Based on a survey of more than 40,000 mothers, Salary.com determined that the time mothers spend performing 10 typical job functions would equate to an annual salary of $138,095 for a stay-at-home mom.
So how do they break down those job functions?
The job titles that best matched a mom's definition of her work are (in order of hours spent per week): housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, CEO and psychologist.
Even better, there was a wizard that allows you to adjust the salary based on location. So based on that, in theory, when Jen was a stay-at-home mom with 2 preschool kids in Oakland, her salary would have been: $161,557.
Of course, I was a bit miffed that the focus was exclusively on moms. Then I noticed a small link at the bottom that said, "What about dad?" When I clicked, it took me to an equivalent calculator for dads. My salary as a SAHD in Cambridge: $144,081. Hmmm. I wonder if I could use that to haggle for a whopping raise when I return to work next month? Probably not.
In any case, the other interesting thing to note is the difference in the ways they break down the task for a mom versus a dad. For instance, the Salary.com wizard lists "housekeeper" as a mom's top ask at 18.9 hours per week. Dad's top task is "day care center teacher" at 17 hours per week. The calculator assumes a dad spends half as much time doing laundry, but more time cooking. A mom spends 5.8 hours per week being a psychologist, but a dad only spends 2.3 hours. On the other hand, dads apparently spend 2.3 hours as a groundskeeper, while mom spends none.
To see what you're stay-at-home value is, check out the calculator here.
