You posted a job at $22 an hour. So that’s what the new hire costs you — $22 an hour, right?
Not even close. And in my nine years at Paychex, the single most common surprise I watched land on a small business owner’s desk was the gap between the wage they agreed to pay and what that employee actually costs once the taxes, the insurance, and the filing obligations get stacked on top. That gap is usually 10% to 20% — and if you don’t plan for it, it quietly eats your margin.
So I built the calculator below. Plug in your headcount and average pay, and it estimates the true annual cost of your payroll in Florida — wages plus every employer-side cost that rides along with them. No email wall, no sales gate. Just the number.
[ INTERACTIVE PAYROLL COST CALCULATOR EMBEDS HERE — import the Divi layout file so the live calculator drops into this spot. The static example below shows what it produces. ]
What the calculator is actually adding up
The wage is the part you already know. It’s everything bolted onto that wage that catches people off guard. Here’s every layer, in the order it hits you.
1. The wage itself
Whatever you agreed to pay — the hourly rate times hours, or the salary. In Florida, keep an eye on the minimum: it steps up every September 30 under the 2020 constitutional amendment and reaches $15.00 an hour in fall 2026, with a lower tipped minimum plus tips. That’s the floor, not the ceiling.
2. Employer FICA — 7.65% you match out of pocket
This is the big one owners forget. Your employee sees Social Security and Medicare come out of their check — but you, the employer, match it dollar for dollar. That’s 6.2% for Social Security (on wages up to $184,500 in 2026) plus 1.45% for Medicare (on every dollar, no cap). Together, 7.65% straight off your books, on top of the wage. On a $45,000 salary, that’s roughly $3,400 a year, per employee, that never shows up in the offer letter.
3. Federal & Florida unemployment tax
Two separate taxes, both employer-only, both capped at the first $7,000 each employee earns per year:
- FUTA (federal): a 6.0% headline rate, but most employers get the full 5.4% credit, so the effective rate is 6% — about $42 per employee per year.
- Florida reemployment tax (the state version of SUTA): brand-new employers pay 7% for their first 10 quarters. After that, Florida assigns you an experience rate between 0.1% and 5.4% based on your unemployment claim history.
Good news for Florida owners: there’s no state income tax to withhold, which genuinely does make payroll here simpler than in most states.
4. Workers’ compensation
Required for most Florida employers, and the cost swings enormously by the kind of work. A clerical office might run a fraction of a percent of payroll; a roofing or concrete crew can run well north of 5%. Paying it as one big annual estimate up front is where a lot of small businesses get their cash flow wrecked — which is exactly why we offer pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation that bills off your actual payroll instead of a guess.
5. Benefits and everything else
Health insurance contributions, a retirement match, paid time off, bonuses — optional, but real. Even without formal benefits, PTO alone means you’re paying for hours nobody worked. This is the layer that pushes a well-supported employee’s true cost 25–30% above their base wage.
A real example: five employees at $22/hour
Let’s run the same numbers the calculator loads with — a five-person Fort Myers shop paying $22 an hour, 40 hours a week, brand-new to Florida payroll (so the 2.7% reemployment rate), with a modest 1% workers’ comp rate and no formal benefits yet.
| Cost layer | Annual amount |
| Gross wages (5 × $45,760) | $228,800 |
| Employer Social Security (6.2%) | $14,186 |
| Employer Medicare (1.45%) | $3,318 |
| FUTA (0.6% on first $7,000 each) | $210 |
| FL reemployment tax (2.7% on first $7,000 each) | $945 |
| Workers’ comp (1%) | $2,288 |
| True annual payroll cost | $249,747 |
That’s about $20,900 above the wages — roughly 9% — before you’ve added a single benefit or run a single payroll. Add health coverage and a retirement match and you’re comfortably into the 20%+ range. Nobody puts that on a job posting, but it’s the number your budget lives and dies by.
The cost that isn’t on the calculator: getting it wrong
Everything above assumes the deposits go out on time and the filings are correct. When they’re not, there’s a whole separate line item — and it’s brutal. I wrote about a Fort Myers owner who missed a payroll tax deposit by four days and got hit with an $800+ penalty on a single payroll. The IRS doesn’t care that it was an honest mistake.
That’s the part people underestimate most: not the tax rates, but the reliability. Every quarter you’re filing an RT-6 with Florida, matching FICA, and depositing on federal schedules. Handling those payroll tax deposits and filings correctly, every time, is the actual job — and it’s the piece we take completely off your plate.
Here’s my promise, and it’s not standard in this industry: if we make a filing error, we pay the IRS penalty — not you. We can offer that because we don’t make those errors. When you call, you’re not opening a ticket. You get me. — Steve Kowalski, President, Entrust Payroll Solutions
So what does a payroll service cost on top of all this?
Fair question — the calculator estimates your cost as an employer, but running payroll is its own line, and for most small businesses it’s a small fraction of the tax-and-wage totals above. I break down exactly how payroll pricing works in this guide to what payroll services actually cost for a Fort Myers small business. And the time cost is real too — that’s the whole reason the business exists: to save you time and money so you can run your business instead of your payroll.
A note for a few industries
Averages get you close, but some businesses have wrinkles the calculator can’t fully capture:
- Restaurants & bars: tipped wages, tip credits, and the FICA tip credit make this the most complicated payroll of any industry — here’s why restaurant payroll is harder than everything else.
- Contractors & manufacturers: workers’ comp class codes are where your real cost lives — a small rate change moves the whole number.
- S-corps with officer-only payroll: reasonable-compensation rules make “how much do I pay myself” a tax question, not just a payroll one.
Get the exact number for your business
A calculator gets you a planning estimate. A five-minute conversation gets you the real thing. We’ve been doing this for Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples businesses for over 22 years, and I still answer the phone myself. Get a free, no-pressure quote, learn more about why I left Paychex to start Entrust, or just call me directly at 239-208-8788.
Payroll cost calculator FAQ
How do I calculate the true cost of an employee in Florida?
Start with gross wages, then add employer payroll taxes: 6.2% Social Security (up to $184,500 in 2026), 1.45% Medicare on all wages, 0.6% effective FUTA and your Florida reemployment tax (2.7% for new employers) on each employee’s first $7,000, plus workers’ comp and any benefits. For most small businesses that adds 10–20% on top of wages.
What is Florida’s reemployment tax rate for 2026?
New employers pay 2.7% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages for their first 10 quarters. After that, the state assigns an experience-based rate between 0.1% and 5.4%, mailed to you each December on Form RT-20.
Is this payroll cost calculator accurate for my business?
It’s a solid planning estimate built on current federal and Florida rates, but it assumes an average wage across your team and can’t see your specific workers’ comp class codes or tipped wages. For an exact figure, contact Entrust Payroll for a free quote.