Beauty
Salon Break-Even Calculator: How to Work Out What Your Salon Must Take Each Month
By MAXORI Studio · Updated 15 October 2026 · 6 min read
Your salon's break-even is the monthly revenue at which takings exactly cover all costs: below it you lose money, above it you make a profit. You can work it out with a spreadsheet and three inputs: fixed costs, variable costs as a share of revenue and your average ticket. This guide shows the formula, a worked example with invented numbers and how to read the result.
What break-even means for a salon
Break-even revenue is the amount the salon must take in a month to pay every cost and be left with zero profit. It is not a target to aim for, it is the floor: everything above it is profit, everything below it is a loss.
Knowing this number turns a vague feeling about a quiet month into a clear question: how far are we from the line?
Step 1: split your costs into fixed and variable
Go through a few months of bank statements and put each cost in one of two groups. Your own list will differ from this one.
- Fixed costs stay roughly the same whatever you take: rent, utilities, insurance, software and subscriptions, loan repayments, fixed salaries
- Variable costs move with activity: colour and treatment products, card and payment fees, commissions, consumables
- Some costs are mixed (for example a phone plan with usage charges): decide a sensible side and stay consistent
Step 2: apply the formula
Express variable costs as a share of revenue, for example 30 percent. What is left of each unit of revenue, 70 percent in this case, is the contribution that pays the fixed costs.
Break-even revenue = fixed costs divided by (1 minus the variable cost share). Revenue needed for a profit you want = (fixed costs plus the monthly profit you want) divided by the same figure.
A worked example with invented numbers
Illustration only, not a benchmark: fixed costs of 6,000 a month and variable costs of 30 percent of revenue. Break-even revenue is 6,000 divided by 0.70, about 8,571.
With an average ticket of 50, that is about 172 services a month. Over 22 working days it is roughly 8 services a day. If the salon actually took 10,000, the margin of safety is about 1,429, or 14 percent of revenue: takings could fall by that much before the month turns into a loss.
| Item | Example value |
|---|---|
| Fixed costs per month | 6,000 |
| Variable costs | 30% of revenue |
| Break-even revenue | about 8,571 |
| Services at an average ticket of 50 | about 172 a month |
| Margin of safety on 10,000 of takings | about 1,429 (14%) |
Step 3: read the result and decide
A thin margin of safety means a quiet month can push you into a loss. You can widen it by raising the average ticket, selling more services per client, reducing a fixed cost or lowering the variable share, for example by reviewing product use.
Check the result month by month as well: a count of months below break-even shows whether a loss was a one-off or a pattern.
Limits of the calculation
Break-even is a simplification: it assumes costs split cleanly into fixed and variable and that the average ticket is stable. Use real figures from your own books and review them regularly.
This guide covers operating costs only and is general information. It is not tax, accounting or legal advice; how costs, taxes and your own pay are treated depends on your country and situation, so ask a qualified professional.
Questions
How do I calculate break-even for a salon?
Divide your monthly fixed costs by one minus your variable cost share, expressed as a decimal. The result is the monthly revenue at which takings equal all costs.
What are fixed and variable costs in a salon?
Fixed costs, such as rent, insurance and software, stay about the same whatever you take. Variable costs, such as products, card fees and commissions, rise and fall with activity.
What is the margin of safety?
It is how far your actual revenue is above break-even, in money or as a percentage of revenue. It shows how much takings can drop before you make a loss.
Can I do this in Excel?
Yes. A simple sheet with a 12-month cost log, a revenue row and the formula above is enough. Keep fixed and variable lines clearly marked so the figures stay reliable.
Ready-made tools for this
The Salon Monthly Expense & Break-Even Sheet is an Excel workbook (XLSX) for salons, barbershops and beauty studios: log fixed and variable costs by category for 12 months, enter monthly revenue and read profit or loss, break-even revenue, services needed per month and per working day, and your margin of safety. It needs desktop Excel and comes with a fictional DEMO and an empty BLANK in five languages. It is not accounting software.
