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
The profit margin formula is profit divided by revenue, multiplied by 100. Check margin shows that percentage of revenue after your included costs. Target revenue works backward from those costs and your desired profit margin. It rounds up to cents only when needed to meet the exact target. Achieved margin and markup use that cent amount. For one product or service, revenue means selling price; for a job, order or period, use revenue and costs for that same scope.
Example 1
The same sales, three different margin scopes
A simplified business has $10,000.00 net sales. Its costs are $6,000.00 cost of goods sold (COGS), $2,000.00 operating expenses and $500.00 combined interest and income tax, with no other income or adjustments. Enter $6,000.00 costs for $4,000.00 gross profit and 40% gross profit margin. Include the operating costs for $8,000.00 total costs: $2,000.00 operating profit and 20% operating margin. Include all $8,500.00 for $1,500.00 net profit and 15% net profit margin. The revenue stays the same; the cost scope changes. You choose the scope. The tool does not classify expenses.
- Net sales in every case
- $10,000.00
- Gross margin
- 40.00%
- Operating margin
- 20.00%
- Net margin
- 15.00%
Example 2
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%
The cent that counts
Why the next cent matters
A target margin is tested against the full-precision result, not its rounded display. These prices use the same included costs and target on both sides of each row.
| Cost · target | One cent less | First price that meets target |
|---|---|---|
| $80.0020% margin | $99.9919.99% shownBelow target | $100.0020.00% shownMeets target |
| $50.0035% margin | $76.9235.00% shownBelow target | $76.9335.01% shownMeets target |
| $0.0135% margin | $0.010.00% shownBelow target | $0.0250.00% shownMeets target |
$80.00 cost · 20% target margin
- One cent less
- $99.9919.99% shownBelow target
- First price that meets target
- $100.0020.00% shownMeets target
$50.00 cost · 35% target margin
- One cent less
- $76.9235.00% shownBelow target
- First price that meets target
- $76.9335.01% shownMeets target
$0.01 cost · 35% target margin
- One cent less
- $0.010.00% shownBelow target
- First price that meets target
- $0.0250.00% shownMeets target
The $76.92 row displays 35.00% after rounding, but its actual margin is about 34.9974%, so it misses 35%. At one-cent cost, the next cent jumps to a 50% margin. These are price thresholds on the costs entered, not market-price recommendations.
Try it on paper
Practice pricing and receipt percentages
Compare margin with markup, build one order cost, and explain a one-cent tax rounding difference. The free worksheet includes two learner pages and a separate checked answer key, with links to the calculators.
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.
Method and input rules checked: . Engineering validation; no professional specialist review is claimed.