Contractor Wage & Take-Home Pay Calculator
Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash in your pocket is reality. Enter your hourly or annual wage and see exactly what you take home after self-employment taxes and business costs.
Takehome Pay Pro
Worked examples: what the owner actually takes home
Revenue is not income. At 65% job costs, 15% overhead, and a 25% tax rate, here is what reaches the owner at four revenue levels — roughly 15 cents on the revenue dollar.
| Annual revenue | Gross profit | Net business profit | Tax | Owner take-home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $250k revenue | $87,500 | $50,000 | $12,500 | $37,500 |
| $500k revenue | $175,000 | $100,000 | $25,000 | $75,000 |
| $1M revenue | $350,000 | $200,000 | $50,000 | $150,000 |
| $2M revenue | $700,000 | $400,000 | $100,000 | $300,000 |
Illustrative only, and not tax advice. The 25% rate is a placeholder for combined federal, state, and self-employment tax — your actual rate depends on entity type, state, and deductions. Speak to a CPA before planning around these figures.
Are you a high-income worker or a business owner?
Many contractors pay themselves a "wage" for the hours they spend swinging a hammer, but they fail to calculate the actual profit of the business itself.
The Entrepreneur's Trap
"If your business only makes enough money to pay you what you'd earn as an employee elsewhere, you don't own a business—you own a high-stress, low-benefit job."
To build real wealth, your business profit must be separate from (and in addition to) your labor wage.
Financial Health Checklist
To maximize the numbers you see in the calculator above, focus on these three levers:
- Tax Efficiency: Are you taking advantage of S-Corp status (if US-based)?
- Overhead Control: Are you spending more than 10% of revenue on fixed costs?
- Labor Burden: Are you accurately charging for your own time?
Stop losing money to uncaught cost overruns.
Track labor burden, collect mobile change order signatures, and see your live profit margin on every job — starting today.
No credit card required · Setup in 10 mins