Caseload Break-EvenCalculator
Enter your overhead, session fee, visit frequency, and no-show rate. See how many clients cover your costs, and how many hit your income goal.
By Jesse, Registered Psychotherapist.
Everything the practice costs each month before you pay yourself: insurance, software, rent if any, marketing, dues, continuing education.
Use what you actually collect per session. If part of your caseload is insurance, use a blended average of what each session really pays.
Weekly clients average about 4 sessions a month, biweekly about 2. Mixed caseload? Use a number in between.
The share of booked sessions that produce no revenue. If you charge a late-cancellation fee that most clients pay, set this lower.
What you want left for yourself each month after overhead, before taxes.
Clients to Break Even
3
Overhead covered, nothing left for you yet
Clients for Your Income Target
18
Covers overhead plus $8,000/month before taxes
Weekly Load at the Target Caseload
15.0 kept sessions/wk
You would schedule about 16.6 sessions a week to keep 15.0 at a 10% no-show rate.
Client counts are rounded up to whole clients, so the caseload shown actually covers the costs. Taxes and self-employment deductions are not included. For take-home estimates across practice settings, use the therapist salary calculator.
What moves your break-even number
Your fee moves the number fastest
The session fee multiplies across every session every client books. A small fee change usually moves the break-even caseload more than trimming any single cost line.
Session frequency counts as much as caseload size
A weekly client produces about twice the monthly revenue of a biweekly client at the same fee. The same income goal can require double the clients when frequency drops, which is why this calculator asks for it directly.
No-shows are a quiet tax on the caseload
At a 10% no-show rate, roughly one booked session in ten produces no revenue. The calculator removes that revenue up front, so the caseload it shows is honest instead of optimistic.
Break-even is a floor, not a goal
The break-even caseload only covers overhead. Everything you take home lives in the gap between break-even and your target number, so plan the practice around the second number.
Common Questions
What counts as monthly overhead?
Everything your practice costs whether or not you see a single client: liability insurance, EHR or practice management software, HIPAA-compliant email, website hosting, phone service, office rent if you have one, marketing, professional dues, supervision, and continuing education. Add up what your practice actually spends in a typical month rather than using a generic figure.
How do I pick sessions per client per month?
Weekly clients average about 4 sessions a month and biweekly clients about 2. If your caseload is mixed, use a number in between. This input matters as much as caseload size: the same monthly income at biweekly frequency requires roughly twice the clients that weekly frequency does.
Why does the calculator round up to whole clients?
You cannot bill a fraction of a client. Rounding up keeps the estimate conservative, so the caseload it shows actually covers the costs instead of landing just short of them.
Does break-even include taxes or my own pay?
No. Break-even is the caseload where revenue covers overhead only, with nothing left over for you. The income target number adds your monthly take-home goal on top of overhead, before taxes. For a fuller income picture across solo, group, and agency settings, use the therapist salary calculator.
Free Practice Checkup
Find out why new clients aren't finding you.
Five minutes, free, and a call is optional. It checks your Psychology Today profile, Google presence, website, and directory listings, then shows you where the people searching in your city end up instead. A written number of new clients in 90 days. If we miss it, I keep working for free. Or start with the free check.
Run the free checkupRelated guides
Use the caseload math with the guides that shape what those numbers mean.
How Much Does It Cost to Run a Therapy Practice?
The fuller cost breakdown to use when estimating the overhead number in this calculator.
Open pageInsurance vs. Private Pay for Therapists
How reimbursement changes the effective fee you should enter here if part of your caseload is insurance.
Open pageCPT Codes for Therapists
Plain-English lookup of the psychotherapy billing codes behind the session fees you entered above.
Open pageHow Much Do Private Practice Therapists Make Per Session?
Per-session rate context, plus the gross-to-net math behind the fee you enter above.
Open pageIs Private Practice Worth It for Therapists?
The honest tradeoffs behind the caseload numbers: income potential, startup risk, and autonomy.
Open pageRelated calculators
One number is never the whole picture. Run the rest of the family.
Therapist Salary Calculator
Estimate real take-home pay across solo, group, and agency settings, adjusted for overhead and insurance mix.
Open calculatorPrivate Practice Break-Even Calculator
Weekly sessions needed to cover your overhead, with a line-item overhead builder.
Open calculatorPrivate Pay Rate Calculator
The private-pay fee that matches your insurance take-home after denials, write-offs, and billing time.
Open calculatorNo-Show Cost Calculator
What missed sessions cost per month and per year, and what any given reduction in your rate is worth.
Open calculatorTime is money in private practice
If paperwork and session prep are eating into your earning hours, we built a tool that might help. Reframe Practice generates personalized client worksheets in under 60 seconds.
See how it works