Turn an hourly wage into the number that belongs in your bids: the fully burdened cost per hour actually worked, with payroll taxes, workers' comp, benefits, and paid time off itemized. Every input is editable and it runs in your browser.
FICA is fixed at 7.65% (6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare). Above the annual Social Security wage base only the Medicare share continues; typical hourly wages don't reach it.
$28.00/hr on paper becomes $38.95/hr of working time: a 1.39x multiplier, with a burden rate of 26% above wages.
| Wages | $58,240 |
| FICA (7.65%) | $4,455 |
| FUTA | $42 |
| State unemployment (SUTA) | $405 |
| Workers' comp | $1,456 |
| Health insurance | $7,200 |
| Retirement match | $1,747 |
| Total annual cost | $73,546 |
| Productive hours | 1,888 |
The burdened rate is the floor under every bid.
What sits on top of it, utilization, overhead recovery, and the software tracking job costs, is where margins are won or lost. The operations technology assessment looks at that layer, and first projects run weeks, not quarters.
Book an assessment callThe tax layer is fixed by statute. Employers pay 7.65% FICA on wages: 6.2% Social Security plus 1.45% Medicare, with only the Medicare share continuing above the annual wage base. FUTA adds an effective 0.6% on the first $7,000 after the standard state credit. SUTA applies your experience rate to your state's wage base. The insurance layer comes off your own paperwork: workers' comp is priced per $100 of payroll by class code, which is why a roofer and a bookkeeper at the same wage cost very different amounts.
The step most spreadsheets miss is the denominator. Wages, taxes, and benefits are paid over every paid hour, but work only happens in the hours left after holidays, vacation, and sick time. Several states mandate sick accrual; Colorado's runs up to 48 hours a year. Dividing total cost by productive hours is what turns the default $28 wage into roughly $39 per hour worked, before any overhead. Labor is one side of job cost; the expense report generator covers the purchased side.
| Line item | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FICA 7.65% | Statutory | 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare; Medicare-only above the annual wage base |
| FUTA 0.6% on first $7,000 | Statutory | 6.0% less the 5.4% state credit; credit-reduction states pay more |
| SUTA | Your state UI rate notice | Experience-rated; new employers get the state's standard rate |
| Workers' comp | Policy declarations page | $ per $100 of payroll, by class code |
| Health insurance | Your plan invoice | Enter the employer share only |
| Retirement match | Your plan terms | Entered as % of wages |
| Paid time off | Your handbook | Reduces the hours the cost is spread over |
Defaults are editable planning placeholders, not quotes; the two inputs that vary most between businesses are SUTA and workers' comp, so pull those from your own notices.
Labor burden is everything an employee costs beyond gross wages: employer payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA), workers' compensation and other payroll-rated insurance, health and retirement benefits, and the paid hours that produce no work (holidays, PTO, sick time). The burden rate expresses those extras as a percentage of wages; the fully burdened hourly rate spreads the total cost over the hours actually worked.
Benefit-light hourly roles commonly land at 25 to 40% above wages, and a widely used planning multiplier for fully loaded cost is 1.25 to 1.4 times base pay. Field trades run higher because workers' compensation is rated per $100 of payroll by class code, and high-risk class codes alone can add several dollars per hour. Rich benefits move the number more than taxes do.
Burden follows the person: taxes, insurance, and benefits that exist because that employee is on payroll. Overhead follows the company: rent, admin staff, estimating, software, trucks not assigned to a job. A bid rate stacks all three layers: burdened labor cost, an overhead recovery share, and margin.
SUTA comes from the rate notice your state unemployment agency sends each year (new employers get a standard rate until they build experience). Workers' comp rates are on your policy's declarations page, quoted per $100 of payroll for each class code. Both are entered directly into the calculator, which matters because they're the two inputs that vary most between businesses.
Divide the burdened rate by expected utilization (the share of paid time that's billable), then add overhead recovery and target margin. A $40 burdened hour at 75% utilization is $53 before overhead and profit. The burdened rate is the floor: pricing that starts from the wage instead loses the difference on every hour.
No. It runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, stored, or seen by us, and refreshing the page resets the inputs to defaults.
This free tool is provided as is. Nothing presented here is legal, tax, or financial advice.
Paste the snippet and the calculator runs inside your page, with a credit line under it; the frame resizes to fit the calculator.
<iframe src="https://azentri.com/embed/labor-burden-calculator" title="Labor burden calculator" style="width:100%;height:1350px;border:0" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<script>addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e.origin==="https://azentri.com"&&e.data&&e.data.type==="azentri-embed-height"&&e.data.tool==="labor-burden-calculator")document.querySelectorAll('iframe[src^="https://azentri.com/embed/labor-burden-calculator"]').forEach(function(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px"})});</script>
<p>Free <a href="https://azentri.com/tools/labor-burden-calculator">labor burden calculator</a> by Azentri</p>If burdened rates live in a spreadsheet that only one person understands, the fix is process and software, not more spreadsheet. The operations technology assessment starts there.