Payroll Budget Calculator
Estimate total cost of employment including taxes, benefits, and bonuses. Plan department budgets with dynamic employee tiers.
Includes payroll tax, insurance, benefits.
| Role / Tier | Count | Base Salary ($) | Bonus (%) | Action |
|---|
About
Hiring employees involves financial commitments far exceeding the base salary. This Payroll Budget Calculator helps HR managers, startup founders, and department heads accurately forecast the Total Cost of Employment. By factoring in tax burdens, benefits, insurance, and performance bonuses, organizations can prevent budget overruns. The tool supports multiple employee tiers, allowing users to build a composite budget for an entire team or department in seconds.
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Formulas
The total cost for a specific employee tier is calculated as:
Costtier = N × [ Salary + (Salary × Burden%) + (Salary × Bonus%) ]
Where N is the number of employees in that tier. The Total Budget is the summation of all tiers:
Budgettotal = k∑i=1 Costi
Reference Data
| Cost Component | Typical Range | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security / Pension | 6.2% - 15% | Mandatory government contributions. |
| Medicare / Health Tax | 1.45% - 3% | Public health funding. |
| Private Health Insurance | $5k - $20k | Per employee per year (Employer share). |
| Bonuses | 5% - 20% | Performance-based variable pay. |
| Equipment & Overhead | $2k - $5k | Laptop, software licenses, desk space. |
| Total Burden Rate | 1.25x - 1.40x | Multiplier on Base Salary. |
Frequently Asked Questions
This percentage acts as a catch-all for employer-side payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare), unemployment insurance, worker's compensation, and mandatory pension contributions. In the US, this is often around 10-15%, while in Europe, it can exceed 30%.
No. This tool calculates the *cost to the employer*. Net pay is what the employee receives after their own taxes are deducted. This tool is for company budgeting, not personal finance.
You can either increase the "Burden %" to include average health costs or simply add the average annual health premium to the Base Salary input if you prefer a rougher estimate.
Yes, but for contractors, you should set the "Tax & Burden %" to 0% (since they pay their own taxes) and "Bonus" to 0%, utilizing just the Base Salary field as their total fee.