Salon break-even calculator
The monthly sales and the clients per day you need before the salon makes a profit.
Break-even sales = fixed costs divided by the share of each dollar you keep after stylist pay, product and card fees. If fixed costs are $7,000 a month and you keep 34 cents of each dollar, you need about $20,600 a month before you make any profit.
Try it with your numbers
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. If your stylists are paid hourly, use last month's payroll divided by last month's service revenue for the pay %.
How the math works
Every service dollar first pays the stylist, the product used and the card processor. What is left is the part that can cover rent and everything else that does not change with sales. Divide your fixed costs by that leftover share and you get break-even sales.
Example: $7,000 fixed costs. Stylist pay 55%, product 8%, card fees 3%, so you keep 34%. $7,000 divided by 0.34 is about $20,600 a month. At 22 open days that is about $936 a day, or 12 clients a day at an $85 ticket (11 and a bit, rounded up).
Why a monthly break-even can still hide losses
A salon can clear break-even for the month and still lose money on certain days. If a Tuesday has three stylists clocked in for 8 hours and only 10 hours of clients, the wages on that day can eat almost all the sales. Hourly and salaried teams feel this most, because pay does not drop when the book is empty.
That is why it helps to check break-even day by day and stylist by stylist, not just for the month. See busy but not profitable and closing slow days.
Quick answers
How do I calculate break-even for a salon?
Divide monthly fixed costs by the share of each sales dollar left after stylist pay, product and card fees. For example, $7,000 divided by 0.34 is about $20,600 a month.
What costs count as fixed for a salon?
Rent, utilities, software, insurance, loan payments, front desk salary and other costs that stay the same whether you see 200 or 400 clients a month.
Does break-even change if stylists are hourly?
Yes. Hourly pay is closer to a fixed cost for each shift. On slow days it takes a bigger share of sales, so your real break-even depends on how full each shift is.
Is this calculator free?
Yes. It runs in your browser and does not send your numbers anywhere.