How many months of expenses should I have saved?

The common guidance is three to six months of essential expenses, and this calculator reads your runway against those bands. Under three months is thin, especially in a slow hiring market; more than six months buys time to search well rather than take the first offer. Households with one income or variable pay generally aim higher.

Is severance required by law?

No. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, severance pay is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee, not a legal requirement. Many workers receive none, which is why the default here is zero weeks. If you are offered severance, the amount is commonly framed as weeks of pay per year of service.

How much does unemployment pay and for how long?

It depends entirely on your state. Each state sets its own weekly benefit formula, maximum, and duration, so this calculator asks you to enter your own estimate rather than guessing. Find the real figure through your state's unemployment office or the CareerOneStop benefits finder before leaning on it in your plan.

Are unemployment benefits and severance taxable?

Yes at the federal level: the IRS treats unemployment compensation as taxable income, and severance is taxable wages. State treatment varies. This calculator does not compute taxes, so your usable runway may be somewhat shorter than the pre-tax figures suggest; the IRS and your state tax agency have the specifics.

Does side income reduce my unemployment benefits?

In most states, yes: earnings above a threshold reduce the weekly benefit, and the rules differ state by state. This calculator adds side income without modeling that offset, so treat the combination as optimistic and check your state's partial-benefit rules before counting both at full value.

What does this calculator not model?

State-specific benefit amounts, waiting weeks, and partial-benefit offsets; taxes on severance and benefits; spending that changes over time; and one-time hits like continuing health coverage unless you fold them into essential spending. It is a clean cash-drawdown model meant to size the problem, not a benefits determination.

Layoff Runway Calculator

See how many months your savings last after a layoff from essential spending, severance weeks, unemployment benefits, and side income, plus what extends it.

Liquid savings

Essential monthly spending

Monthly take-home pay before the layoff

Severance

weeks

Unemployment benefit

$per week

Benefit duration

weeks

Side income

X f in

Runway

7.6 months

Money runs out around: March 2027
Starting cash cushion: $15,000.00
Monthly burn while benefits last: $1,550.00
Monthly burn after benefits end: $3,500.00
Where this lands: More than six months of runway

Size the fund to rebuild

Sends your essential spending and savings to the emergency fund calculator.

Cash remaining by month

What extends your runway

Scenario	Runway	Gained
Cut essential spending 10%	8.5 months	+0.8 months
Cut essential spending 20%	9.5 months	+1.9 months
Add $500/mo side income	8.9 months	+1.3 months
Add $1,000/mo side income	10.7 months	+3.1 months

Quick answer: With the example inputs this page loads by default, the headline result (Runway) comes to 7.6 months. See how many months your savings last after a layoff from essential spending, severance weeks, unemployment benefits, and side income, plus what extends it. Change any input above and every figure updates instantly in your browser.

Your inputs never leave your browser, and nothing is stored. See our privacy policy .

Fact-check: results on this page are verified against an independently coded reference oracle that covers all 106 calculators on this site. See how we verify .

Your layoff runway is how long your cash lasts once the paycheck stops: liquid savings plus any severance, drawn down by essential spending and refilled partly by unemployment benefits while they last and any side income. This calculator solves the runway in months, shows the calendar month the money runs out, and measures which changes, spending cuts or extra income, extend it the most.

What this result means

Read the runway against the common three-to-six-month reserve guidance: under three months is thin and argues for immediate spending cuts, three to six covers a typical search with discipline, and more than six buys negotiating room. The burn figures show the mechanics: while benefits last the drawdown is slower, and the month they end the burn steps up, which is the kink in the chart. The what-extends-it table is usually the most useful part, because a spending cut is certain on day one while replacement income is not. The benefit figure here is your own estimate; amounts and durations vary by state, so get the real number from your state's unemployment office before leaning on it. This is an estimate for education, not financial advice.

Assumptions

Starting cash is your liquid savings plus severance converted to a lump sum: weeks of severance times weekly pay, where weekly pay is monthly take-home times 12 divided by 52. Severance is assumed paid upfront; US law does not require severance at all, so the default is zero weeks.
The unemployment benefit is the weekly figure you enter times 52 divided by 12 per month, lasting your benefit weeks times 12 divided by 52 months, and is assumed to start immediately (state waiting periods are not modeled). Amounts and durations are set by each state and are not looked up here; get your real figure from your state's unemployment office.
While benefits last, the monthly burn is essential spending minus side income minus the monthly benefit; it is not floored, so a benefit above your spending grows your cash during that phase. After benefits end, the burn is spending minus side income.
The runway solves each phase in fractional months rather than whole-month steps. When even the after-benefits burn is zero or negative, your cash never runs down and the runway is reported as no run-out rather than a number.
The run-out date is the runway counted forward from today, shown at month granularity; it shifts with the day you view it, since the engine computes a duration, not a fixed date.
Taxes are not modeled: severance is taxable pay and unemployment benefits are taxable income federally, so your usable cash may be somewhat lower than entered. Spending is held flat, and one-time costs such as continuing health coverage are only counted if you fold them into essential spending.
The what-extends-it table re-solves the same math with spending cut 10 or 20 percent or side income raised by $500 or $1,000, holding everything else fixed. In most states side income also reduces the weekly benefit, which the table does not model; check your state's partial-benefit rules.
All figures are rounded to two decimals. This is an estimate for educational purposes only, not a benefits determination or financial, legal, or tax advice.

