What Margin Is a 100 Percent Markup?
Margin, against price
50%
Doubling a $10,000 cost gives a $20,000 price, and $10,000 out of $20,000 is exactly 50 percent.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Your cost for the job10000 $
- I want to setMarkup percent
- That number100 % or $
Price to charge$20,000.00
| Your cost | $10,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Price | $20,000.00 |
| Gross profit | $10,000.00 |
| Markup, against cost | 100% |
| Margin, against price | 50%this is the one your accountant means |
| If you want this margin | Mark up cost by | On $10,000 cost, charge |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 11.1% | $11,111.11 |
| 15% | 17.6% | $11,764.71 |
| 20% | 25% | $12,500.00 |
| 25% | 33.3% | $13,333.33 |
| 30% | 42.9% | $14,285.71 |
| 35% | 53.8% | $15,384.62 |
| 40% | 66.7% | $16,666.67 |
| 50% | 100% | $20,000.00 |
Markup compared
The gap between markup and margin widens as the number grows. Same cost, five markups.
| Markup | Price to charge | Margin, against price |
|---|---|---|
| 10% markup | $11,000.00 | 9.1% |
| 20% markup | $12,000.00 | 16.7% |
| 30% markup | $13,000.00 | 23.1% |
| 40% markup | $14,000.00 | 28.6% |
| 50% markup | $15,000.00 | 33.3% |
What else matters here
Doubling the cost is a 100 percent markup and a 50 percent margin. This is the clearest illustration of why the two words are not interchangeable: the same transaction is described by two numbers that differ by a factor of two.
It is also the ceiling on margin from markup in a practical sense. Margin can never reach 100 percent, because that would mean a cost of zero, while markup has no upper bound at all. That asymmetry is why margin is the number accountants use and markup is the number estimators use.
A hundred percent markup, sometimes called keystone, is standard in retail and in some specialty trades where the product itself is a small part of the delivered value. It is unusual on a whole contract and normal on a single small material line.
What this calculator assumes
- Markup is measured against your cost. Margin is measured against the price. They are never the same number and confusing them is the most expensive arithmetic mistake in the trades.
- A 50 percent markup is a 33.3 percent margin. To actually keep 50 percent of the price you have to mark up by 100 percent.
Questions people ask
What margin is a 100 percent markup?
Exactly 50 percent. Doubling the cost means half the price is profit.
Can margin be 100 percent?
Only if the cost were zero. Margin is capped below 100 percent by definition, while markup has no upper limit, which is why the two scales diverge so far.
What is keystone pricing?
Doubling cost to set price, which is a 100 percent markup and a 50 percent margin. It is standard in retail and in specialty trades where the item is a small part of the delivered value.
The markup vs margin calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.