everydaycalc
Money & business

Break-Even Calculator

Calculate how many units you need to sell to cover fixed costs, using selling price and variable cost per unit.

How to calculate break-even units

The contribution from each sale is the selling price minus variable cost. Divide fixed costs by that contribution and round up to find the number of whole units required.

Formula

round up: fixed costs ÷ (price − variable cost)

Worked example

Fixed costs
1,000
Price per unit
20
Variable cost per unit
8

Applying the formula to these values gives 84 units.

What should I check?

The selling price must be greater than variable cost per unit. Fixed costs and variable costs must refer to the same business period.

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