Does it pay for one of us to stay home?

Compare take-home pay against the full cost of working: childcare for every child, commuting, and everything that only exists because you have a job. The break-even figure is usually the most useful output.

Last reviewed August 30, 2026 · Runs in your browser

Net per year from working

$5,700

Break even at $0 salary · $0 an hour

Salary of the parent who might stop working $55,000

Childcare per child, per month $1,200

Commuting, lunches, work clothes, per month $300

Children in paid childcare

Effective tax and payroll rate

Show as

Show amounts in Formatting only, not converted

The arithmetic

Take-home pay—

Childcare—

Cost of working—

A short-term cash comparison only. It does not price lost retirement contributions, career progression, or the difficulty of returning to work, all of which are real and often larger than the yearly figure shown.

What this result means

A positive figure means the job more than covers childcare and work costs this year. A negative one means it does not, in cash terms, right now.

The break-even salary is often the more useful number. It tells you what a different job would have to pay to be worth taking, which is a more actionable question than whether this one clears the bar.

A close result does not settle anything. If the two options are within a few thousand dollars, this is not really a financial decision, and you should decide it on other grounds.

How it works

Take gross salary and reduce it by the effective tax and payroll rate to get take-home pay.
Multiply monthly childcare by 12 and by the number of children in paid care.
Multiply monthly work costs by 12.
Subtract both from take-home pay to get the net annual position.
Calculate break-even by dividing total costs by one minus the tax rate.
Divide the net by 2,080 hours for an effective hourly figure.

A worked example

Salary $55,000, 25% effective tax, one child at $1,200 a month, $300 a month in work costs.
Take-home: $55,000 × 0.75 = $41,250.
Childcare: $1,200 × 12 = $14,400. Work costs: $300 × 12 = $3,600.
Net: $41,250 − $14,400 − $3,600 = $23,250 a year.
Break-even salary: ($14,400 + $3,600) ÷ 0.75 = $24,000.

Assumptions and limits

This is a short-term cash comparison for one year. It does not price lost retirement contributions, employer matching, career progression, or the difficulty of returning to work.
Those omitted costs are real and frequently larger than the annual figure shown. Treat a marginal result as an argument for staying in work, not against it.
It assumes childcare is needed for a full year and does not model the drop at school age.
The tax rate is a single blended figure rather than a marginal calculation, and ignores dependent care benefits such as an FSA.
It values only the paid job. The work done by a parent at home is priced separately in our stay-at-home parent salary calculator.

Sources

The Price of Care: annual child care affordability analysis Child Care Aware of America Child care prices vary enormously by state and care type, which is why we ask for your number rather than assuming one.
Consumer Expenditure Survey U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Household spending by category and family composition.

Common questions

Should I compare childcare to one salary or to household income?

To the take-home pay of the parent who would actually stop working, plus their work costs. Comparing childcare to total household income makes it look artificially small.

The result says staying home is better. Should I do it?

Not on this alone. The calculation covers one year of cash. It cannot price retirement contributions, progression, or re-entry difficulty, all of which push the other way.

Why does the break-even matter more than the net?

Because it converts the question into something you can act on: what a job would need to pay to be worth it. That is more useful than a yes or no on the current one.

The decisions behind this number

A number on its own does not tell you what to do. These walk through the decision.