Make the Leap Research · The Trade-offs Study
What career changers will trade: pay cuts, side starts and runway, by income
By Jon Miksis, founder of Make the Leap · Data frozen 2026-10-01 · n = 13,383 · Assessments completed July 1 to September 30, 2026
In 13,383 career assessments, people considering a career change told us what they are willing to do to make it happen, what is stopping them, and how long they could cover their bills if they changed tomorrow. Then we split every answer by income. The clearest pattern is a paradox: the more people earn, the more willing they say they are to take a temporary pay cut, and a larger share of the highest earners than the lowest still name financial risk as a blocker.
In short
- Pay-cut willingness rises with income: 22.2% of assessments under $40K, 70.7% at $250K+.
- Yet more top-band assessments name financial risk as a blocker (74.3% vs 56.2%).
- Starting on the side first is the majority choice in every income band.
The pay-cut paradox, in one chart
Pay-cut willingness climbs across all seven income bands, from 22.2% to 70.7%. Naming financial risk as a blocker climbs to $90K and then holds between 74.3% and 77.9%. Share of each income band. Bars run on a 0-100% scale. Assessments completed July 1 to September 30, 2026; n = 13,383. Every band's share and count is in the table below.
Key findings
- Willingness to take a temporary pay cut to change careers rises with income: 22.2% of assessments from people earning under $40K say they would, against 70.7% of assessments from people earning $250K or more (n=2,315 and 420). #
- The pay-cut paradox: assessments from people earning $250K+ are 3.2 times as likely as those from people earning under $40K to accept a temporary pay cut, yet a larger share of them still name financial risk as a blocker (74.3% vs 56.2%). #
- 77.5% of assessments from people earning under $40K report three months of expenses or less in runway, and 53.1% report no savings at all; among assessments from people earning $250K+, the figures are 29.8% and 8.6%. #
- Willingness to start at entry level in a new field falls as income rises, from 70.1% of assessments from people earning under $40K to 27.9% of assessments from people earning $250K+. #
- Starting something on the side first is a majority choice in every income band, from 59.2% to 71.4% (63.8% of all 13,383 assessments). #
What the data shows
Financial risk is the most-named blocker overall (70.0% of all assessments). It is named in 56.2% of assessments from people earning under $40K, climbs with each band to 72.1% at $60K–$90K, and then holds between 74.3% and 77.9% in every band from $90K up. #
Runway moves the other way. 77.5% of assessments from people earning under $40K report three months of expenses or less to fall back on; at $250K+ it is 29.8%. So assessments from the highest earners report the most runway and the most willingness to take a pay cut, and a larger share of them name financial risk than assessments from the lowest earners.
Willingness to start their own business stays between 44.3% and 46.7% below $90K, then rises with every band above it, to 66.7% at $250K+. #
Lower earners trade differently. Fewer would take a pay cut (22.2% under $40K), but 70.1% would start at entry level in a new field, the highest of any band. And at every income level, a majority would start something on the side first.
The full table
Share of each income band choosing each answer. Figures are shares of assessments: some people took the assessment more than once, and the people who chose to take it are not a random sample of workers. Scroll sideways on a phone.
| Income band (n) | Temporary pay cut OK | Entry level OK | Side first | Own business | Financial risk is a blocker | Runway 3 months or less | No savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $40K (2,315) | 22.2% | 70.1% | 61.8% | 46.7% | 56.2% | 77.5% | 53.1% |
| $40K–$60K (2,535) | 35.0% | 60.8% | 59.2% | 44.3% | 66.8% | 79.6% | 47.5% |
| $60K–$90K (3,125) | 43.3% | 45.5% | 63.2% | 45.6% | 72.1% | 74.8% | 39.3% |
| $90K–$120K (2,283) | 52.6% | 36.5% | 65.1% | 50.1% | 75.2% | 67.9% | 32.2% |
| $120K–$175K (1,798) | 60.2% | 30.9% | 68.5% | 53.2% | 77.9% | 58.3% | 23.4% |
| $175K–$250K (907) | 67.1% | 28.3% | 68.5% | 57.7% | 75.5% | 47.1% | 17.8% |
| $250K+ (420) | 70.7% | 27.9% | 71.4% | 66.7% | 74.3% | 29.8% | 8.6% |
| All assessments (13,383) | 44.4% | 47.4% | 63.8% | 48.8% | 70.0% | 69.5% | 37.5% |
Column definitions: the first four columns are options on "What are you willing to do to make this transition?" (pick all that apply). "Financial risk is a blocker" is the option "Financial risk feels too high" on "What’s stopping you from making a career change?" (pick up to 5). Runway columns are "No savings - I need income now" and "1–3 months of expenses" on "How much financial runway do you have if you made a change tomorrow?"; the 3-months-or-less column counts both.
