The Field Guide · Page 1

What does the dream cost where you live?

The national baseline is $121,000 to $136,000 a year. Your number is different, and you should know it. This is Chapter 2's machine, run for your county, your family, and your year — an evening's work compressed into about ninety seconds.

Start with the book's national averages, then argue with every line. That's the point.

Moderate: two used cars, the USDA's moderate grocery plan, a $5,000 vacation. Lean: one car payment, low-cost groceries, $3,500 vacation. Nothing cut that draws blood.

Your household

Taxes and grocery costs follow from these.

State

Filing status

Adults

ChildrenUnder 17, for the child tax credit

State income taxEffective rate — override if you know yours

The basic bills — monthly

Replacing the housing line with a modest home in your own county moves the answer more than every other change combined.

HousingMortgage or rent + property tax + insurance

UtilitiesElectric, gas, water, trash

Health insuranceYour real share of the premium

Medical out-of-pocket

Car payments

Car insurance

Fuel

Phones + internet

GroceriesFollows family size until you change it

Clothing

Term life insurance

The rest — monthly

The two add-backs are zero by default because they vary too wildly to average — not because they don't matter.

Modest extrasDining out, streaming, kids' activities, Christmas saved monthly, maintenance, haircuts, misc.

VacationPer year, not per month

ChildcareFull-time care now averages about $1,400 per child

Debt paymentsCredit cards, student loans — until they're retired

Retirement savingsPercent of gross income. 10% is the defensible floor.

Your number

$136,000

gross household income per year

Just to keep the lights on —

Basic bills only — no extras, no vacation, nothing saved for the day you stop working.

Everything you spend—

Taxes on the way there—

Saved for retirement—

—

What to do with it

A number is not a plan.

Knowing what the dream costs is the easy half. The hard half is the question the rest of the book exists to answer — not "why don't I make more?" but "what would make me worth more?"

Write your number down and date it. Recompute it every year or two, because it moves. Then go get the Field Guide — the other nine pages are the ones that change the number.

Get the free Field Guide Read about the book

How this works. The calculator builds your annual spending, then solves for the gross income at which take-home pay minus retirement savings exactly covers it. Federal tax uses 2026 brackets, the standard deduction, and the $2,200-per-child credit; payroll tax is 7.65% to the Social Security wage base. State rates are approximate effective rates for a middle-income family — override the field if you know yours. Defaults are the book's national averages, sourced in its Notes on Sources. This is an estimate for planning and conversation, not tax, legal, or financial advice, and nothing you type here is sent anywhere or stored.