How to calculate take-home pay as an SLP

If you’re looking at jobs here with us:

If you’re searching for a job inside our database, you can skip this entire article, because we do all this math for you, with every single job post!

How? Because unlike everyone else, our jobs database isn't auto-post. Instead, we have an intake survey and we interview employers in order to obtain clear, transparent information about both your pay and job quality.

However, we don't have "all the jobs" in our database. This is because a) our database is new as of 2025, and b) some employers don't want to disclose this level of information or have been blocked entirely from our database due to too-low of pay or misleading job posts. 

Therefore, we know you'll still be looking at jobs outside our database, too. And that's why we built this calculator for you to use on your own! Hopefully it helps, and please proceed, below.

If you’re looking outside Informed Jobs:

Step 1) Understand your contract type

Most of the time, you won't know what you’ll be paid by looking at the job post. Even when pay is disclosed, it’s often very misleading. Before trying to calculate pay, you’ll need to know:

a) What contract type you’re looking at. Learn the differences between salaried vs hourly vs PPV here.

b) How you’re being classified. Learn the difference between 1099 and W2, here.

Knowing that a job pays "$50/hour" isn’t enough information to predict pay, because a contract listed this way could yield under $50,000 per year to over $100,000 per year, both for full-time work. The details matter, a lot! Once you understand what you’re looking at, you’re ready to: 

Step 2) Input details into a calculator to predict take-home pay

We’ve built a Pay Calculator to to help you with any job posted outside Informed Jobs. It considers:

• 1099 vs W2, and the tax and write-off implications
• Employment benefits (401K, health insurance, etc.)
• Whether you’re paid for both direct and indirect services, or direct only
• And more, to get you as close as possible to being able to estimate the value of a job offer and take-home pay.

Find our Pay Calculator here, then compare it to other options here.

Step 3) Compare that to local and national norms

Now that you know what the true pay is for the job you’re considering, you’ll want to know if that’s normal. And “normal” will vary primarily by:

• Local cost of living
• Work setting
• Years of experience

Find SLP wage norms, here. Then visit our Career Advice page for additional helpful information for being on the SLP job market!