Compare after-tax income, childcare, commuting, benefits, retirement matching, and the multi-year career impact of working or taking time out to care for a child.
First-year cash flow
After-tax income
$52,790
After entered effective taxes and employee retirement savings
Spendable after work costs
$24,690
Subtracts $28,100 of childcare, premiums, commute, and other costs
Employer retirement match
$2,880
Retirement value that may be lost while out of the workforce
Total economic value
$40,890
Spendable income plus retirement savings, match, and employer benefits
Estimated break-even salary
$22,924
Approximate salary needed for benefits and after-tax pay to cover entered work costs
15-year comparison
Keep working: career earnings
$1,339,122
$201,262 projected new retirement savings
Stay home, then return: earnings
$742,859
$96,537 projected new retirement savings
Estimated economic gap
$446,404
Keep working is higher under the entered financial assumptions
Career path by year
| Year | Keep-working salary | Return-path salary | Cumulative value gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $72,000 | At home | $40,890 |
| 5 | $81,037 | At home | $227,720 |
| 10 | $93,944 | $72,933 | $326,049 |
| 15 | $108,906 | $84,549 | $446,404 |
The calculator does not price time with children, caregiving preferences, stress, schedule flexibility, household resilience, professional identity, relationship impacts, or the quality and availability of care. Treat the result as one planning input, not a verdict.
How this calculator works
After-tax income subtracts employee retirement contributions and applies the entered effective tax rate to the remaining pay. Spendable income then subtracts childcare while needed, health premiums, commuting, and other work costs. Economic value adds employee retirement savings, employer match, and other employer-paid benefits back to spendable income. The match is modeled dollar-for-dollar up to the lower of the entered match percentage and the employee contribution.
The keep-working path grows salary each year. The stay-at-home path assumes no earnings or employer benefits during the selected time away, then restarts at the entered reentry pay reduction and grows from that new salary. Retirement contributions grow annually at the entered return; existing balances and a spouse's income or benefits are excluded.
Taxes and benefits are intentionally simplified. Credits, dependent-care FSAs, Social Security earnings records, inflation, raises tied to promotions, and health coverage changes can materially change the outcome.
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