Car AccidentLost Wages Calculator
Find out how many workdays people with injuries like yours actually miss. Based on 34,502 real crash records from NHTSA’s national investigation database. Free to use. No personal information required.
Estimate Your Lost Wages
Answer 3 questions to see what the federal data shows for injuries like yours
Where is your primary injury?
Select the body region most affected by your car accident injury
How severe is the injury?
Choose the description that most closely matches your diagnosis
What are your wages? (optional)
Stays in your browser — never stored or transmitted
How This Calculator Works
Every estimate is grounded in federal crash investigation data, not editorial assumptions. Here is exactly where the numbers come from and why they are defensible.
NHTSA Federal Crash Data
The NHTSA Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS) is a nationally representative probability sample of police-reported crashes. We analyzed 34,502 occupant records from 2020–2024, each containing a WORKDAYS variable recording actual work absences following the crash.
Injury-Specific Medians & Means
Records are filtered to employed occupants with confirmed injuries, then stratified by body region and AIS severity. The MAIS 1 mean of 5.5 days is a confirmed real distribution — not an artifact of the dataset’s 62-day cap. Minor injuries genuinely resolve quickly for most; those who do miss work average 5.5 days.
What “62+ Days” Means
NHTSA records work absences up to 62 days. For serious injuries (AIS 3+), virtually every affected worker hit that ceiling — establishing a confirmed floor of 62+ recorded workdays missed. Real recovery typically extends well beyond this window. This is a litigation floor, not a cap.
Disclaimer: This calculator provides estimates based on federal NHTSA crash investigation data for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Actual lost wages depend on your specific employment terms, medical documentation, the facts of your accident, and applicable Florida law. Attorney advertising — Sackrin & Tolchinsky, P.A., 601 N. Federal Highway, Suite 301, Hallandale Beach, Florida 33009.