2026-27 estimate
Is a second income worth it with childcare?
Before "3, 4 or 5 days," there's a more basic question: whether going back to paid work is worth it at all once childcare and tax are counted. In this example, it is. How much of it is where the real answer gets interesting.
Yes, a second income can still be worth it after childcare. In this Hobart example, the first day back leaves the household $952 more each month, or $28.90 for that day. Use the calculator with your income, childcare and work costs before deciding.
Grace and Taylor, Hobart: not working against day 1
Grace and Taylor live in Hobart. Grace earns $150,000 and already works five days. Taylor's been home since their son was born (he's 18 months now) and is weighing up a return at $65,000 full-time equivalent. If Taylor goes back, their son goes into centre-based care at Tasmania's average fee of $122 a day.
$28.90 an hour: that's what Taylor's first day back is worth, once the whole household's numbers are counted, not just the payslip. Today, with just Grace working, her pay lands ($9,203) and there's no childcare: the household keeps exactly that. Add Taylor's first day and their pay lands $1,083, $132 of childcare comes out for it, and the household keeps $952 more.
Grace and Taylor's family, day by day
| Days | Gross pay | CCS rate | Childcare you pay (after subsidy) | That day adds | $/hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (baseline) | $0 | 77.7% | $0 | n/a | n/a |
| 1 | $13,000 | 75.1% | $1,579 | +$11,421 | $28.90 |
| 2 | $26,000 | 72.5% | $3,489 | +$10,621 | $26.87 |
| 3 | $39,000 | 69.9% | $5,728 | +$7,956 | $20.13 |
| 4 | $52,000 | 67.3% | $8,297 | +$6,766 | $17.12 |
| 5 | $65,000 | 64.7% | $11,196 | +$5,746 | $14.54 |
Open this exact scenario in the calculator and set Taylor's days to zero to compare directly against your own return-to-work numbers.
The question behind the question
When one partner is thinking about returning to paid work, the mental maths is usually "my salary minus the childcare fee." That comparison is often too pessimistic, because it ignores the Child Care Subsidy, which can cover a substantial part of the fee for a lot of families. It's also incomplete, because it ignores tax on the new income. The honest comparison is the whole family's net position with the second income against the whole family's net position without it: exactly what the two statements above just did.
What the numbers say for Grace and Taylor
The first day is the best-paying one, because the family isn't in the Child Care Subsidy taper's steepest range yet and Taylor's early income sits in a lower tax bracket. Every day after that pays less than the one before. That's normal, and exactly the pattern the calculator is built to show, not a sign that something's gone wrong.
By day 3, Taylor's pay lands $2,977 and the household keeps $11,702. Add two more days and pay lands $1,498 more, but childcare takes $456 more, so the household keeps just $1,043 more of it, about $15.83 an hour for those two extra days, a real step down from day 1's $28.90, though nowhere near a loss. That's the real shape of "is a second income worth it": the answer to "should I work at all" is close to positive when the numbers look like this, while "how many days" is the more genuinely open question: covered day by day in our is 4 days worth it and is 5 days worth it guides, and explained mechanically on the methodology page.
Worth separating, too, is "worth it in dollars" from "worth it overall." A parent weighing a return to work is usually also weighing things a single financial year can't price: staying active in a career, rebuilding super after time away, adult company during the day, or simply wanting paid work back in their life. None of those show up in the table above, and none of them are wrong reasons on their own. What the calculator can do is take the money question off the table as a source of guesswork, so whatever else goes into the decision, it's not competing with a vague fear that the whole thing nets out to nothing.
Questions about returning to work
What if my salary is lower than my partner's?
The calculator lets you swap which partner flexes their days, and it treats either arrangement the same way: family income and the Child Care Subsidy rate depend on the combined total, not on which partner earns which part of it.
Does it matter that I'd be starting from zero income?
Yes: it's exactly why the first day back tends to be the best-paying one. Early income sits in lower tax brackets and, for many families, below the steepest part of the CCS taper, before later days push family income higher and shrink both advantages.
Source: ATO: individual income tax rates
What about career progression and super?
Real, and outside what a single year's cashflow calculator can capture. Every scenario also earns extra employer super at the displayed employer superannuation rate, shown as a footnote in the calculator rather than folded into the hourly rate, and time out of the workforce can affect future earning potential in ways no calculator fully prices in.
Sources
- Australian Taxation OfficeIncome tax brackets
- Services AustraliaChild Care Subsidy rate and taper
- Australian Taxation OfficeEmployer superannuation rate
- Department of EducationTAS average daily fee