Profit Goal Calculator (Units to Sell)
Use this free Profit Goal Calculator (Units to Sell) to quickly get accurate results in seconds, free and instantly offline with no signup required ever, trusted by professionals in Austin, Chicago, Miami, Denver, Seattle, and New York for reliable daily use without accounts, subscriptions, limits, or delays on any device for everyday personal and business workflows daily.
Use this profit goal calculator to find the units you must sell to hit a target profit from fixed costs and contribution margin.
Calculator Inputs
About Profit Goal
Use this free Profit Goal Calculator (Units to Sell) to quickly get accurate results in seconds, free and instantly offline with no signup required ever, trusted by professionals in Austin, Chicago, Miami, Denver, Seattle, and New York for reliable daily use without accounts, subscriptions, limits, or delays on any device for everyday personal and business workflows daily.
What this calculator tells you: Enter your fixed costs (rent, salaries, insurance that do not change with volume), target profit, price per unit, and variable cost per unit (materials, packaging, direct labor). The calculator shows exactly how many units you need to sell to hit your profit goal — and where break-even is (zero profit).
Contribution margin is the key number: Contribution margin = Price − Variable Cost. If you sell a candle for $25 and it costs $10 to make, your contribution margin is $15. Every unit sold contributes $15 toward covering fixed costs and generating profit. Once fixed costs are covered, each additional unit contributes the full $15 to profit.
Break-even vs profit goal:
Break-even is where total contribution margin equals fixed costs — you lose nothing but earn nothing. If fixed costs are $10,000 and contribution margin is $15/unit, you need 667 units to break even. For a $5,000 profit goal, you need (10,000 + 5,000) / 15 = 1,000 units.
Real-world application for small businesses:
A Austin candle maker with $2,000/month fixed costs and $15 contribution margin needs 134 units to break even. To earn $3,000 profit, they need 334 units. At 22 working days per month, that is 15 units per day — a concrete daily target.
How to use this for pricing decisions:
If the required units seem unrealistic, adjust your price or variable cost. Raising the price from $25 to $30 increases contribution margin to $20, dropping the profit target from 1,000 to 750 units. Sometimes a $5 price increase is easier than selling 250 more units.
Where it is used
A candle maker in Austin planning 500-unit production run; a bakery in Chicago pricing cupcakes to hit $3,000 monthly profit; a craftsman in Miami figuring how many pieces to sell at a weekend market; a SaaS founder in Denver calculating subscription targets; a food truck owner in Seattle mapping out event goals; a small manufacturer in New York planning quarterly output.
How to use the Profit Goal
- Fixed Costs — enter the value (e.g. 10000).
- Target Profit — enter the value (e.g. 5000).
- Price per Unit — enter the value (e.g. 50).
- Variable Cost per Unit — enter the value (e.g. 30).
- Calculate — press the Calculate button to see the result instantly above.
Formula
Units = (Fixed + Profit) / (Price - Variable)
Examples
Austin Candle Maker
Chicago Bakery
Denver SaaS
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I find my fixed costs?
- Add rent, salaries, insurance, loan payments, subscriptions, and any cost that stays the same regardless of how much you sell. Exclude materials, packaging, and direct labor — those are variable costs.
- What if price equals variable cost?
- Contribution margin is zero — you cannot cover any fixed costs, let alone profit. The calculator will show an error. You must either raise the price or reduce the variable cost.
- Should I set profit to zero for break-even?
- Yes — setting target profit to zero shows the break-even point. This is useful for understanding the minimum you must sell to avoid losses before planning for profit.
- What if I sell multiple products?
- Calculate a weighted average contribution margin across all products, then use that in the formula. If 60% of sales are Product A ($15 margin) and 40% are Product B ($10 margin), weighted margin = $13.
- Does this account for taxes?
- No — this calculates pre-tax profit. To account for taxes, set the profit target to your desired after-tax amount divided by (1 − tax rate). For a $5,000 after-tax goal at 25% tax, set profit to $6,667.
- How do I use this for seasonal planning?
- Run separate calculations for peak and off-peak months. A Seattle gift shop might need 200 units/month in November but only 50 in February. Average across the year for annual targets, but plan monthly for cash flow.