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Real hourly wage calculator
Enter your yearly pay, your hours, and the time and money work takes beyond paid hours. See your hourly pay on paper, your real hourly pay and how much lower it is.
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Your results
- Hourly pay on paper = yearly pay divided by paid hours per week times weeks per year.
- Real hourly pay = yearly pay minus work costs, divided by paid hours plus commute and unpaid minutes per workday in hours, times weeks per year.
- Figures are gross pay before tax and deductions, in the currency you entered.
How to use it
- Enter your pay and paid hours. Type your yearly pay before tax, the hours you are paid for in a normal week, the days you work and the weeks a year you actually work, leaving out holidays and time off.
- Add the time work takes. Enter your round-trip commute in minutes per workday and any unpaid minutes spent on work each day, such as getting ready, unpaid extra hours or checking messages after hours.
- Add work costs and compare. Enter what the job costs you each year, such as travel, clothes and meals. Then compare your hourly pay on paper with your real hourly pay and the percentage gap between them.
Example
What was entered
- Yearly pay
- 60,000.00
- Paid hours per week
- 40 hours
- Workdays per week
- 5 days
- Commute minutes per workday
- 60
- Unpaid work minutes per workday
- 15
- Work costs per year
- 3,000.00
- Weeks worked per year
- 48 weeks
The result
- Hourly pay on paper (in your currency)
- 31.25
- Real hourly pay (in your currency)
- 25.68
- How much lower the real rate is
- 17.8%
Related free tools
- Commute cost calculator: Work out the daily, weekly and yearly cost of your commute and the hours a year you spend on it.
- Hourly to salary calculator: Convert an hourly rate into a yearly salary and every common pay period, based on your own hours and weeks.
- Salary to hourly calculator: Convert a yearly salary to hourly pay, or any pay period to any other, with your own hours and weeks.
- Job offer comparison calculator: Compare two job offers by total pay, commute and real hourly value, including bonus, equity, match and time off.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What is a real hourly wage?
It is what you earn for each hour work actually takes, after the money work costs you. The calculator subtracts yearly work costs from your pay and divides what is left by your paid hours plus commute and unpaid time. It shows how far a job's hourly value falls below the rate on paper.
How is the real hourly wage calculated?
Hourly pay on paper is yearly pay divided by paid hours per week times weeks per year. For the real rate, yearly work costs come off the pay first, and the hours include commute and unpaid minutes on each workday. With 60,000 a year, 40 hours, 48 weeks, a 60-minute commute, 15 unpaid minutes a day and 3,000 of costs, the rate drops from 31.25 to about 25.68, nearly 18 percent lower.
Why does it start at 48 weeks?
Weeks of holidays and time off are not worked, so leaving them out gives the pay for each hour you actually work. The calculator starts at 48 weeks; change it to the number of weeks you really work in a year.
How can I raise my real hourly wage?
Cut the time or money the job takes, or raise the pay. A shorter commute, some remote days, fewer unpaid hours or lower work costs all raise the real rate. The result helps in a negotiation too: if a new job's commute is longer, it shows how much more pay would make up for it.