Pub. August 5, 2026Upd. August 6, 20264 min read

Back-to-school pressure starts before the first bell

In 20 U.S. states, a minimum-wage parent has to work almost three full workweeks just to cover the average back-to-school shopping bill.

Mariia Ermatova

Marketing Manager

The National Retail Federation estimates families will spend an average of $863.86 on back-to-school shopping in 2026. Welltory converted that budget into working hours by state minimum wage and found a striking gap: in 20 states, earning it takes 119.2 hours of work, versus 50.4 hours in Washington. For many families, that financial pressure builds for weeks before the first day of school.

For some families, back-to-school can consume most of a month's work

The greatest working-time burden appears in states where the $7.25 federal minimum wage applies.

In Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, earning the average back-to-school budget requires 119.2 hours of work.

And some parts of the shopping list are significant expenses on their own. At $7.25 an hour:

Electronics represent 40.4 hours of work
Clothing represents 34.5 hours
Shoes represent 24 hours
School supplies represent 20.2 hours

Electronics alone can therefore equal more than an entire full-time workweek.

The same back-to-school bill looks very different across the country

In Washington, where the minimum wage is $17.13, earning the same $863.86 takes around 50.4 hours. That means a minimum-wage worker in one of the 20 federal-wage states needs to work more than twice as long to earn the same back-to-school budget.

California and Connecticut are close to Washington, at around 51 hours. At the other end, West Virginia workers need almost 99 hours, while workers in Montana need nearly 80 hours.

The shopping list is the same. The amount of someone's working life it represents is not.

Work hours needed to cover back-to-school costs, by state

State	Total Hours	Electronics	Clothing	Shoes	School Supplies
Alabama	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Georgia	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Idaho	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Indiana	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Iowa	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Kansas	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Kentucky	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Louisiana	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Mississippi	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
New Hampshire	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
North Carolina	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
North Dakota	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Oklahoma	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Pennsylvania	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
South Carolina	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Tennessee	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Texas	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Utah	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Wisconsin	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
Wyoming	119.2	40.4	34.5	24.0	20.2
West Virginia	98.7	33.5	28.6	19.9	16.7
Montana	79.6	27.0	23.1	16.0	13.5
Arkansas	78.5	26.6	22.8	15.8	13.3
Ohio	78.5	26.6	22.8	15.8	13.3
Minnesota	75.7	25.7	21.9	15.3	12.8
South Dakota	72.9	24.7	21.1	14.7	12.4
Nevada	72.0	24.4	20.9	14.5	12.2
New Mexico	72.0	24.4	20.9	14.5	12.2
Virginia	67.6	23.0	19.6	13.6	11.5
Michigan	62.9	21.3	18.2	12.7	10.7
Alaska	61.7	20.9	17.9	12.4	10.5
Florida	61.7	20.9	17.9	12.4	10.5
Vermont	59.9	20.3	17.4	12.1	10.2
Delaware	57.6	19.5	16.7	11.6	9.8
Illinois	57.6	19.5	16.7	11.6	9.8
Maryland	57.6	19.5	16.7	11.6	9.8
Massachusetts	57.6	19.5	16.7	11.6	9.8
Missouri	57.6	19.5	16.7	11.6	9.8
Nebraska	57.6	19.5	16.7	11.6	9.8
Maine	57.2	19.4	16.6	11.5	9.7
Arizona	57.0	19.3	16.5	11.5	9.7
Colorado	57.0	19.3	16.5	11.5	9.7
Oregon	55.6	18.8	16.1	11.2	9.4
New Jersey	54.3	18.4	15.7	10.9	9.2
Hawaii	54.0	18.3	15.6	10.9	9.2
New York	54.0	18.3	15.6	10.9	9.2
Rhode Island	54.0	18.3	15.6	10.9	9.2
California	51.1	17.3	14.8	10.3	8.7
Connecticut	51.0	17.3	14.8	10.3	8.6
Washington	50.4	17.1	14.6	10.2	8.5

Financial pressure is only one part of the back-to-school stress cycle

Money is not the only thing changing when school starts.

Families are also moving from summer routines into stricter schedules, earlier wake-up times, school drop-offs, homework, activities, and work commitments.

When financial pressure is added to that transition, it can become harder to switch off and recover.

For some parents, the stress may begin long before the school bell rings, while they are comparing prices, delaying purchases, waiting for another paycheck, or deciding which expenses can wait.

The National Retail Federation found that 46% of shoppers who had not completed at least half of their back-to-school shopping were waiting for better deals, while 23% said they were spreading their budgets out over time.

That is why the back-to-school transition is not only about getting children ready for class. It is also about how families manage a sudden increase in financial, logistical, and emotional demands at the same time.

Making the transition easier on your nervous system

Back-to-school routines cannot always be made less busy, but the amount of pressure hitting at once can be reduced.

Spreading preparation across several days, protecting consistent sleep, sharing responsibilities where possible, and leaving some space between work and evening tasks can help prevent an already busy period from becoming one long stress response.

Small recovery moments matter too. A short walk, a few minutes of slow breathing, or simply having part of the evening without another task can give the nervous system a chance to shift out of constant activation.

The goal is not to eliminate stress completely. It is to avoid turning a temporary transition into weeks of accumulated strain.

Methodology

Welltory used the National Retail Federation's 2026 estimate that K-12 households expect to spend an average of $863.86 on back-to-school purchases.

This includes an average of $293.11 for electronics, $250.29 for clothing and accessories, $174.01 for shoes, and $146.45 for school supplies.

The total was divided by the applicable general minimum wage in each U.S. state to calculate the gross working hours required to earn the average back-to-school budget.

A full-time workweek was defined as 40 hours, while an average full-time work month was calculated as 173.33 hours.

The analysis does not measure stress directly. Instead, it shows where back-to-school spending represents the greatest working-time burden for minimum-wage workers and highlights one source of financial pressure families may face during the back-to-school transition.