Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Fully loaded hourly rate
$56.24
Burden cost per hour
$10.24
Loaded cost per 8-hr day
$450
Amount burden is calculated on
$32.00
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How to use this
- 1Enter base wage rate ($/hr).
- 2Enter fringe benefit rate ($/hr).
- 3Enter fringe paid as.
- 4Enter payroll burden rate (%).
- 5Read your fully loaded hourly rate on the right — it updates as you type.
- 6Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Prevailing wage work under Davis-Bacon and state equivalents requires paying the published wage determination rate plus a fringe benefit rate that can be satisfied either through actual bona fide benefits (health insurance, retirement contributions) or paid directly in cash if the contractor doesn't offer qualifying benefits. On top of base wage and fringe, standard payroll burden still applies: FICA, FUTA/SUTA, workers' comp, and general liability insurance, all calculated on the wage portion (fringe paid as benefits is typically excluded from these burden calculations, while fringe paid as cash is usually not). This calculator separates base wage and fringe, applies standard burden rates to the wage-based components, and returns your true fully-loaded hourly cost — critical because many contractors accidentally burden the full wage+fringe rate as if it were all cash wage, overstating true cost by a meaningful margin on prevailing wage bids.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Base wage rate: 32 $/hr
- Fringe benefit rate: 14 $/hr
- Fringe paid as: Bona fide benefits
- Payroll burden rate: 32 %
Results
- Fully loaded hourly rate: $56.24
- Burden cost per hour: $10.24
- Loaded cost per 8-hr day: $449.92
- Amount burden is calculated on: $32.00
What each field means
Inputs
- Base wage rate ($/hr)
- The base wage rate used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 32 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
- Fringe benefit rate ($/hr)
- The fringe benefit rate used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 14 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
- Fringe paid as
- Pick the option that matches your situation — the maths changes per option. Choices: Bona fide benefits, Cash (subject to burden).
- Payroll burden rate (%)
- The payroll burden rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 32 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–60 %.
Results
- Fully loaded hourly rate
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Burden cost per hour
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Loaded cost per 8-hr day
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Amount burden is calculated on
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Why does it matter whether fringe is paid as benefits versus cash?
Fringe routed through a bona fide plan (health insurance, an approved retirement plan) is generally exempt from FICA, FUTA, and workers' comp calculations, while fringe paid directly to the worker as cash wages is treated like regular wage and incurs the full payroll burden stack. Misclassifying this can either understate your true cost or, worse, create a payroll tax compliance problem on a certified payroll job.
What burden rate is typical on prevailing wage construction work?
Combined FICA (7.65%), FUTA/SUTA (varies by state and experience rating, often 1-6%), workers' comp (highly trade-dependent, from under 5% for office/light trades to 20%+ for roofing or structural steel), and general liability commonly total 25-40% of wage-based cost. Always use your actual experience-modified workers' comp rate for the specific trade classification, not a company-wide average.
Does the wage determination rate ever change mid-project?
Davis-Bacon wage determinations are generally locked in as of the bid opening or contract award date for the life of the contract on most federal contracts, but multi-year contracts and some state prevailing wage schemes require annual updates to the applicable rate. Check your specific contract's wage determination effective-date language before assuming a multi-year rate is frozen.
How does certified payroll reporting affect estimating accuracy?
Certified payroll (WH-347 on federal jobs) requires reporting actual hours and rates by classification, which creates a hard audit trail — if your bid used a blended average trade rate but the wage determination has multiple classifications at different rates, you can end up underbid on the higher-classified work once you're forced to actually pay and report the correct rate per worker.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
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Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Prevailing Wage Burden Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/prevailing-wage-burden
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/prevailing-wage-burden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prevailing Wage Burden Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Prevailing Wage Burden Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/prevailing-wage-burden) (2026).