What it means if you are weighing a change
This part is our reading, not a finding. Most people earning $120K or more say they would accept a temporary pay cut, so for most of them the will to trade is already there. What looks harder is sizing the risk: what a new path would actually pay at the start, how many months of runway that gap would take, and whether a side start could prove the move before the paycheck changes. Those are answerable questions, and answering them is what turns "financial risk" from a blocker into a number.
For the runway side of that math, by runway band, see Can you afford a career change?, and to size your own gap, its runway calculator turns take-home, expenses and savings into months of runway. If the cut is the part you would rather not take, the bridges that keep income and seniority are in how to change careers without starting over; if a side start is the route, what to sell and how to test it is in how to become a consultant while you're still employed. For how long people tend to sit with the decision before acting, see the Deliberation Study.
Same questions, other windows
We have published the pooled versions of three of these figures before, from different windows. They agree within about two points. Temporary pay cut: 42.8% (90 days to 2026-08-15, n=14,699, on our affordability guide) against 44.4% here. Financial risk as a blocker: 69.6% in The State of Career Change 2026 (2026-02-17 to 2026-07-18, n=18,114) and 70.5% on the affordability guide, against 70.0% here. Runway of three months or less: 70.4% in The State of Career Change 2026, against 69.5% here. Each figure is correct for its own window; cite the one whose dates you need.
Methodology and limits
Population. 13,383 completed Make the Leap career assessments submitted between July 1 to September 30, 2026 (Eastern Time), one response per assessment. The cohort is not deduplicated by person: someone who took the assessment more than once counts once per assessment, which is why figures here are stated per assessment. The assessments come from people considering a career change who chose to take a free online career assessment. At least 68.9% arrived through paid social-media ads (a floor: some in-app browsers strip tracking tags). Every assessment has answers to all four questions below, so every percentage uses the full income band as its denominator.
Questions, exactly as asked. Income: "What’s your current (or most recent) annual income?" (single choice: Under $40,000; $40,000 – $60,000; $60,000 – $90,000; $90,000 – $120,000; $120,000 – $175,000; $175,000 – $250,000; $250,000+). Willingness: "What are you willing to do to make this transition?" (Pick all that honestly apply. Options: Take a course or get certified; Take a temporary pay cut; Start something on the side first; Relocate; Go back to school; Network aggressively; Start my own business; Start at entry level in a new field). Blockers: "What’s stopping you from making a career change?" (Pick up to 5. Options: Financial risk feels too high; Don’t have the right skills; Feel too old to start over; Family obligations; Don’t know what else to do; Fear of failure; Imposter syndrome; Too comfortable where I am). Runway: "How much financial runway do you have if you made a change tomorrow?" (single choice: No savings - I need income now; 1–3 months of expenses; 3–6 months; 6–12 months; 12+ months; Money isn’t the issue). The wording and options of all four were unchanged across the window, except that an optional free-text box was added under the blocker question in the first week of July; free text is not counted here.
Statistics. Each share is the number of assessments choosing an option divided by all assessments in that band. Figures are shares of assessments, not of distinct people: some people took the assessment more than once, and the takers are self-selected, so we publish shares and counts only. Bands with fewer than 200 assessments would be marked directional; the smallest band is $250K+ (n=420), so none is. The figures are frozen at publication and will not change; aggregate counts for every cell are available on request.
What this does not measure. These are stated preferences and self-reports from assessment takers at one moment, not observed behaviour: we do not know who went on to take a pay cut, start on the side, or change careers at all. They describe people actively considering a change who found and completed our assessment, not the workforce or all career changers. Income is self-reported in bands (current or most recent). The comparisons are cross-sectional: income travels with age, experience and household circumstances, which this study does not separate, so none of the differences should be read as income causing the answer.
On the instrument itself, see the notes on the research hub.
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