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Prevailing wage fringe calculator

Prevailing wage fringe benefits accrue per hour worked, not as a flat weekly amount — that mismatch is the single most common way small subcontractors end up underpaid on paper even when they think they're covering fringe. Enter what a worker is actually paid and what the wage determination requires, and this checks the math for you.

Why this trips people up

Most payroll systems (Gusto, QuickBooks Online, ADP, Paychex) model benefits as a flat amount per pay period — a health insurance stipend, a 401(k) match — not as a rate that has to clear a per-hour bar on a government wage determination. That's a completely reasonable way to run payroll for a normal job. It's the wrong model for Davis-Bacon fringe, where the requirement is expressed as dollars per hour worked, and a worker who does unusually little or unusually much on a given project can end up below the required package even though their total pay "looks right" on a normal paystub.

This calculator does the one comparison that actually matters: total hourly package paid (base + fringe, however the fringe is paid) versus total hourly package required. If you're filing a full WH-347, our certified payroll generator runs this same check automatically for every worker on every report.