Texas First Hire

Can I Afford to Hire an Employee?

By Jeremy Kenerson, Founder and CEO at DeskTeam360

Last updated . Every number on this page was checked October 2, 2026.

The question "can I afford to hire an employee" comes down to three things your business has to cover every month: the wage, the employer taxes on top, and the costs the usual totals leave out. As a worked example, a full-time administrative assistant hired as an employee in Texas at the middle (median) wage costs $4,073.18 a month in wages plus employer taxes, before benefits (BLS May 2025 wages, 2026 tax rates). This page shows each line so you can put in your own numbers. It can't tell you yes or no, so take your numbers to your accountant.

This page is a plain reading of the rules. It isn't legal or tax advice.

Can I afford to hire?

Whether you can afford to hire comes down to one comparison: what the hire adds to your costs each month, next to the income you can count on each month. Here's how to run it:

  1. Add up the hire. Start with the wage. Add the employer taxes in the next section. Then add the costs the total leaves out.
  2. Write down the income you can count on. Use a normal month, and leave out your best one.
  3. Take away the costs you already have. What's left is what could pay for the hire.
  4. Compare the two numbers. Then ask what happens in a slow month.

This page gives no rule of thumb for how much revenue a business needs before a hire, and no rule for when to hire. Ask your accountant to check your numbers.

If the real problem is that you can't tell whether the extra work will last, start there. For telling a busy season from a capacity problem, see overwhelmed business owner.

What does an employee cost on top of the wage?

On top of the wage, an employee costs an employer four taxes: Social Security, Medicare, federal unemployment tax and Texas unemployment tax. In the example below they add $3,738.21 a year to the wage, which is $311.51 of the $4,073.18 monthly total.

The example is a full-time administrative assistant in Texas at the middle (median) wage. BLS's full name for the job is Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive. The last column is for your own figures.

Table: A worked budget for one full-time employee in Texas. Sources: BLS wages (May 2025), IRS and Texas Workforce Commission tax rates (2026), and this site's math. Checked October 2, 2026.
Line The rule Example, a year Example, a month Your number
Wage The BLS median for the job in Texas, May 2025 $45,140.00 $3,761.67
Employer Social Security 6.2% of pay, on wages up to $184,500 for 2026 $2,798.68 $233.22
Employer Medicare 1.45% of all wages $654.53 $54.54
Federal unemployment tax 6.0% on the first $7,000 of pay, which comes to 0.6%, or $42 a worker, once the full state credit is applied $42.00 $3.50
Texas unemployment tax For a new employer, 2.70% in 2026 on the first $9,000 of pay $243.00 $20.25
Total Wages plus employer taxes, before benefits $48,878.21 $4,073.18

Notes on the table:

  • It's a middle wage. Half the people in the job earn less than the median and half earn more. So this isn't a quote, and your hire can cost less or more.
  • The Texas rate. A new employer keeps the 2.70% rate until it has four chargeable quarters.
  • The US figure. At the US median wage, the same job comes to $4,268.23 a month. State unemployment tax isn't in that figure.
  • Another job. A full-time web developer in Texas, worked out the same way, costs $7,720.73 a month.

For what an assistant costs, see cost to hire an assistant. The first hire cost page has the same math for four first-hire options.

DeskTeam360 runs this site. For readers of this page, its next step is DeskTeam360's Ultimate Task Delegation Template, and it comes with a video walkthrough.

Get the Task Delegation Template

The button opens DeskTeam360's Task Delegation Template page.

What costs are left out of that number?

The $4,073.18 monthly total leaves out benefits, paid time off, equipment, software, hiring costs, and workers' comp if you choose to carry it.

  • Benefits. BLS gives a sense of scale. Its June 2026 count puts benefits at an average of $14.07 for each hour worked, across all private employers in the US. Don't add that to the table's total. The BLS average already includes payroll taxes, and so does the table. It's also a national average for every size of employer and every job, so it isn't a figure for Texas or for a first hire.
  • Workers' comp. A private employer in Texas can choose whether to carry it, and in most cases it isn't required. Going without it brings filings of its own: a notice of no coverage to the state after the first hire and again each year between February 1 and April 30, a posted notice at work, and written notice to new employees. With five or more employees, an employer with no coverage also has to report work injuries that cost more than one day of lost time. The state says coverage pays medical benefits and lost wages to workers who get hurt on the job. It also says coverage limits what the business owes if an employee sues, with one exception: a death caused by gross negligence. The first hire steps page covers the rule in full. If you carry coverage, its premium goes on top of the total, and this page has no premium figure.
  • The rest. Paid time off, a computer, software and the cost of finding the person all depend on your business. Put your own figures next to the table.

This page stays out of which benefits an employer must or should offer.

What if the number doesn't work yet?

If the number doesn't work yet, you have three choices: wait, start with fewer hours, or get the work done another way. This page doesn't pick one for you.

  • Wait. Nothing on this page says when a business should hire.
  • Start with fewer hours. A part-time employee works fewer hours, so the wage line is smaller. The first hire cost page has the part-time figures.
  • Use a flat-rate team. The Entrepreneur plan from DeskTeam360 is $1,497 a month. That's the price it published as of October 2026. Set that next to the lowest employee figure in this site's tables, $2,048.29 a month. That figure is a part-time administrative assistant in Texas on 20 hours a week (this site's assumption), paid the middle (median) wage. It's wages plus employer taxes, before benefits (BLS May 2025 wages, 2026 tax rates). The plan is $551.29 a month less.

Two notes go with that last comparison. A real hire can cost less than $2,048.29, so that figure isn't the lowest cost of a hire. And a hire is one person, while a plan gives you a team that handles 1 task at a time. There are first-hire jobs a team can't do, such as answering the office phone.

For a hire next to an outside team, see outsourcing vs hiring.

One more voice on that third choice. The line below is a pull quote from DeskTeam360's case study page for Duct Tape Marketing. It's about using DeskTeam360. It isn't advice to hire an employee.

"Absolutely Get Off The Fence And Do It!"

Sara Nay, Duct Tape Marketing

More on budget and other options

Whichever way the numbers come out, DeskTeam360's Ultimate Task Delegation Template is the next step this site offers. It comes with a video walkthrough.

Get the Task Delegation Template

The button opens DeskTeam360's Task Delegation Template page.

Sources

All checked October 2, 2026.

This site isn't connected to the State of Texas or any government agency.

What changed

  • October 2, 2026: First version of this page.