Headcount Plan Calculator
How many hires your revenue and runway support.
Enter your values
ⓘ Live results
Results
- Hires you can afford
- 2
- Payroll budget remaining
- $260,000.00
- Current payroll share
- 36.9%
- Runway today
- 21.4 months
- Runway after hiring
- 15.1 months
- New monthly burn
- $59,500.00
- Revenue needed per new hire
- $233,333.33
Quick answer
Affordable headcount = (revenue × target payroll share) ÷ fully loaded cost per employee, capped by the runway you are prepared to spend.
Hires = (revenue × payroll % − current payroll) ÷ cost per hire
How to use the Headcount Plan Calculator
- 1Enter annual revenue and the payroll share you are targeting.
- 2Enter current payroll and the fully loaded cost of a new hire.
- 3Add cash and burn to see the runway impact.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Annual revenue3200000 $
- Target payroll share of revenue45 %
- Current annual payroll1180000 $
- Fully loaded cost per new hire105000 $
- Cash in the bank900000 $
- Current monthly burn42000 $
Results
- Hires you can afford2
- Payroll budget remaining$260,000.00
- Current payroll share36.9%
- Runway today21.4 months
- Runway after hiring15.1 months
- New monthly burn$59,500.00
- Revenue needed per new hire$233,333.33
Frequently asked questions
What payroll share is healthy?
Service businesses run 40–55% of revenue; product companies 25–40%. Above 60% there is rarely enough left for marketing and profit.
What is fully loaded cost?
Salary plus payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, software and recruiting — typically 1.25–1.4× the base salary.
About this calculator
- Built and reviewed by James Whitfield · How we build and test calculators
- Report an error
Results are estimates for general information. For medical, legal, structural or financial decisions, confirm with a qualified professional.