Payroll Price Index

Months

• November 2026 baseline · snapshot 2026-11-10

Methodology

Each figure comes from a snapshot in the price log. The weekly price check appends a snapshot when stored plan fees change. This page reads that file on build, so a new snapshot becomes a new row without a separate edit to the index.

For each headcount of 1, 5, 10, and 25 employees, the vendor’s number is the same one the headcount pages use: the cheapest plan that files payroll taxes, with PEO plans left out, zero contractors, and one state. The dollar amounts come from the snapshot. Whether that plan files taxes, and whether it is a PEO, comes from the vendor file for the same plan id. A snapshot plan with no matching vendor-file plan is left out, because its tax-filing status would otherwise be a guess.

Quote-only vendors are counted and left out of the median and average. Conflicting vendors are counted and left out, because neither file picks one of the published prices. The median is the middle value, or the mean of the two middle values when the count is even. The average is the arithmetic mean. Both are unrounded.

A second table, labeled self-service (you file taxes), uses plans whose vendor-file tax filing is “not included.” Patriot Basic is that kind of plan. Those rows are not part of the main median, average, or change.

With one snapshot, that month is the baseline. Median, average, and cheapest have no previous number to subtract. Change-log notes from before the snapshot stay on the month page as notes. They are not an index movement.

Cite this

PayrollPriceWatch. Payroll Price Index, November 2026 baseline (median $109 at 10 employees). Snapshot 2026-11-10, checked Nov 10, 2026. https://payrollpricewatch.com/payroll-price-index/2026-11.

Embed this table

The caption includes the PayrollPriceWatch attribution and the snapshot date. Copy the markup as it is.

<table>
  <caption>Payroll Price Index, November 2026 baseline. Plans that file payroll taxes, same rule as the PayrollPriceWatch headcount pages. Source: PayrollPriceWatch, https://payrollpricewatch.com/payroll-price-index/2026-11. Prices verified Nov 10, 2026. Snapshot 2026-11-10. One snapshot, so this table is the baseline and has no trend. Quote-only vendors: 5. Conflicting vendors: 1.</caption>
  <thead><tr><th>Employees</th><th>Median</th><th>Average</th><th>Cheapest tax-filing plan</th><th>Vendors in the statistic</th></tr></thead>
  <tbody>
  <tr><td>1</td><td>$55</td><td>$49.70</td><td>Deel Deel HR + Deel Payroll — US (Core) $22</td><td>10</td></tr>
  <tr><td>5</td><td>$79</td><td>$81.30</td><td>Patriot Payroll Full Service Payroll $62</td><td>10</td></tr>
  <tr><td>10</td><td>$109</td><td>$120.80</td><td>Patriot Payroll Full Service Payroll $87</td><td>10</td></tr>
  <tr><td>25</td><td>$199</td><td>$239.30</td><td>Patriot Payroll Full Service Payroll $162</td><td>10</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<p>Self-service (you file taxes), not included in the table: Patriot Payroll Basic Payroll $57 at 10 employees. Vendors with a published you-file plan: 1.</p>