Hours of Your Life Calculator
Turn a price into the work hours it costs you.
Hours
39.2
Workdays
4.9
Workweeks
0.98
Gross hourly
$41/hr
After-tax (~25%)
$31/hr
Uses a flat 25% effective tax assumption to estimate after-tax hourly rate. Your actual effective tax rate may differ.
About
Money is just stored time. This calculator takes a purchase and tells you how many hours, days, or weeks of work it costs based on your salary and weekly hours. It uses a flat 25% tax estimate to get your after-tax hourly rate, then divides the price by that.
How to use
- Enter your annual salary before tax.
- Enter how many hours you work in a typical week.
- Enter the price of the item.
- See how many hours, days, and work-weeks it costs.
FAQ
How is the after-tax rate calculated?+
It uses a flat 25% effective tax assumption. Your real rate may be higher or lower depending on your country and bracket. 25% is a reasonable middle estimate for most working people in the US, UK, Canada, or Australia.
Why hours of life instead of dollars?+
Dollars feel abstract. Hours feel real. A $300 jacket is two-thirds of a working day. That framing changes how you think about non-essential purchases.
Does it account for benefits, bonuses, or RSUs?+
No. It uses base salary only. Including total comp would inflate your hourly rate and undercount what purchases actually cost relative to take-home pay.