What is revenue per labor hour for a salon?
Service sales divided by paid stylist hours. The number that shows whether a day or a stylist covers their wage.
Revenue per labor hour, often shortened to RPLH, is service sales divided by paid stylist hours. Tips usually stay out of the sales side. The point of the number is simple: if a day brings in less per paid hour than that hour costs in wages and payroll tax, that day is not leaving profit for rent.
How to calculate salon RPLH
Pick a day, a week or a month. Add up service sales for that period (retail and tips out). Divide by the hours stylists were paid to be on the floor. That is revenue per labor hour.
| Example Tuesday | Example Saturday | |
| Service sales | $1,200 | $3,600 |
| Paid stylist hours | 48 | 48 |
| Revenue per labor hour | $25 | $75 |
| Wage + payroll tax per hour | $22 | $22 |
| Left per hour toward rent and profit | $3 | $53 |
Made-up salon. Same team on both days. Tuesday barely covers wages. Saturday leaves room for rent and profit.
Compare RPLH to wage plus employer payroll tax (and benefits if you pay them) per hour. Anything above that line can go toward product, rent, software and profit. Anything under it is a day that costs you money to stay open.
Why booking software sales reports miss it
GlossGenius, Vagaro, Square, Phorest, etc. are built to show bookings and sales. They usually do not divide sales by paid hours, and they do not know your wage and tax cost per hour. A sales report can look fine while the floor was overstaffed for half the day.
That is why owners who only watch ticket totals miss quiet hours that eat profit. Pair RPLH with payroll percentage and day-by-day profit after wages. See also busy but not profitable and scheduling stylists to demand.
RPLH vs payroll % vs profit margin
- Revenue per labor hour asks: does this hour of paid time earn more than it costs?
- Payroll percentage asks: what share of sales went to pay? Useful for the month, easy to hide a bad day inside. See what percentage should go to payroll.
- Profit margin asks: what share of sales is left after wages, product, fees and fixed costs? See salon profit margins.
For targets and ranges, see what is a good RPLH for a salon. To turn RPLH into a sales goal, use the salon break-even calculator and how to make more money with a salon. If you work with a coach, bring these numbers to the conversation: do I need a salon coach.
Quick answers
What is revenue per labor hour for a salon?
Revenue per labor hour is service sales divided by paid stylist hours for a day, week or month. Tips are usually left out. Compare it to wage plus payroll tax per hour to see if that time left any profit.
How do I calculate salon RPLH?
Add service sales for the period, then divide by the hours stylists were paid to work. Example: $3,600 in sales and 48 paid hours is $75 per labor hour. That example is made-up.
Does RPLH include tips and retail?
Most salons keep tips out, because tips go to the stylist. Retail is optional; many owners track service RPLH separately so chair time is clear.
How can I see RPLH from my booking software?
Export sales from GlossGenius, Vagaro, Square, Phorest, etc., then divide by paid hours from payroll or your schedule. Tangled Analytics does this for you and shows profit by day and stylist. Start with the free profit snapshot at tangleddata.com.