Meeting Cost Calculator
Find out how much a meeting actually costs in salary and overhead. Enter attendees, duration, and average pay to see the true cost — and what it adds up to.
Added May 10, 2026
Input
Result
Enter a value for number of attendees to see your result.
How it works
Estimates the salary cost of a meeting by multiplying attendees, average hourly pay, and duration — then applies an overhead multiplier to account for benefits and other employee costs. Illustrative only; actual figures depend on real salary data.
Formula
Cost = Attendees × (Annual Salary × Multiplier ÷ 2080) × (Minutes ÷ 60)
- Attendees
- Number of people in the meeting
- Annual Salary
- Average gross annual salary per attendee
- Multiplier
- Overhead factor (1.3 = +30% for benefits, space, equipment)
- 2080
- Standard working hours per year (40 hrs × 52 weeks)
- Minutes
- Meeting duration in minutes
Step by step
- 01Convert each person's annual salary to an hourly rate by dividing by 2080 (standard full-time hours per year).
- 02Multiply the hourly rate by the overhead multiplier to get the loaded cost per hour.
- 03Multiply by the number of attendees to get the group's hourly cost.
- 04Multiply by the meeting duration in hours (minutes ÷ 60) to get the total meeting cost.
Examples
6 people · 60 min · $75k salary · 1.3× overhead
Six attendees at $75k/year loaded at 1.3× costs roughly $281 for a one-hour meeting — $52k per year if it recurs weekly.
Inputs
- Number of attendees:
- 6
- Meeting duration:
- 60
- Average annual salary per person:
- 75000
- Overhead multiplier:
- 1.3
- Recurring (meetings/week):
- 1
Result
- Cost of this meeting:
- $280.77
12 people · 30 min · $120k salary · 1.4× overhead
A 30-minute all-hands with 12 senior employees costs roughly $485 — and recurring three times a week adds up to $75k per year.
Inputs
- Number of attendees:
- 12
- Meeting duration:
- 30
- Average annual salary per person:
- 120000
- Overhead multiplier:
- 1.4
- Recurring (meetings/week):
- 3
Result
- Cost of this meeting:
- $484.62
Frequently asked questions
Why does this use 2080 hours instead of actual working hours?
2080 hours (40 hours × 52 weeks) is the standard full-time work year used in US payroll. In practice, after accounting for vacation, holidays, and sick leave, effective hours are often 1800–2000. Using 2080 gives a conservative floor — actual meeting costs per hour are slightly higher once you account for non-working time.
What is a good overhead multiplier?
1.25–1.40 is typical for most office workers in the US. This covers employer payroll taxes (~7.65%), health benefits, retirement contributions, office space, software, and equipment. For roles with high benefits costs (e.g. full benefits + 401k match), use 1.4–1.5. For contractors paid a flat rate, use 1.0.
Is this the full cost of a meeting?
No — salary and overhead are the largest component, but there are also indirect costs: context-switching time before and after the meeting, follow-up work, and the opportunity cost of work not done. Research suggests meetings cost 2–4× their direct salary cost when these factors are included.
How can I reduce meeting costs?
Common tactics: shorten the default length (try 25 or 50 minutes instead of 30 or 60), reduce attendees to only decision-makers, replace status updates with async tools, and set a clear agenda so the meeting ends on time.
Does the calculator store salary information?
No. All calculations run entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server, stored, or logged. The tool is completely private.