US SMALL BUSINESS · BREAK-EVEN
Small Business Break-Even Calculator
Before buying stock or renting a shop, check how many paying orders you would need just to cover fixed monthly expenses.
Enter your figures
Figures are calculated in this browser; entered personal amounts are not required to be sent to our servers.
Calculation results
At your planned volume, this simple one-product model shows an operating loss.
Estimate only. A bank, employer, tax office or lender may apply additional conditions. See the scope and source below.
When and how to use this calculator
With $1,050 fixed costs, $20 selling price and $8 variable cost per sale, each sale contributes $12. You need 88 sales (rounding 87.5 up) to cover fixed costs before financing or income taxes.
- Estimate monthly fixed expenses that do not change with each order: rent, subscriptions and base salaries. Convert quarterly or annual bills to a monthly amount.
- Enter actual revenue per finished unit, then direct variable costs such as packaging, ingredients, transaction fees and unit delivery costs.
- Enter expected monthly unit sales. Compare the expected profit with the break-even unit threshold before increasing inventory.
Understand your result
Assumes constant selling price and per-unit variable cost over one month. Ignores demand shifts, cash flow timing, financing, sales taxes and mixed product lines. SBA analysis is planning guidance, not a guaranteed profit forecast.
Questions people ask
Why do you round break-even units up?
You generally cannot sell half of an indivisible product; you must reach the next whole sale to cover costs.
What if variable cost equals or exceeds the selling price?
There is no positive contribution margin. Selling more of the same unit cannot cover fixed costs under those assumptions.
Can I use this for several different services?
Only if you separately model each service's contribution margin or create a justified average product mix. One price and one variable cost cannot represent every service.
Reference and calculation scope
Source material is provided for independent checking. Our calculator is not a government or bank service.