Fully Loaded Labor Cost Calculator

How it is calculated

Benefits and overhead are percentages of the base hourly wage and are added together, not compounded on each other. loaded cost = base_wage × (1 + (benefits_pct + overhead_pct) ÷ 100). The markup is loaded cost − base_wage, and the multiplier is loaded cost ÷ base_wage, shown with an x. Wage and results are per hour in dollars; the same logic works for a day or a year if you keep the unit consistent. Benefits cover items such as health insurance, retirement contributions and paid leave, and overhead covers employer payroll taxes, insurance, equipment and facilities, expressed as a share of wage. The tool does not look up these percentages. Zero percentages are allowed. No result is shown for a wage of zero or less, a negative percentage, or a benefits percentage above 100; the overhead percentage has no upper cap, so 150% is accepted.

Common mistakes

• Quoting the base wage as the cost of labor. The loaded figure is higher by the full benefits and overhead load, so pricing off the wage under-recovers cost.
• Compounding the two percentages by hand (1.20 × 1.15 = 1.38). This tool adds them (1.35), so the answer will differ from that.
• Counting a cost both as benefits and as overhead, such as employer payroll taxes, so the load is overstated.
• Entering the benefit cost as a currency amount per hour, or as a multiplier such as 1.2. The fields are percentages of base wage, and a benefits value above 100 gives no result.
• Assuming every paid hour is billable. Holidays, training and idle time raise the cost per billable hour above the loaded figure.