Workforce Cost Calculator

Multiply hourly wage by hours per day, then by number of workers, then add a burden rate of 20-35% for taxes, benefits, and overhead. For a 6-person crew at $32 per hour working 8 hours, the raw daily wage is $1,536, and at 30% burden the true daily labor cost is roughly $1,997. Always use the burdened figure for project bids and budgets.

Burden rate is the percentage you add to direct wages to capture all the costs of employing someone beyond the hourly wage itself. Typical ranges by industry: office and professional services 20-30%, restaurants and retail 15-20%, construction and trades 25-35%, healthcare 30-40%. The components include FICA (7.65%), workers comp (1-15% depending on risk class), benefits (15-30%), unemployment insurance (0.6-6%), and equipment and overhead.

List every employee with their hourly rate or salary, hours per week, and weeks per year. Sum direct wages across the team, then multiply by 1 + burden rate. For a 4-person small business with an average $25 per hour at 40 hours per week, 50 weeks, and 25% burden, the annual cost is roughly $250,000. Divide by 12 for monthly burn or by your projected revenue for labor cost percent.

Under 25% is healthy for most service businesses. 25-35% is typical and sustainable. 35-50% is high and squeezes margins, common in construction and full-service restaurants. Above 50% is critical and threatens profitability. Use the optional Target Revenue field to see your specific ratio against these benchmarks.

A cost per hire calculator models one new hire over a year, including recruiting fees and onboarding ramp-up. The Workforce Cost Calculator models your existing crew or team in aggregate, focused on hourly wages, headcount, hours, and burden. Use cost per hire when deciding whether to hire someone new. Use workforce cost when budgeting your current team or estimating labor on a project bid.

Yes, if overtime is regular. Add average OT hours per worker per week and choose the multiplier (1.5x for time-and-a-half, 2x for double time). A crew averaging 4 OT hours per week at 1.5x adds roughly 15% to direct wages before burden. Skipping this consistently underestimates your true labor cost on bids.

You can. Look for the "Embed" button near the top of this calculator. It lets you pick a size, border style, and color palette, then gives you an iframe tag to paste into any webpage. The widget is responsive, loads fast, and costs nothing. More details at calculory.com/services/embed-calculators.