Effective Hourly Rate Calculator
Find what you actually earn per hour after commute, unpaid lunch, and work costs.
How effective hourly rate works
Your effective hourly rate is what you actually earn per hour of life invested. Take-home pay divided by every hour the job costs you — paid hours, commute, unpaid breaks — minus out-of-pocket costs and taxes.
take_home = (weekly_pay × (1 − tax) − costs) / (paid + commute + unpaid_lunch)
Example: $30/hr × 40 hrs/wk = $1,200. With a 1-hour round-trip commute (5 hrs/wk) and 30 min unpaid lunch (2.5 hrs/wk), total invested = 47.5 hrs. Effective rate (before tax): $1,200 ÷ 47.5 = $25.26/hr. After 22% tax: ($1,200 × 0.78) ÷ 47.5 = $19.71/hr — what you can actually spend.
Tax rate is your estimated effective rate, not the marginal bracket. Look it up on last year's tax return: total tax ÷ gross income.
FAQ
What is effective hourly rate?
Your effective hourly rate is what you actually earn per hour of life invested in a job — paid hours plus commute plus unpaid breaks, minus work-related costs. It's almost always lower than the nominal rate on your paycheck.
Why does this matter?
Two jobs with the same nominal pay can have very different effective rates. A 'higher-paying' job an hour away may pay less per real hour than a closer job with a lower nominal rate.
Should lunch be counted as paid or unpaid?
It depends on your employer. In most US salaried jobs lunch is unpaid (you have to be at work but you're not on the clock). If your lunch is paid, set the toggle to 'paid' and your effective rate goes up.
Results are for informational purposes only and are not professional financial, medical, or legal advice. Verify important numbers with a qualified professional before acting on them.