Call it around $54,000 a year as a national ballpark, wages plus benefits. For that you get 40 of the 168 hours in a week, so under a quarter of the time your phone can ring.
That's not an argument against hiring. It's just the number to have in your head before you compare a hire to anything else.
The napkin
| Line | Number | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Median pay | $38,010 a year ($18.27 an hour) | BLS, May 2025 |
| Wages as a share of total cost | 70% | BLS, private employers, June 2026 |
| All-in estimate | about $54,300 | $38,010 divided by 0.70 |
| Hours covered | 40 of 168 a week | Just arithmetic |
Big caveat: that 70% is an average across every kind of private job, and it's national. If your benefits are lighter, your number's lower. So run your own.
Your version, five minutes
- Take the hourly rate you'd really pay and multiply by 2,080 hours.
- Add 7.65% for your share of Social Security and Medicare.
- Add what you'd really spend on health insurance, paid time off, and workers' comp.
- Add your own time. How many hours would you spend hiring and training? Put your hourly value on it. Be honest, it's usually more than you think.
- Write down who answers the phone when they're at lunch, out sick, or gone.
Now compare
Get a real quote on the other options, whether that's an answering service or an AI that picks up, and ask the same questions of each:
- What's my all-in monthly bill on a busy month, including overages?
- What happens to a call it can't handle?
- Who fixes it when it breaks, and how fast?
- Who owns the account and the customer info if I leave?
- Does it tell callers what it is?
Vendor blogs love to show a giant savings number here. Ignore theirs and use yours.
Where the person wins anyway
Somebody walks in the door. A customer's upset. A regular wants to talk. A good front desk person also spots the stuff nobody told them to look for. Software doesn't do that.
So the question usually isn't person or AI. It's what you actually need covered, and what that's worth to you. Sometimes $54,000 is the best money you'll spend all year. Sometimes you only needed nights and weekends handled.
Do the math first. Then you're deciding, not guessing.