Calculator
Cost per hour of hobby, what it really costs.
Pick any hobby on the site and how many hours a week you would give it: the cost per hour in the first year, once the kit is paid for, and over five years.
The hobby
h
$
$
Every hobby at those hours
Cost per hour in the first year, cheapest first, at the hours you set above.
| Hobby | Year one | After that |
|---|
Cost per hour, year one
-
Hours in the first year-
Spent in the first year-
Per hour once the kit is paid for-
Per hour over five years-
Compared with a cinema ticket-
Start costs are the starter kits on each card, checked against shop prices; monthly costs are our estimates for a modest habit. Your own numbers are better: edit the two boxes.
How it is worked out
Year one: (start cost + 12 × monthly) / (hours a week × 52). After that the kit is paid for and only the monthly cost counts. Over five years the kit is spread across 260 weeks of hobby, which is how a $660 backpacking kit ends up cheaper per hour than a $0 hobby with a $30 monthly habit.
What the number is good for
- It punishes the hobby you will not actually do. A $450 beehive at one hour a week is a dear hour; the same hive at the four hours it really takes in summer is cheap.
- It shows which costs matter. For most hobbies here the monthly cost, not the start cost, decides the per-hour figure by the second year.
- It is a fair way to compare a gym membership, a club subscription or a streaming service with something you make or grow.
A cinema ticket in the US averaged about $11 in 2025, so two hours in the dark run about $5.50 an hour; that is the comparison in the panel.
The other tools
Wood hardness finderShelf sag calculatorBoard foot calculatorLeather thickness converterSaddle stitch calculatorArrow weight and FOCPack weight builderTippet size finderTank and pot volumeMordant calculatorSunny 16 exposureYarn weights and needle sizesYarn amount from a swatchCross-stitch fabric sizeBaker's percentagesClay shrinkage and firing costRunning paceChicken coop sizeSugar syrup for bees