---
title: "Locksmith hourly rate and minimum ticket calculator · LockCommand"
description: "Find your true cost per billable hour, the hourly rate you need to hit your income goal, and the smallest locksmith job worth driving to. Free, runs in your browser."
url: https://lockcommand.com/tools/hourly-rate-calculator
---

[Free tool · no account needed](https://lockcommand.com/tools)

# Locksmith hourly rate calculator

Add up what it costs to keep the van on the road each month. See your real cost per billable hour, the rate you need, and the smallest job worth the drive.

**Example costs.** These are made-up round numbers. Use last month's bills and statements instead.

## Monthly costs

$1,920 a month

- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $
- $

## Your time and pay

Hours on jobs and driving to them. Not paperwork or waiting.

$

Before income tax.

## Your hourly numbers

True cost per hour

$17.72

$1,920 ÷ 108.3 billable hours a month

Rate you need

$63.88

Covers your costs and $60,000 a year for you

## Smallest job worth the drive

min

Minimum ticket

$74.52

Pays your costs and your target pay, plus parts

Break-even ticket

$20.68

Covers costs only, pays you nothing

| Drive, one way | Minimum ticket | Break-even |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 10 min | $53.23 | $14.77 |
| 20 min | $74.52 | $20.68 |
| 30 min | $95.82 | $26.58 |
| 45 min | $127.75 | $35.45 |
| 60 min | $159.69 | $44.31 |

LockCommand's reports show revenue and jobs, so you can check these numbers against real work every month.

[Track revenue per job in LockCommand](https://app.lockcommand.com/sign-up?from=tool-hourly-rate-calculator)

## How to set your locksmith hourly rate

Most locksmiths know what they charge for a lockout. Fewer know what an hour on the road costs them. This calculator spreads your monthly costs over the hours you can bill, adds the pay you want, and turns the answer into a minimum ticket for any drive time.

### Hourly rate versus cost per hour

Your hourly rate is what you charge. Your cost per hour is what each billable hour costs you before you earn anything. The gap between the two is your pay. Locksmith Ledger's 2023 price survey put the average locksmith hourly rate at $95 and the average service call at $90, but an average can't tell you whether $95 an hour covers your van, your insurance and the pay you need. The calculator does.

### How to use the calculator

1. Replace the example costs with last month's real bills. Add any cost we left out with "Add a cost".
2. Enter your billable hours a week. Look at your last few weeks of jobs rather than guessing.
3. Enter what you want to earn in a year, before income tax.
4. Set a drive time and a time on site to see the smallest ticket worth driving out for.

### Billable hours are fewer than working hours

A 50-hour week on the road rarely means 50 billable hours. Some of it goes to quoting on the phone, buying parts, cutting keys for stock, cleaning the van and waiting between calls. Count only drive time to jobs and time on site, and check the total against a few weeks of real jobs.

| Billable hours a week | A month | Cost per billable hour |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 15 | 65.0 | $29.54 |
| 25 | 108.3 | $17.72 |
| 35 | 151.7 | $12.66 |

### What the numbers mean

- **True cost per hour** is monthly costs ÷ billable hours a month. A month is 52 weeks ÷ 12, about 4.33 weeks. Charging less than this loses money even if you pay yourself nothing.
- **Rate you need** is (monthly costs + your yearly income goal ÷ 12) ÷ billable hours a month.
- **Minimum ticket** is the rate you need × the hours a job takes, counting the drive both ways. Parts go on top.
- **Break-even ticket** covers your costs for that time and pays you nothing.

### A worked example

The example costs add up to $1,920 a month. At 25 billable hours a week, that is 108.3 billable hours a month, so each hour costs $17.72. To earn $60,000 a year you need another $5,000 a month, so the rate you need is $6,920 ÷ 108.3 = $63.88 an hour. A job 20 minutes away that takes 30 minutes on site is 70 minutes of your time, so the minimum ticket is $74.52 plus parts. Break-even is $20.68.

| Drive, one way | Minimum ticket | Break-even |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 10 min | $53.23 | $14.77 |
| 20 min | $74.52 | $20.68 |
| 30 min | $95.82 | $26.58 |
| 45 min | $127.75 | $35.45 |
| 60 min | $159.69 | $44.31 |

### Don't forget tax

The income goal is before income tax. If you work for yourself, you also pay self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare, at a rate the IRS sets at 15.3%. Ask your accountant what to set aside, and raise the income goal until the take-home number is what you need.

