Free estimating calculator

Employee True Cost Calculator

Estimate the real hourly cost of an employee after payroll burden, benefits, paid non-billable time, and billable efficiency.

Tool & Tally calculators are for general business planning and estimating; they are not tax, legal, payroll, financial, or accounting advice. No guaranteed revenue, profit, leads, bookings, sales, rankings, or ROI. Use local codes, site conditions, supplier pricing, and professional judgment before quoting work.

Estimate planning check

Enter your assumptions.

Formula and assumptions

How the calculator works

Loaded Wage = Wage × (1 + Payroll Burden + Benefits) True Billable Hourly Cost = (Loaded Wage + Overhead Per Hour) / Billable Efficiency Monthly Cost = True Cost × 160 Paid Hours

Common mistakes this catches

  • Quoting labor from base wage only.
  • Forgetting payroll taxes, insurance, benefits, and paid downtime.
  • Treating all paid hours as billable hours.

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