About the Payroll Cost Calculator
Total payroll cost for a team: gross wages, employer taxes and benefits per pay period and per year.
Also known as: total payroll, payroll expense, employer payroll.
How to use this calculator
- Enter employees, average annual salary, employer taxes, benefits (% of salary) and the other fields.
- The result updates instantly as you type — press Calculate (or Enter) at any time.
- Review the breakdown shown under the main result.
- Use Copy result or Share to save the answer or send a link with your inputs.
Formula
Payroll = wages × (1 + taxes + benefits)
Worked example
Using the values pre-filled in the calculator above:
- Employees = 12
- Average annual salary = 52,000
- Employer taxes = 8 %
- Benefits (% of salary) = 18 %
- Pay frequency: Bi-weekly
the calculator returns:
- Annual payroll cost: 786,240
- Per pay period: 30,240
- Gross wages: 624,000