Add payroll taxes, benefits and overhead to a base salary to see what a hire really costs.
How to read the results
Payroll tax and overhead are applied as percentages of salary, then benefits are added.
True cost of an employee
Add payroll taxes, benefits and overhead to a base salary to see what a hire really costs.
Built and reviewed by Dovanic, Founder and editor, FreeByteLast reviewed: 2026-08-18
$
8.0%
$
12%
True annual cost
$84,000
1.29× base salary
Monthly cost
$7,000
- Salary
- $65,000
- Payroll taxes
- $5,200
- Benefits
- $6,000
- Overhead
- $7,800
- Cost per working hour
- $45.65
Methodology
Payroll tax and overhead are applied as percentages of salary, then benefits are added.
- · Overhead allocation is an estimate
- · No recruitment cost included
Estimates only. Nothing here is financial advice. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and it gets fixed.