Monthly").
- That thing sitting in your online cart right now.
For general information only. Estimates are based on simplified 2026 federal tax rules and aren't tax or financial advice.