Answerivo

Construction & Trades

Labor Burden Calculator

The wage on the paycheck is never what an hour of labor costs you. Payroll taxes, workers compensation, and benefits sit on top of it, and bidding off the base wage is one of the fastest ways to lose money on a job. Enter the wage and your burden components to get a fully loaded hourly cost you can build a bill rate on.

Step 1

Enter your numbers

Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment as a percent of wage.

Your class-code rate as a percent of payroll.

Optional

Optional. Health, retirement match, and per-hour allowances in dollars.

Optional

Optional. Liability insurance, PTO accrual, training, and similar loads.

Results update as you type. Nothing you enter leaves your device.

Step 2

Results

Fill in the form and your results appear here instantly.

Estimates only. Verify important figures against your own records before acting on them. See our disclaimer.

What this calculator includes

What you enter

  • Base hourly wage
  • Employer payroll taxes
  • Workers compensation
  • Benefits per hour (optional)
  • Other burden (optional)

What you get back

  • True hourly labor cost
  • Burden percentage
  • Burden dollars per hour
  • Percent-based burden
  • Fixed benefits per hour

How this calculation works

How this calculation works

Percentage burdens are applied to the base wage; dollar benefits are added straight on. The total load divided by the wage gives your burden rate.

  • Percent burden = wage × (payroll tax % + workers comp % + other %) ÷ 100
  • Total burden per hour = percent burden + benefits per hour
  • True hourly labor cost = wage + total burden per hour
  • Burden % = total burden per hour ÷ wage × 100

What the result means

True hourly labor cost is the base wage plus percentage burdens applied to that wage plus fixed benefit dollars per hour. The burden percentage is that added cost measured against the wage.

Common mistakes and assumptions

  • Bidding from the base wage, which leaves burden unpaid out of your margin.
  • Entering benefits as a percentage in a dollar field, or the reverse.
  • Treating this as a bill rate; it is cost, before any profit or overhead.

Worked example

A framer earns $28.00 per hour. Payroll taxes run 9.2%, workers comp is 11.5%, benefits are $3.10 per hour, and other loads add 4%.

  1. 1Percent burden = $28.00 × (9.2 + 11.5 + 4) ÷ 100 = $28.00 × 0.247 = $6.92.
  2. 2Total burden = $6.92 + $3.10 = $10.02 per hour.
  3. 3True hourly cost = $28.00 + $10.02 = $38.02.
  4. 4Burden = $10.02 ÷ $28.00 = 35.79% of the base wage.

Frequently asked questions

Is burden the same as my bill rate?
No. Burden gets you to cost. A bill rate adds overhead and profit on top of the burdened cost, which is why quoting at burdened cost still loses money.
Should overtime change the burden percentage?
Percentage burdens scale with the higher overtime wage, but fixed per-hour benefits usually do not. As a result, burden percentage typically drops slightly on overtime hours.
Where do unproductive hours fit in?
Drive time, shop time, and PTO are not billable but still cost you. Either include them in the other burden percentage or divide annual cost by billable hours rather than total hours.
What is a normal burden rate?
It varies widely by trade and state, driven mostly by workers comp class codes and benefit generosity. Rather than chasing a benchmark, build the number from your own payroll reports and insurance declarations.

Disclaimer

This calculator returns estimates based only on the values you enter. It does not account for taxes, financing terms, local regulations, or conditions specific to your operation, and it is not accounting, legal, tax, or investment advice. Confirm any figure that carries real cost before you rely on it.

Calculations run entirely in your browser and the numbers you type are never sent to us or stored. Read how Answerivo calculators are built.

Formulas and worked example last reviewed .