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Fully-loaded Employee Cost Calculator

True annual cost of a hire — salary plus payroll tax, benefits, equipment, software, and overhead. The number to use in your runway and hiring-plan models.
Cash compensation
Benefits
Tooling & overhead
Fully-loaded annual cost
$210K
Cost as % of base salary
140%
Multiplier on base
1.40x
Cost breakdown
  • Cash comp$165K
  • Payroll taxes$13K
  • Benefits$17K
  • Tooling$8K
  • Overhead$8K
Rule of thumbMost founders model headcount at salary × 1.0. The actual fully-loaded cost is usually 1.25-1.4x base salary. This calc shows it explicitly so your hiring plan is grounded.

What is the fully-loaded employee cost calculator?

Fully-loaded cost is the actual cash a company spends on an employee in a year, including everything beyond base salary:

  • Cash comp (base + bonus)
  • Employer-side payroll taxes (~7-9% in the US)
  • Health / dental / vision benefits
  • Retirement match
  • Equipment, software, tooling
  • Office / coworking, training, travel

Why this matters for founders & operators

Most founders model headcount at base salary × 1.0. The real number is closer to 1.25-1.4x. The gap is the difference between a runway model that holds and one that blows up at month 9.

The error is small per hire and large in aggregate. A 20-person team at $150K average salary models at $3M/year burn but actually costs ~$3.9M.

How to use this calculator

  1. 1
    Calculate per-hire cost first

    Different roles cost different amounts (an exec costs more than a junior IC).

  2. 2
    Multiply for the headcount plan

    Use the per-hire fully-loaded cost when modeling your hiring plan against runway.

  3. 3
    Update annually

    Costs creep. Insurance premiums rise; tools cost more; office gets more expensive. Refresh the model yearly.

FAQ

What's a typical fully-loaded multiplier on base salary?+
1.25-1.4x is normal. Higher in expensive cities (1.4-1.55x), lower in lean remote setups (1.15-1.25x).
Should I include equity grant cost?+
Equity is a different category — it shows up in dilution and stock-based comp expense, not cash burn. Keep it separate from this calc.
Should contractors be modeled the same way?+
Contractors usually have lower fully-loaded cost (no benefits, no payroll tax). Sometimes higher hourly rate, but lower total annual cost.
How does this differ for international hires?+
Significantly. Some countries have higher employer taxes (e.g., 25-35% in parts of Europe), but lower healthcare cost. Build country-specific multipliers.