diff --git a/src/PHPCR/Util/PathHelper.php b/src/PHPCR/Util/PathHelper.php
index eb0a9e9..71473ef 100644
--- a/src/PHPCR/Util/PathHelper.php
+++ b/src/PHPCR/Util/PathHelper.php
@@ -254,4 +254,16 @@ public static function getNodeName($path)
     {
         return substr($path, strrpos($path, '/') + 1);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the depth of the path, ignore trailing slashes, root starts counting at 0
+     *
+     * @param string $path a valid absolute path, like /content/jobs/data
+     *
+     * @return integer with the path depth
+     */
+    public static function getPathDepth($path)
+    {
+        return substr_count(rtrim($path, '/'), '/');
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/PHPCR/Tests/Util/PathHelperTest.php b/tests/PHPCR/Tests/Util/PathHelperTest.php
index 388c292..c1f4d8b 100644
--- a/tests/PHPCR/Tests/Util/PathHelperTest.php
+++ b/tests/PHPCR/Tests/Util/PathHelperTest.php
@@ -236,4 +236,11 @@ public function testGetNodeNameRoot()
         $this->assertEquals('', PathHelper::getNodeName('/'));
     }
 
+    public function testGetPathDepth()
+    {
+        $this->assertEquals(0, PathHelper::getPathDepth('/'));
+        $this->assertEquals(1, PathHelper::getPathDepth('/foo'));
+        $this->assertEquals(2, PathHelper::getPathDepth('/foo/bar'));
+        $this->assertEquals(2, PathHelper::getPathDepth('/foo/bar/'));
+    }
 }