Business
Find the units — and the revenue — needed for contribution margin to cover fixed costs.
Results update as you type. No calculate button. All calculations run locally in your browser.
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Every unit sold beyond break-even adds one unit of contribution margin to profit, at these prices and costs.
At break-even the two bars are equal by definition: total contribution exactly covers fixed costs.
| Unit price | Break-even units |
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Fixed costs and variable cost are held at the values above; only the price changes across rows.
Break-even units = fixed costs ÷ (unit price − unit variable cost). Break-even revenue = break-even units × unit price. Contribution margin per unit = unit price − unit variable cost.
Fixed costs $50,000, price $200, variable cost $120: contribution margin is $200 − $120 = $80 per unit, so break-even units = $50,000 ÷ $80 = 625 units, and break-even revenue = 625 × $200 = $125,000.
Price must exceed variable cost, or break-even never arrives. Product mix, taxes, stepped costs that jump at capacity limits, volume discounts, and changing prices are excluded — this is a single-product, constant-price model.
Break-even units = fixed costs ÷ (unit price − unit variable cost). It finds the sales volume where total contribution exactly pays the fixed costs.
Then every sale loses money and there is no break-even volume — selling more only deepens the loss. The price must cover the variable cost before fixed costs can be recovered.
Price minus variable cost per unit: the amount each sale contributes toward fixed costs and then profit. Here it is $80 per unit at the example values.
At these assumptions, yes for each extra unit — but only until stepped costs, capacity limits, or price cuts change the picture. Real businesses rarely hold all three inputs constant.
No. Treat the break-even revenue as pre-tax revenue and apply your own tax treatment separately.
No. With a product mix you need a weighted-average contribution margin. This calculator models one product at one price.
Results are estimates only and do not constitute professional advice.