Free ForeverNo SignupFully LoadedUpdated 2026

Cost Per Employee Calculator

Calculate the true fully-loaded cost of each employee — salary is only part of the picture.

The fully-loaded cost per employee includes salary, employer payroll taxes (~8%), health and dental benefits (~$6–12K/yr), equipment, software, office space, and HR overhead. Typically 1.25–1.4× base salary in the US — a $120K engineer costs $150–168K annually in total.

Base Salary

Annual base salary

Employer Payroll Tax Rate

Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, SUTA (typically 7–10%)

Annual Benefits Cost

Health, dental, vision, 401K match, PTO cost

Equipment & Software (Annual)Optional — adds equipment overhead

Laptop, monitors, software licences, amortised over 3 years

Office / Remote OverheadOptional — adds facilities cost

Allocated office space or remote work stipend per employee

The Formula

Total Cost = Salary + (Salary × Tax%) + Benefits + Equipment + Office

In plain English

Sum salary, payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, and office costs for the total annual employer cost.

Worked Example

$120K salary + $9.6K taxes + $10K benefits + $3K equipment + $2.4K office = $145K total (1.21× base salary).

The True Cost of Hiring

Most founders budget for salary and underestimate the overhead. For every $100K salary, expect $20–40K in additional costs from taxes, benefits, equipment, and allocated overhead.

Remote companies save on office space but often add remote stipends ($100–300/month), home office equipment, and co-working memberships. These partially offset — but don't eliminate — the overhead above salary.

1.25–1.4×

Typical fully-loaded multiplier

7–10%

Employer payroll tax rate (US)

$6–15K

Annual benefits cost per employee

$3–5K

Annual equipment cost per employee

Cost Per Employee Breakdown (2026)

Component	Low	Typical	High
Payroll Taxes	7%	8–9%	10–12%
Benefits	$5K/yr	$8–12K/yr	$15K+/yr
Equipment	$1K/yr	$2–4K/yr	$5K+/yr
Office / Remote	$0	$1.5–3K/yr	$6K+/yr

Source: SHRM Benefits Survey 2025 · Bureau of Labour Statistics Employer Cost Data

Common Mistakes

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Budgeting only for base salary

Hiring a $150K engineer and budgeting $150K creates a $30–50K budget shortfall. Always use fully-loaded cost for headcount planning and financial modelling.

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Forgetting PTO cost

A 20-day PTO policy on a $120K salary = $9,200 of paid non-working time. This is real cost — include it in benefits or as a separate line item.

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Using gross salary for burn rate calculation

Your burn rate should use fully-loaded cost, not gross salary. A 10-person team at an average $100K salary costs $1.25–1.4M annually — not $1M.