Key terms

Definitions for the terms this calculator uses, in our finance glossary .

What a layoff runway is and how it is computed

Your runway is how long cash lasts once the paycheck stops. The model has two phases, because unemployment benefits change the burn rate while they last and then end.

Starting cash and the benefit conversion:

weekly pay = monthly take-home x 12 / 52
starting cash = liquid savings + severance weeks x weekly pay
monthly benefit = weekly benefit x 52 / 12
benefit phase length = benefit weeks x 12 / 52 months

The two burn rates:

while benefits last: burn = essential spending - side income - monthly benefit
after benefits end: burn = essential spending - side income

The first burn is not floored: a benefit above your spending grows the cash pile during the phase. The runway then solves each phase in fractional months. If cash runs out while benefits are still paying, the runway is starting cash / first burn. Otherwise it is the benefit phase plus what the remaining cash buys at the higher burn:

runway = benefit months + (starting cash - first burn x benefit months) / second burn

When even the after-benefits burn is zero or negative, the cash never runs down and the calculator reports no run-out instead of a number. The run-out date is the same month count projected forward from today, shown at month granularity, so it shifts with the day you view it.

Worked example

Using the defaults, $15,000 of liquid savings, $3,500 of essential monthly spending, no severance, a $450 weekly benefit for 26 weeks, and no side income:

monthly benefit = $450 x 52 / 12 = $1,950; benefit phase = 26 x 12 / 52 = 6 months
burn while benefits last = $3,500 - $1,950 = $1,550; after = $3,500
cash at the end of the phase = $15,000 - 6 x $1,550 = $5,700
runway = 6 + $5,700 / $3,500 = 7.63 months

The what-extends-it table re-solves the same math with spending cut 10% or 20% or side income raised by $500 or $1,000. In the default scenario a 20% spending cut adds about 1.9 months and $1,000 of monthly side income adds about 3.1 months, which is the practical point: the spending cut is certain on day one, while replacement income is not.

The benefit figure is yours to verify

Unemployment insurance is a joint federal-state program: each state sets its own weekly benefit formula, maximum, and duration. Benefits replace a portion of prior wages up to a state cap and last up to 26 weeks in most states, but several pay fewer weeks. This calculator deliberately asks for your estimate instead of guessing from a table; get the real figure from your state’s unemployment office or the CareerOneStop benefits finder before leaning on it.

What this includes and excludes

It includes the two-phase drawdown with severance as an upfront lump sum, an immediate benefit start, and flat spending. It excludes state waiting weeks, partial-benefit offsets when you earn side income (most states reduce the weekly benefit above an earnings threshold), taxes (severance is taxable pay and unemployment compensation is federally taxable income), spending that changes over time, and one-time costs such as continuing health coverage unless you fold them into essential spending. US law does not require severance at all, which is why the default is zero weeks. This is an estimate for education, not a benefits determination.

Sources

US Department of Labor, ETA, Unemployment Insurance fact sheet: the federal-state structure, benefits based on a percentage of recent earnings up to a state maximum, and duration up to 26 weeks in most states.
CareerOneStop (US DOL), Unemployment Benefits Finder: the state-by-state lookup this calculator points to for your actual benefit.
IRS, Topic 418, Unemployment Compensation: unemployment compensation is taxable income.
US Department of Labor, severance pay topic page, dol.gov: severance pay is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee, not an FLSA requirement.

Frequently asked questions

How many months of expenses should I have saved?: The common guidance is three to six months of essential expenses, and this calculator reads your runway against those bands. Under three months is thin, especially in a slow hiring market; more than six months buys time to search well rather than take the first offer. Households with one income or variable pay generally aim higher.
Is severance required by law?: No. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, severance pay is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee, not a legal requirement. Many workers receive none, which is why the default here is zero weeks. If you are offered severance, the amount is commonly framed as weeks of pay per year of service.
How much does unemployment pay and for how long?: It depends entirely on your state. Each state sets its own weekly benefit formula, maximum, and duration, so this calculator asks you to enter your own estimate rather than guessing. Find the real figure through your state's unemployment office or the CareerOneStop benefits finder before leaning on it in your plan.
Are unemployment benefits and severance taxable?: Yes at the federal level: the IRS treats unemployment compensation as taxable income, and severance is taxable wages. State treatment varies. This calculator does not compute taxes, so your usable runway may be somewhat shorter than the pre-tax figures suggest; the IRS and your state tax agency have the specifics.
Does side income reduce my unemployment benefits?: In most states, yes: earnings above a threshold reduce the weekly benefit, and the rules differ state by state. This calculator adds side income without modeling that offset, so treat the combination as optimistic and check your state's partial-benefit rules before counting both at full value.
What does this calculator not model?: State-specific benefit amounts, waiting weeks, and partial-benefit offsets; taxes on severance and benefits; spending that changes over time; and one-time hits like continuing health coverage unless you fold them into essential spending. It is a clean cash-drawdown model meant to size the problem, not a benefits determination.

Related calculators

Learn how this works

New to this topic? Our companion guide explains it in plain language: Layoff Runway: How Long Your Money Actually Lasts

By Sam Sage Last reviewed July 2026.