What a second income really nets after childcare and commute
A job offer's headline number is gross pay, but gross pay isn't what lands in the household. Tax comes out, and so does everything the job itself creates — childcare, the commute, the clothes and lunches, anything lost by earning more. The method is simple arithmetic; the tool just makes sure nothing gets forgotten.
The method
Net for the year = gross pay − tax and deductions − childcare (after any help) − travel − work costs − other care costs − benefits lost. Divide that net by the hours actually paid for a per-hour figure, or by paid hours plus commuting hours for the more honest one — the time spent commuting is real time, even though it isn't paid.
A real example: a $28,000 offer, 30 hours a week
A parent is offered a job paying $28,000 a year: 30 hours a week, 3 working days a week, 46 working weeks a year. One child needs childcare at $65 per working day, with no help received. The commute is a fare of $9 a day, 50 minutes door-to-door each day counting both directions. Tax and deductions run 22% of gross. Work costs — clothes, lunches, a few fees — run $35 a month.
- Working days a year:
3 × 46 = 138 days. Paid hours a year:30 × 46 = 1,380 hours. - Tax:
$28,000 × 22% = $6,160. - Childcare:
$65 × 138 days = $8,970. - Travel:
$9 × 138 days = $1,242. - Work costs:
$35 × 12 = $420. - Net for the year:
$28,000 − $6,160 − $8,970 − $1,242 − $420 = $11,208.
That's $934.00 a month ($11,208 ÷ 12) left over once tax, childcare, travel and work costs are all paid — a long way from the $28,000 the offer letter says.
The per-hour number the offer letter never shows
Per paid hour: $11,208 ÷ 1,380 hours = $8.12. But the commute is real time too: 50 minutes a day × 138 days = 6,900 minutes, or 115 hours a year. Counting paid hours and commuting hours together: $11,208 ÷ 1,495 hours = $7.50. That's a 62-cent gap per hour between the number that looks fine on paper and the number that accounts for the time actually spent on the job.
Why the same job can net two different households two different amounts
Change only the childcare help received. If this family instead gets $18 a day toward that $65-a-day cost (a common subsidy shape), childcare drops to ($65 − $18) × 138 = $6,486 instead of $8,970 — a $2,484 swing that moves net pay from $11,208 to $13,692 without the gross offer changing by a cent. The gross number on the offer letter says nothing about which household is looking at it.
What this doesn't capture
No tax system and no benefit taper is modeled here — the rate you enter is the rate you looked up or already know, not one this method assumes for you. It also says nothing about pension contributions, career progression, or whether the work itself is worth doing for reasons that never show up in a paycheck. This is the arithmetic on the numbers entered, not a verdict on whether to take the job.
Run your own numbers
The free Second-Income Check runs this whole breakdown from your own gross pay, hours, childcare, commute and costs — entirely on your device.