Layoff Runway Calculator: How Long Will Your Savings Last?
Estimate how many months your money may last after job loss. Use savings, severance, unemployment, health insurance costs, and monthly essential expenses to understand your financial runway before making big decisions.
How long will my money last after a layoff?
Your runway is roughly your available cash plus expected income (severance and unemployment) divided by your monthly essential expenses. Most laid-off workers have somewhere between 2 and 9 months depending on savings, severance, and how much they trim spending.
Two levers extend it fastest: lowering your monthly essentials and adding income(unemployment benefits, a partial-time gig, a working partner). Enter your numbers below to see your months of runway and your “get serious” date, then trim the budget with the Emergency Budget Calculator.
- Estimated time
- 3–5 minutes
- Cost / impact
- Free · no signup · runs in your browser
- What you need
- Cash on hand, monthly essentials, severance, benefits
Layoff Runway Calculator
Calculate how long your savings will last after job loss
Why trust this calculator?
- Designed by Deepak Middha, a Chartered Accountant and finance educator
- Built using publicly available guidance and documented assumptions
- An educational planning tool — not personalized financial or legal advice
- Reviewed and updated regularly
- Privacy friendly — inputs stay in your browser
- Methodology is published and open to read
- Known limitations are documented, not hidden
What This Calculator Estimates
Accessible cash
The money you can actually reach right now — not everything you own on paper.
Monthly burn rate
Your essential expenses plus health insurance, minus any unemployment income.
Unemployment offset
How weekly benefits, entered as a monthly figure, reduce your burn rate.
Health insurance cost
The monthly premium you may pay for COBRA or a Marketplace plan.
Estimated months of runway
Accessible cash divided by burn rate, shown with and without severance.
Risk level
A simple Low / Moderate / High band based on how many months you have.
Who Should Use This Calculator?
- •You were laid off and need to estimate how long your savings may last.
- •You received severance and want to understand your severance runway before spending it.
- •You need to estimate your emergency burn rate after job loss.
- •You want to compare your normal monthly budget with a bare-minimum layoff budget using the Emergency Budget Calculator.
- •You are estimating whether unemployment benefits may reduce your monthly cash gap.
- •You need to include COBRA, Marketplace, or other health insurance costs in your job-loss planning.
- •You are deciding how aggressively to search, negotiate, freelance, or cut expenses based on your runway.
How the Runway Math Works
The math is deliberately simple so you can sanity-check it. The calculator shows your runway two ways — with and without severance — and caps very long results at 36+ months.
Accessible planning cash
Total savings + expected severance
Monthly burn rate
Monthly expenses + health insurance cost − expected unemployment income
Estimated runway
Accessible planning cash ÷ monthly burn rate
A few things the numbers can hide:
- Severance may be taxable and may arrive later than expected.
- Unemployment timing and amount vary by state.
- Health insurance costs can materially reduce your runway.
- Gross amounts are not always spendable cash — enter what you expect to actually receive.
Layoff Runway, Severance Runway, and Emergency Burn Rate
Layoff runway
How many months your available cash may cover essential expenses after job loss.
Severance runway
How long confirmed severance may extend that timeline once you know the net amount and timing.
Emergency burn rate
How much cash leaves each month after cutting expenses and accounting for unemployment or temporary income.
How this calculator works+
Inputs
- Total accessible savings (cash and confirmed near-cash you can actually reach).
- Monthly essential expenses, plus optional severance, monthly unemployment, and health-insurance cost.
Calculation assumptions
- Burn rate = essential expenses + health insurance − unemployment income, floored at zero.
- Severance and unemployment are entered as the amounts you expect to actually receive, not gross figures.
Decision logic
- Runway (months) = accessible cash ÷ burn rate, shown with and without severance and capped at 36+.
- Fewer than 3 months maps to High risk, 3–6 months to Moderate, and 6+ months to Low.
Limitations
- It cannot see taxes withheld, exact benefit timing, one-off costs, or new income you find along the way.
- It is a planning prompt, not a guarantee, and not a basis for any tax, benefits, or financial decision.
Worked example
With $15,000 accessible cash and a $2,200 burn rate (after unemployment), runway is about $15,000 ÷ $2,200 ≈ 6 months — the edge of the Low band.
When professional advice may be appropriate
If you're weighing a 401(k) withdrawal, a severance signing deadline, or a benefits election, talk to a qualified tax, financial, or benefits professional before acting.
Privacy note
Every figure you enter stays in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Your Layoff Runway Has 3 Scenarios
One number rarely tells the whole story. Run these three versions to see your realistic range — from “nothing changes” to “fully trimmed.”
A. Current lifestyle runway
Uses your normal monthly expenses. Best for seeing how quickly cash could fall if nothing changes.
B. Bare-minimum runway
Uses only essential bills: housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, debt minimums, insurance, medications, childcare, and essential family support.
C. Extended runway
Adds realistic cuts, unemployment, temporary income, delayed discretionary spending, and a lower monthly burn rate.
What Counts as Accessible Cash After a Layoff?
Runway is about money you can actually reach, not your paper net worth. Sort what you have into three buckets before you enter a savings number.
