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 burdened hourly rate
$34.64
Burden as % of base wage
33%
Total annual cost to employ
$66,508
Total annual burden (above wage)
$16,588
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How to use this
- 1Enter base hourly wage ($/hr).
- 2Enter scheduled hours per year.
- 3Enter paid time off (vacation/holiday/sick) (hrs).
- 4Enter payroll taxes (fica/futa/suta) (%).
- 5Enter workers' comp rate (%).
- 6Enter health + retirement benefits ($/yr).
- 7Enter other (uniforms, training, etc.) ($/yr).
- 8Read your fully burdened hourly rate on the right — it updates as you type.
- 9Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
The wage you pay an employee is only part of what they cost the business. Payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA/SUTA), workers' comp insurance, health benefits, retirement match, PTO, and other benefits all add to base wage, and that fully burdened rate is what you should use in job costing and quoting, not the raw hourly wage. Shops that quote off base wage alone routinely underprice labor-heavy jobs by 25-45%, since burden rates commonly add that much on top of wages. This calculator takes annual wage plus each burden category and computes both the burden rate as a percentage and the fully loaded hourly cost, using actual paid hours (not calendar hours) as the divisor since burden costs are spread across the hours the person is actually working and billable, not vacation days.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Base hourly wage: 24 $/hr
- Scheduled hours per year: 2080
- Paid time off (vacation/holiday/sick): 160 hrs
- Payroll taxes (FICA/FUTA/SUTA): 9 %
- Workers' comp rate: 6 %
- Health + retirement benefits: 8500 $/yr
- Other (uniforms, training, etc.): 600 $/yr
Results
- Fully burdened hourly rate: $34.64
- Burden as % of base wage: 33%
- Total annual cost to employ: $66,508
- Total annual burden (above wage): $16,588
What each field means
Inputs
- Base hourly wage ($/hr)
- The base hourly wage used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 24 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
- Scheduled hours per year
- The scheduled hours per year used in the calculation. Starts at 2080 so you have a working example on load.
- Paid time off (vacation/holiday/sick) (hrs)
- The paid time off (vacation/holiday/sick) used in the calculation, measured in hrs. Starts at 160 hrs so you have a working example on load.
- Payroll taxes (FICA/FUTA/SUTA) (%)
- The payroll taxes (fica/futa/suta) used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 9 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–30 %.
- Workers' comp rate (%)
- The workers' comp rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 6 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–40 %.
- Health + retirement benefits ($/yr)
- The health + retirement benefits used in the calculation, measured in $/yr. Starts at 8500 $/yr so you have a working example on load.
- Other (uniforms, training, etc.) ($/yr)
- The other (uniforms, training, etc.) used in the calculation, measured in $/yr. Starts at 600 $/yr so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Fully burdened 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 as % of base wage
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total annual cost to employ
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Total annual burden (above wage)
- 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 divide by paid hours minus PTO instead of total scheduled hours?
Because PTO hours are paid but not productive/billable — the true cost of an hour of actual work has to absorb the cost of the hours the person is paid for but not present. Dividing by full scheduled hours understates the real burdened rate you should be using for job costing.
What's a typical burden percentage in manufacturing?
35-50% above base wage is common for shops with standard benefits and workers' comp rates. Heavy manufacturing with higher-risk workers' comp classifications (welding, metal fabrication) often sees comp rates alone of 5-12% of payroll, pushing total burden toward the higher end of that range.
Should overtime premium be factored into this rate?
This calculator gives you the standard-time burdened rate. For overtime hours, add the 1.5x wage premium directly, and note that most fixed burden costs like benefits don't scale with overtime hours worked, so overtime hours are actually somewhat less burdened on a percentage basis, though still more expensive in absolute dollars.
Do I need to calculate this separately for each employee?
Ideally yes, since wage, benefit elections, and workers' comp classification (based on job duties) all vary by person. Many shops use a blended average burden rate for quick quoting and a precise per-person rate for detailed job costing and profitability analysis.
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.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Shop Labor Burden Rate Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/shop-labor-burden-rate
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/shop-labor-burden-rate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shop Labor Burden Rate Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Shop Labor Burden Rate Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/shop-labor-burden-rate) (2026).