Profit Margin Calculator
Check your margin, or find the revenue needed to meet a target.
Your result
Enter your revenue and costs to see your profit and the percentage you keep.
Check the math
Check margin divides profit by revenue. Find target revenue works backward from included costs and a margin target, then rounds up only when needed so the cent amount actually meets the target. Achieved margin and markup use that cent amount. For one item, revenue means its selling price; for a job, order or period, it means the total revenue for that scope.
Example 1
Same $20 profit. Different percentages.
With $100 revenue and $80 included costs, profit is $20. Divide $20 by $100 revenue: 20% margin. Divide the same $20 by $80 costs: 25% markup. In target mode, $80 costs and 20% margin also give $100 required revenue.
- Profit
- $20.00
- Margin on revenue
- 20.00%
- Markup on costs
- 25.00%
Example 2
Why the next cent matters
A 35% margin target on $50 costs needs $76.923… before rounding. $76.92 falls slightly short, even though its margin displays as 35.00%. The minimum amount that meets the target is $76.93: $26.93 profit and 35.01% achieved margin. A rounded percentage alone cannot prove the target was met.
- Included costs
- $50.00
- Required revenue
- $76.93
- Achieved margin
- 35.01%
Before you calculate
Assumptions & limits
- Use the same item, job, order or reporting period for all amounts. USD is the display currency; no currency conversion is performed.
- Check margin accepts nonnegative revenue and included costs up to 999999999.99 each. Costs above revenue produce a loss; zero revenue gives an undefined margin.
- Target margin accepts 0–100%, with positive costs needed for a useful answer. At zero costs, any positive revenue has 100% margin and no useful target price is determined. Positive costs with a 100% target have no finite solution.
- Enter unsigned decimal numbers with up to two decimal places. Omit commas and currency or percent symbols. Target answers above $999,999,999.99 are unavailable, never capped.
- Money uses exact cents. Target revenue rounds upward when needed to meet the exact target. Percentages use two decimal places with midpoint ties away from zero; rounded zero has no minus sign. Very small costs can cause a large percentage jump at the next cent.
Keep in mind
Common mix-ups
Which costs should I include?
Choose the expenses relevant to your question and use that same scope for revenue. Cost of goods sold supports a gross-margin calculation; adding operating expenses changes what the result measures. Include all relevant expenses for a net-profit approximation. This tool does not classify your costs or automatically add taxes, fees, interest or overhead.
What does my margin mean?
A 20% result means 20 cents of each revenue dollar remains after the costs you included. It does not show whether omitted expenses are covered or whether customers will accept a price. The target is yours; the result is not a recommended market price or a financial-health grade.
Profit is different from cash flow
This calculation does not account for when customers pay or when bills fall due. It does not measure available cash.
To model how long your available cash lasts, use the Cash Runway Calculator .
Sources & calculation notes
Background on revenue, expense categories, income statements and the distinction between profit and cash flow.
Source for cost divided by one minus target margin. Our cent-ceiling rule, bounds and unavailable states are independently tested engineering choices, not validated by this source.
Calculation and input rules checked: . Engineering validation; no professional accounting review is claimed.