Usually count
- Checking account
- Savings account
- Emergency fund
- Money market account
- Confirmed severance (after understanding timing and taxes)
- Confirmed PTO / final paycheck (after understanding timing)
- Short-term cash-like funds
Be careful with
- Taxable brokerage account
- Vested equity
- HSA funds (for qualified medical expenses)
- Spouse / partner income
- Reliable side income
Usually do not count at first
- 401(k)
- IRA
- Home equity
- Private company equity
- Unvested RSUs / options
- Expected bonus not confirmed in writing
- Uncertain severance
- Credit cards as income
What Counts as Monthly Essential Expenses?
Your burn rate is only as accurate as your expense list. These are the categories most people need to keep — and the mistakes that quietly understate each one.
Housing
Include: Rent or mortgage, property tax, HOA.
Common mistake: Forgetting variable or seasonal housing costs.
Utilities
Include: Electricity, gas, water, trash.
Common mistake: Averaging summer and winter bills too low.
Groceries
Include: Food and household basics.
Common mistake: Using pre-layoff dining habits instead of home cooking.
Transportation
Include: Car payment, fuel, transit, insurance, upkeep.
Common mistake: Ignoring repairs and registration.
Health insurance
Include: COBRA or Marketplace premium.
Common mistake: Assuming coverage is free once the job ends.
Medication & healthcare
Include: Prescriptions, copays, ongoing care.
Common mistake: Leaving out recurring medical costs.
Debt minimums
Include: Minimum payments on loans and cards.
Common mistake: Budgeting full payments you can't sustain.
Childcare / family support
Include: Childcare, dependent care, essential family help.
Common mistake: Treating essential care as optional.
Phone / internet
Include: Mobile and home connectivity for the job search.
Common mistake: Cancelling connectivity you need to find work.
Insurance
Include: Auto, renters/home, life, disability.
Common mistake: Dropping coverage without understanding the risk.
Job search costs
Include: Certifications, tools, travel to interviews.
Common mistake: Not budgeting anything for the search itself.
Essential subscriptions
Include: Only tools you truly need right now.
Common mistake: Keeping every subscription out of habit.
How to Read Your Layoff Runway Result
Critical runway
Focus on immediate cash protection, unemployment, benefits, emergency assistance, and expense reduction.
Tight runway
Cut optional spending quickly, file unemployment as early as allowed, and widen your job-search strategy.
Moderate runway
Stay disciplined, track spending weekly, and avoid assuming the job search will be short.
Stronger runway
You may have room to search strategically, but keep health insurance, taxes, and timing in mind.
Bands are general guidance, not guarantees. Your real timeline depends on income changes, unexpected costs, and support you can access.
How to Extend Your Runway After a Layoff
Rules and Deadlines to Verify
Unemployment
File with the state where you worked, and verify eligibility and weekly certification rules with your state agency.
Health insurance
Losing job-based coverage may trigger a Marketplace Special Enrollment Period; verify deadlines with HealthCare.gov or your state marketplace.
Severance and unemployment
Verify whether severance affects your unemployment benefits in your state.
Taxes
Severance pay, unemployment compensation, and accumulated vacation or sick pay can be taxable.
Retirement withdrawals
Early retirement withdrawals may trigger taxes and penalties unless an exception applies.
Example Runway Scenarios
Example 1 — No severance, short runway
Result: very short runway. Next steps: file for unemployment, build an emergency budget, secure health coverage, and treat the job search as urgent.
Example 2 — Severance plus unemployment
Result: improved runway. Warning: taxes and payment timing matter — the net severance and benefit start date can change the picture.
Example 3 — Family health insurance shock
Result: healthcare cost reduces runway materially. Next step: compare COBRA vs Marketplace before locking in a plan.
Common Runway Mistakes After a Layoff
Related Tools & Guides
All Financial Tools
Free calculators for severance, budget, tax, and more
Severance Pay Calculator
Estimate your severance before HR does
COBRA vs Marketplace Calculator
Compare health coverage costs after a layoff
Emergency Budget Calculator
Break expenses into essential vs optional
Unemployment Guide
Eligibility, filing, and weekly certification basics
Start Here
Build your step-by-step recovery plan
Before a Layoff
Quiet preparation and protection steps
Templates
Ready-to-use letters and checklists
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate how long my savings will last after a layoff?+
Should I include severance in my runway?+
Should I include unemployment benefits?+
Should I include COBRA or Marketplace costs?+
What is a good financial runway after a layoff?+
What if my runway is less than 3 months?+
Should I use my 401(k) after a layoff?+
Is severance taxable?+
Is unemployment taxable?+
How often should I recalculate runway?+
What expenses should I cut first?+
Is this calculator financial advice?+
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Important Disclaimer
This calculator provides a simplified educational estimate only. It is not tax, legal, benefits, unemployment, insurance, or financial-planning advice, and LayoffNext does not provide such advice. Your actual runway depends on many factors this tool cannot see — benefit timing, taxes, unexpected expenses, and changes in income. Use it for planning, not as a basis for any financial, tax, or benefits decision, and consult a qualified professional and official sources for guidance specific to your situation. See our full disclaimer.
Deepak Middha is the founder of LayoffNext and a Chartered Accountant (ICAI, India). A U.S. immigrant with nearly 20 years of experience — and 17 years in hedge fund and private equity administration, including as Vice President of Fund Accounting at NAV Fund Administration Group and Associate Director of Private Equity and Real Estate at SS&C Technologies — he builds free, plain-language layoff tools and guides for employees, H-1B workers, and immigrant families.