Daycare Break-Even Calculator: Enrollment, Costs and Owner Pay

Estimate how many enrolled children cover the costs and owner-pay target you enter. Model a staffing-cost increase at a chosen enrollment level, compare a lower-enrollment scenario and download your budget.

For the full setup process, use the daycare startup guide.

All starting numbers are invented examples, not recommended tuition, capacity or staffing levels. Replace capacity and staffing with requirements you have verified for your license, rooms, age mix and operating hours. This tool does not determine legal ratios or how many employees you need.

Verified operating capacity (children)

Current or planned enrolled children

Average monthly revenue per child ($)

Food and other variable cost per child/month ($)

Base monthly staffing cost, including employer costs ($)

Monthly rent or facility allocation ($)

Monthly insurance cost ($)

Monthly utilities ($)

Other fixed monthly costs ($)

Monthly owner-pay target not already in payroll ($)

Extra staffing begins at this enrollment (0 = off)

Additional monthly staffing cost at that threshold ($)

Children lost in lower-enrollment scenario

Use consistent monthly amounts. Revenue per child should reflect your expected tuition, subsidies and discounts without counting the same payment twice. If converting weekly charges, use your actual billed weeks per year divided by 12. Different ages or part-time schedules may need separate budgets.

Base staffing includes wages, employer costs and relief coverage. The extra staffing amount is added once when enrollment reaches your chosen threshold; it is removed below that threshold. Set the threshold to 0 to turn it off. If staffing cannot be reduced when enrollment falls, include that cost in base staffing instead. Owner pay is a budget target here; enter only the amount not already counted in payroll.

Check all covered enrollment levels, not just the first break-even point. An extra employee can temporarily put the budget back below break-even. This model includes one staffing step only; additional rooms, staffing thresholds or different age groups require a revised budget.

See the budget at every enrollment level

Children	Revenue	Extra staffing	Total costs	Surplus / shortfall

How it works: revenue = enrolled children × average monthly revenue per child. Costs = base staffing + facility + insurance + utilities + other fixed costs + owner-pay target + per-child variable costs + any staffing step. The tool checks each whole-child enrollment up to your entered capacity.

Results are before income tax and exclude costs you have not entered. They do not include startup expenses, payment delays or a cash-reserve requirement. A monthly surplus does not mean cash is available before parents or subsidy programs pay. Your entries stay in this calculator and are not submitted by it.

Use the state guides above to check licensing and staffing requirements. Review daycare insurance coverage and quote options for your insurance budget, and daycare wage and price research for historical context, not current local quotes.

Use the result to refine your plan

Replace the example inputs with your own tuition, payroll, premises and operating costs. Check the approved capacity and staffing rules separately; the calculator does not determine how many children you may legally care for.

A result that covers costs is a scenario based on your assumptions. Compare it with a slower enrollment build-up and update it when you have actual bills or quotes.

Check the insurance cost you entered

Get a daycare insurance quote. Start your daycare insurance quote with Simply Business. Answer a few questions about your business and let their team help you find coverage.

Get my daycare insurance quote

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Use the daycare insurance guide to prepare questions about the cover your operation needs. Wage and tuition benchmarks are available in the daycare wages and tuition research; they are context rather than your program’s costs.

Your next planning step

Next, check whether tuition arrives in time to pay the bills with the tuition cash-flow calculator.

For registration, licensing, staffing and opening preparation, return to the daycare startup guide.