Small Business Health Insurance Costs
Type how many employees you cover on single and family plans to see what you pay a year, using survey averages you can replace with a quote.
Small business health insurance costs depend on how many employees you cover, whether they take single or family plans, and how much of the premium each employee pays. This calculator multiplies those out. It starts from the 2025 averages in the KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey for firms with 10 to 199 workers ($9,211 a year for single coverage and $26,054 for family coverage) and the share workers pay (16% and 36%), and you can replace every number with the premium on a real quote.
With 8 employees on single coverage and 2 on family coverage, the starting numbers give a total premium of $125,796 a year, of which you pay $95,247 ($7,937 a month) and your employees pay $30,549 through payroll deductions. The tool runs in your browser, is free and asks for no contact details. The result is an estimate only and not a quote; get quotes from a licensed insurer, broker or your state or federal marketplace.
How to use the small business health insurance cost calculator
- Type “Employees on single (employee-only) coverage” and “Employees on family coverage”. Use 0 for either if nobody is on that plan.
- Read “You pay (employer share)”, the yearly and monthly cost to your business. “Per covered employee” divides it by the number of covered employees.
- Open “More options” to change the premiums. “Yearly premium, single coverage” starts at $9,211 and “Yearly premium, family coverage” at $26,054; replace them with the premiums on your quote.
- In “More options”, set the share of each premium the employee pays. The starting values are 16% for single coverage and 36% for family coverage. Type 0 if you pay the whole premium.
- Read “Employees pay” for the total taken from paychecks, and “Share of the premium you pay” for your percentage of the total.
- Read the table for the split between single and family coverage. Use the example chips to see 3 employees on single coverage with each paying 50%, or 20 single and 10 family plans.
If you pay at least half of employee-only coverage, the page shows no warning. If employees pay more than 50% of the single premium, it points out that one condition of the IRS small business health care tax credit is that the employer pays at least 50 percent of employee-only coverage. Everything updates as you type, and the address bar keeps your settings so you can copy the link or print the result.
How are small business health insurance costs worked out?
Total premium is the number of single plans times the single premium, plus the number of family plans times the family premium. Employees pay their share of each, and you pay the rest. With 8 single plans at $9,211 and 2 family plans at $26,054, the total is $125,796. Employees pay 16% of the single premiums and 36% of the family premiums, $30,549 in all, so you pay $95,247, which is 75.7% of the premium and $9,525 per covered employee a year.
Where do the starting numbers come from?
They come from the KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, published 22 October 2025. For all firms it reports average annual premiums of $9,325 for single coverage and $26,993 for family coverage. For covered workers at firms with 10 to 199 workers it reports $9,211 and $26,054. Covered workers contribute 16% of the premium for single coverage, the same at small and large firms, and 36% of the family premium at firms with 10 to 199 workers (23% at larger firms). The survey reports an average family contribution of $8,889 at those firms, which does not equal 36% of $26,054; the page uses the percentage because you can type a share. KFF says the survey no longer includes firms with fewer than 10 workers, so very small firms can differ.
Why are these averages not a price?
An average across many employers does not tell you what an insurer will charge you. Quotes depend on your state, the plan and its deductible, your employees’ ages and the insurer. KFF reports an average general annual deductible of $1,886 for single coverage ($2,631 at small firms), which is one reason two plans with the same premium are not the same product. Treat the result as a budget to check against quotes.
Is there a tax credit for small business health insurance?
The IRS describes a small business health care tax credit with several conditions: fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees, the employer pays at least 50 percent of the cost of employee-only coverage, and coverage bought through a Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace. It is worth up to 50 percent of premiums paid for small business employers (35 percent for small tax-exempt employers) and can be claimed for two consecutive years. This calculator does not work out the credit, because it also depends on average wages and other rules. Ask a tax professional whether you qualify.
What does the tool leave out?
It does not include dependents beyond the family plan, employee-plus-one tiers, wellness or administration fees, broker fees, taxes, the effect of the credit, or any state rules. It adds up only the numbers you type.
Sources (checked 23 October 2026): KFF, 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey; IRS, Small Business Health Care Tax Credit and the SHOP Marketplace
Worked examples
| Input | Result |
|---|---|
| 8 on single and 2 on family coverage | you pay $95,247 a year ($7,937 a month) |
| 3 on single and 0 on family coverage | you pay $13,817 a year ($1,151 a month) |
| 20 on single and 10 on family coverage | you pay $280,000 a year ($23,333 a month) |
Calculated by the tool above; open it with the same values to see each step.
Frequently asked questions
How much does health insurance cost a small business?
In the KFF 2025 survey, average yearly premiums at firms with 10 to 199 workers were $9,211 for single coverage and $26,054 for family coverage, and covered workers paid 16% and 36% of those premiums. The calculator multiplies this by the number of employees you enter.
How much of the premium does the employer pay?
On average in the KFF survey, covered workers pay 16% of a single premium, so employers pay about 84%. For family coverage at firms with 10 to 199 workers, workers pay 36%, so employers pay about 64%. You decide your own share, and the calculator takes whatever you type.
What if my quote is different from the starting numbers?
Replace the premiums in “More options” with the figures on your quote. The starting numbers are survey averages only.
Does the calculator include the small business health care tax credit?
No. It only warns when employees pay more than half of the single premium, because the IRS lists paying at least 50 percent of employee-only coverage as a condition of the credit. Whether you qualify depends on other rules too.
Does the tool share my numbers?
No. It does arithmetic in your browser, asks for no contact details and does not refer you to insurers.
Other cost pages for businesses:
- Business insurance costs - every business insurance cost page in one list.
- Small business insurance cost - published medians for liability, BOP, workers comp and cyber, with a budget.
- Workers comp calculator - work out a premium from payroll and a rate you type.
- Workers comp insurance cost - published workers’ compensation figures.
- General liability insurance cost - published liability figures.