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Commission calculator

Work out commission at a flat rate or with up to four tiers, add your base pay, and see your effective rate.

By the Calcist team · Checked against known answers · Updated October 27, 2026

Private: calculated on your device. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Estimates for planning, not financial, tax or legal advice. Figures use US rules unless the page says otherwise.

Next: Want the yearly, monthly and hourly view of your pay? Use the salary calculator.

Three common commission plans

  • Flat rate: one percentage on all sales. Commission = sales × rate.
  • Graduated (marginal) tiers: each rate applies only to the sales inside its tier, like tax brackets. Selling more never lowers what you earned on earlier sales.
  • Whole-amount tiers: once you pass a threshold, the higher rate applies to all your sales. Some plans call this a retroactive or step accelerator.
Graduated = Σ (sales inside each tier × that tier's rate)
Whole-amount = all sales × the rate of the highest tier reached
Total pay = base pay + commission

Worked example

Tiers: 5% up to $25,000, 7.5% up to $50,000, 10% up to $75,000 and 12% above. Sales of $80,000:

Graduated: 25,000 × 5% + 25,000 × 7.5% + 25,000 × 10% + 5,000 × 12%
= 1,250 + 1,875 + 2,500 + 600 = $6,225
Whole-amount: 80,000 × 12% = $9,600

On a flat 5% with a $2,000 base, the same sales pay 80,000 × 5% + 2,000 = $6,000.

Limitations

  • Your written commission plan decides the rules: whether limits include the boundary, whether it's paid on revenue or profit, and when returns and chargebacks are taken back.
  • Draws against commission, bonuses, caps and split deals aren't modeled.
  • These are before-tax amounts. In the US, commissions are usually taxed as supplemental wages, so withholding can look different from your regular pay.
  • If you're an employee, federal minimum wage and overtime rules can still apply to commission pay.

Sources

How we checked this

Before every update, this calculator is run in a real browser with these known answers, and it must match all of them:

  • 5% of $80,000 plus $2,000 base = $6,000 ✓
  • Graduated tiers on $80,000 (5/7.5/10/12%) = $6,225 ✓
  • Whole-amount tiers on $80,000 reach 12% = $9,600 ✓
  • Graduated on $30,000: $1,250 + $375 = $1,625 ✓
  • Edge: tier limits that go down are rejected ✓
  • Edge: no sales with $2,000 base reads cleanly ✓

Last checked October 26, 2026. Spotted something wrong? The math is done in your browser with the formula shown on this page, so you can check any result by hand.

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Questions people ask

How do I calculate commission?

Multiply your sales by the commission rate as a decimal. $40,000 in sales at 6% is 40,000 × 0.06 = $2,400.

What's the difference between graduated and tiered commission?

With graduated tiers, each rate applies only to the sales in that band. With whole-amount tiers, hitting a higher band raises the rate on every dollar you sold.

How does base salary plus commission work?

You get a fixed base for the period plus commission on what you sell. Enter the base for the same period as the sales, for example one month's base with one month's sales.

What is a good commission rate?

It varies widely by industry and by how much base pay comes with it, so compare offers by total pay at realistic sales levels. This calculator makes that easy.

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