Farmers Market Profit Calculator
Calculate true market-day profit after product costs, booth fees, travel, labor, card fees, and other selling expenses.
Free · no account · works on mobile · embeddable
Best for farmers market vendors and direct-to-consumer farms. Updated .
Market-day assumptions
Profit estimate
Net profit = sales − product costs − card fees − booth, travel, labor, and other selling costs. Taxes and farm-wide overhead are not included.
About the farmers market profit calculator
Most vendors know their sales for a market day. Far fewer know their profit after the booth fee, card fees, fuel, and the hours spent packing, driving, setting up, and tearing down. This calculator puts every market-day cost on one screen so you can compare markets against each other, and against pickup, delivery, or wholesale, on the same basis.
How to calculate farmers market profit
Start with expected customers multiplied by average sale. Then subtract product costs and the expenses created by the market day itself: booth fees, card fees, travel, labor, permits, samples, ice, parking, and allocated equipment.
Count all of your time
The hours behind a four-hour market include packing, loading, driving, setup, cleanup, and unloading. Valuing that time makes it possible to compare markets—and compare a market with pickup, delivery, wholesale, or online orders—on the same basis.
What break-even sales mean
Break-even sales cover fixed market-day costs after allowing for product and payment-processing costs that rise with sales. It is a planning threshold, not a promise of accounting profit, because taxes and farm-wide overhead are outside this calculator.
Worked example
A vendor expecting 60 customers at an average $18 sale projects $1,080 in revenue. After $430 in product cost, a $45 booth fee, $28 in card fees, $22 of fuel, and eight hours valued at $20, the day nets about $395, or roughly $49 per hour of total time.
Source
- University of Maryland Extension, Farmers market booth profit-or-loss example. Includes booth rent, labor, transportation, equipment, insurance, licenses, and permits. Accessed Aug 24, 2026.
This calculator gives planning estimates from the numbers you enter. It is not accounting, tax, veterinary, or legal advice. Replace the defaults with your own farm records whenever you have them.
Frequently asked questions
What costs should I include for a market day?
Product cost, booth or vendor fee, card processing fees, fuel or mileage, hours of labor for the whole day (not just selling hours), permits and insurance allocated to the market, samples, ice, bags, and parking.
How do I value my own time?
Use the hourly rate you would have to pay someone to do the same work, or the rate you could earn elsewhere. Valuing unpaid time is what makes a market comparable to delivery or wholesale, where you would otherwise be paying for that labor.
What does the break-even sales figure tell me?
It is the sales total at which the day covers its own costs. Below it the market lost money; above it every dollar contributes profit after product and card costs. Use it to decide whether a slow market is worth attending.
Does this include taxes or farm overhead?
No. It is a market-day contribution estimate. Farm-wide overhead, depreciation, and income taxes belong in your whole-farm budget, not a single-day comparison.
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