Country file

What it costs an employer to hire in United States

An employer in the US pays $96,927 on a gross salary of $90,000. That is 7.7% more than the salary.

At $180,000 the employer adds 7.7%, because the contributions are largely uncapped.

Every rate below comes from a statutory source with the date it was read. The figures are for 2026.

A mid salary of $90,000

Employer-side statutory contributions on a gross salary of $90,000 a year. Each line is capped at the range shown, so the amount is the rate applied to the part of the salary that falls inside that range.
Contribution	Rate	Annual base charged	Amount	Source
Social Security (OASDI), employer share	6.20%	$184,500	$5,580	source checked 2026-08-21
Medicare, employer share	1.45%	no ceiling	$1,305	source checked 2026-08-21
FUTA, net of the standard 5.4% state credit	0.60%	$7,000	$42	source checked 2026-08-21
Statutory employer contributions			$6,927

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Everything the law obliges the employer to pay. It excludes anything discretionary, anything an EOR charges, and any insurance premium that is set per employer rather than by statute.
Gross salary	$90,000
Statutory employer contributions	$6,927
Total employer cost	$96,927
Added on top of the salary	7.7%

A senior salary of $180,000

Employer-side statutory contributions on a gross salary of $180,000 a year. Each line is capped at the range shown, so the amount is the rate applied to the part of the salary that falls inside that range.
Contribution	Rate	Annual base charged	Amount	Source
Social Security (OASDI), employer share	6.20%	$184,500	$11,160	source checked 2026-08-21
Medicare, employer share	1.45%	no ceiling	$2,610	source checked 2026-08-21
FUTA, net of the standard 5.4% state credit	0.60%	$7,000	$42	source checked 2026-08-21
Statutory employer contributions			$13,812

Scroll sideways on a phone.

Everything the law obliges the employer to pay. It excludes anything discretionary, anything an EOR charges, and any insurance premium that is set per employer rather than by statute.
Gross salary	$180,000
Statutory employer contributions	$13,812
Total employer cost	$193,812
Added on top of the salary	7.7%

The formula

total employer cost = gross salary + sum over each statutory contribution of rate x max(0, min(salary, ceiling) - band floor) (zero if the contribution applies only below a wage the salary exceeds) + gross salary x (mandatory extra months / 12) + gross salary x mandatory severance accrual rate

Each ceiling above applies only to its own line, which is why the employer percentage for United States is not the same at both salaries. Employer contribution ceilings, country by country lists where every ceiling on this site sits.

Time off, extra pay and leaving

Statutory paid leave	0 days
Public holidays	0
Mandatory extra pay	0 months
Minimum employer notice	0 weeks

No federal law requires any paid vacation or paid public holiday. Provision is contractual, or set by state and city law.

No federal statutory 13th month.

No federal statutory severance. The WARN Act requires 60 days' notice, or pay in lieu, only for qualifying mass layoffs at employers with 100 or more staff.

What the percentage hides

State unemployment tax (SUTA) is set by each state, not federally. New-employer rates commonly fall between 1.0% and 3.4%, on a taxable wage base that ranges from $7,000 to over $67,000 depending on the state. There is no single national figure.

The 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax above $200,000 is withheld from the employee and has no employer match (irs.gov/taxtopics/tc751).

Employment is at-will by default in nearly every state, so there is no general statutory notice period for an individual termination.

Not confirmed on a statutory source, and therefore not in any figure above: 2026 FUTA rate and wage base (the IRS had not published 2026 Form 940 instructions at the check date; the 2025 values are shown); state-by-state SUTA rates.

Using an employer of record in the United States

Everything above is what the state takes. An employer of record adds its own fee on top, and that fee is a flat monthly amount rather than a percentage, so it weighs far more on a junior salary than a senior one. The published prices are here, and the calculator will add one to the figures on this page.

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Written by Kaz, independent publisher. No commercial relationship with the providers named unless it is listed on the disclosure page.

Page last updated 2026-08-30. Sources: statutory bodies only, listed per figure. Rates last verified 2026-08-21. This is not legal, tax or payroll advice and we do not file anyone's payroll.

Every formula on this site is written out in full on Method. Ordering is by computed cost, never by what a provider pays us.

Corrections: contact form.