### What to do with your numbers

- Set your trip fee or the low end of your price ranges so short jobs reach the minimum ticket.
- Charge more for far jobs. The service area and trip fee zones tool turns drive distance into a fee for each zone.
- Check single jobs with the [job profit calculator](https://lockcommand.com/tools/job-profit-calculator) , which counts parts, miles and card fees one job at a time.
- Put the result in your [price list](https://lockcommand.com/tools/price-book-builder) , so every quote starts above your floor.
- Come back when a cost changes. A new van payment or a jump in insurance moves every number on this page.

Fuel is in the monthly costs here, so the minimum ticket doesn't add a separate cost per mile. If you'd rather count the van by the mile, take the van payment, fuel and insurance out of the monthly costs and use a per mile cost in the job profit calculator instead.

### Sources

- Locksmith Ledger, [2023 National Average Price Survey](https://www.locksmithledger.com/home/article/53062419/2023-national-average-price-survey) (July 2023): average hourly rate and service call. Last checked October 2026.
- IRS, [Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes)](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/self-employment-tax-social-security-and-medicare-taxes) : 15.3%, made of 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. Last checked October 2026.
- The cost amounts in the calculator are made-up examples. Use your own bills.

## Questions

### How much do locksmiths charge per hour?

In Locksmith Ledger's 2023 national price survey, the average hourly rate was $95 and the average service call $90. Rates swing a lot by city and by the work you do. The number that matters is the rate that covers your own costs and pay, which is what this calculator works out.

### What counts as a billable hour?

Time you can charge for: driving to a job and working on it. Quoting, ordering parts, cleaning the van and waiting for a callback are real work, but nobody pays you for them, so they don't count. It's easy to guess this number too high, so check it against your job history.

### Why is my cost per hour so much higher than I thought?

Because the costs are spread over billable hours only, not every hour you're working. If you pay $1,920 a month to run the van and the business, and bill 25 hours a week, each billable hour carries about $17.72 of costs before you pay yourself anything.

### Should I include parts in the monthly costs?

No. Parts change from job to job, so charge them on top of the ticket. Put tools, key blanks you stock and other regular spending in the monthly costs.

### Is the target income before or after tax?

Before income tax. If you work for yourself, remember self-employment tax as well: the IRS rate is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare). Ask your accountant what to add for your situation and use the larger figure.

### Do I have to turn down jobs under the minimum ticket?

No. A small job on your way to a big one, or a regular customer, can be worth it. The minimum ticket tells you which jobs lose money when you drive out just for them.

## More for your shop

- [Job profit and after-hours calculator Work out the profit on a job and the after-hours surcharge that keeps night calls worth it.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/job-profit-calculator)
- [Price book builder Build a locksmith price list with low and high prices, trip fee and after-hours surcharge, and print it.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/price-book-builder)
- [Startup cost calculator Plan the first-year budget for a mobile locksmith business: van, tools, key machine, insurance and more.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/startup-cost-calculator)
- [Service area and trip fee zones Set zones by miles from your base with a trip fee for each, and print a zone sheet.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/service-area-zones)
- [Reports & QuickBooks Roles for your team, revenue and call reports, CSV exports and QuickBooks Online sync.](https://lockcommand.com/features/reports-and-quickbooks)

## Let LockCommand do this on every job

The AI receptionist quotes from your price book, books the job and texts the customer. Create your account and set up your shop in a few minutes.

[Create your account](https://app.lockcommand.com/sign-up?from=tool-hourly-rate-calculator) [See pricing](https://lockcommand.com/pricing)

Already have an account? [Log in](https://app.lockcommand.com/sign-in). Questions first? Email  [support@lockcommand.com](mailto:support@lockcommand.com) .