💰 Candle Cost Per Unit Calculator

Add up every cost that goes into one candle — wax, fragrance, wick, container, and your labor — to find your true cost per unit.

Wax cost ($)

Fragrance oil cost ($)

Wick cost ($)

Container cost ($)

Labor cost ($)

Five costs, one total

Nothing is hidden here — the tool adds the five boxes and shows the subtotal for each:

cost per candle = wax + fragrance + wick + container + labour

The defaults come to $1.50 + $0.50 + $0.20 + $1.00 + $2.00 = $5.20. The work is entirely in getting those five figures right, because each one starts life as a bulk price.

Turning bulk prices into per-candle figures

Wax: a 10 lb bag at $30 is $3.00 a pound, or $0.0066 a gram. An 8 oz jar taking 227 g of wax therefore costs $1.50.
Fragrance: price the grams you pour, not the bottle. At an 8 percent load that same candle uses 18.2 g, so a $12 pound of oil at $0.026 a gram works out at $0.48.
Labour: divide your hourly rate by candles finished per hour. $20 an hour at ten candles an hour is the $2.00 in the box, and it is usually the largest single line.

Four costs are missing from the five boxes: labels and packaging, wax left in the pour pot, failed pours you cannot sell, and inbound shipping. Add them into the container or wax figure, or add 10 percent to the total, before you price anything.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to make a candle?

Around $5.20 for an 8 oz container candle at the figures above, of which $2.00 is your own time. Materials alone are roughly $3.20, and buying wax and jars by the case is what moves that number.

How should I price a candle I sell?

The craft convention is wholesale at twice cost and retail at twice wholesale: a $5.20 candle wholesales near $10.40 and retails around $20.80. Check that against comparable candles before committing.

Should I include my own labour?

Yes, even for a hobby. Leaving it out makes a $3.20 candle look profitable at $8 when the same hours sold at $20 would have earned more. Price the time and you learn what the batch is really worth.