Small business hiring
A $60,000 hire doesn’t cost you $60,000.
Salary is the sticker price. Employer payroll taxes and benefits are the real bill. See the full number below — before you make the offer.
What you’d pay this person — before taxes or benefits.
Used only for employer-size rules. The estimate below is for one new hire.
Health insurance, 401(k) match, bonus, and more. Off by default.
2026 calculation assumptions▾
Source: SSA / IRS
Source: IRS
Includes the projected 2026 California FUTA credit reduction (California has carried an unpaid federal UI loan balance since 2020). Final 2026 credit-reduction rates are determined by the U.S. Dept. of Labor after November 10 — treat this line as an estimate until then.
Source: IRS / U.S. Dept. of Labor
New employers pay 3.4% for roughly their first 2-3 years before an experience rate applies.
Source: CA Employment Development Department (EDD)
This estimate assumes your business is a new employer (not yet experience-rated) for unemployment insurance purposes. An established business’s actual SUI rate may be higher or lower depending on its claims history. “Current employees” is used only to check headcount-based thresholds (paid sick leave tiers, the ACA’s 50-employee mark) — it doesn’t change the tax rates themselves.
*Projected 2026 CA credit reduction
California requires at least 40 hours (5 days) of paid sick leave per year for nearly all employers, regardless of size. Shown as a maximum possible cost — it's only actually spent if the leave is used. Already included in salary for salaried employees — not added to the cost total. Shown for planning purposes only.
Source: CA Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act (Labor Code)
Reverse the question
Not “what will it cost?” — what can I afford?
Enter what your business can put toward one new hire each month, all-in. We’ll work backward through CA payroll taxes to the highest salary it supports.
Estimated affordable salary
$77,673
per year
Built for the decision
Not a paycheck calculator. HireCost answers the question an owner actually asks before extending an offer: can the business afford this person, fully loaded.
Nothing stored, no account
No sign-up, no email gate. Your salary and budget numbers never leave your device — this isn’t a lead form for a payroll subscription.
A tool, not a SaaS bill
Priced once, if at all — not a recurring line item next to the payroll costs it just showed you.
Employee cost in all 50 states
Payroll tax rules differ by state — unemployment insurance rates, wage bases, and in some years, federal credit reductions. Start from your state for the full picture.
Common questions
Why is the employer cost higher than the salary I offer?
Federal and state law require employers — not just employees — to pay their own share of Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance on top of wages. Employer payroll taxes and optional benefits like health insurance or a 401(k) match can push the total cost meaningfully above salary alone — by how much depends on your state, your benefits, and your industry’s workers’ comp rate.
Is this the same as a paycheck or take-home pay calculator?
No. Paycheck calculators show what an employee takes home after their own withholding. HireCost shows the other side of the ledger: what the employer pays in addition to salary. They answer different questions.
Why does the FUTA rate differ by state?
The standard federal unemployment rate is 0.6%. But if a state’s unemployment trust fund carries an unpaid federal loan balance, the U.S. Department of Labor reduces that state’s credit — raising the effective FUTA rate for every employer in it. California is expected to remain a credit-reduction state for 2026, and this calculator includes that projection — but the DOL doesn’t finalize each year’s credit-reduction states and rates until after November 10, so treat that line as an estimate until then.
How accurate is the Hiring Budget number?
It solves for the salary whose fully-loaded monthly cost matches your budget, using the same mandatory tax rates as the calculator above. It’s an estimate for a new employer, one hire at a time — not a substitute for a quote from your payroll provider or accountant.