What revenue breaks even on $42,000 of fixed costs at a 35% contribution margin ratio?

$120,000 per period — 42,000 ÷ 0.35. Below that sales level the contribution falls short of fixed costs; above it, 35 cents of every additional dollar is profit.

How is this different from the units form?

Same identity, different denominator. The units form divides fixed costs by the dollar margin of one unit; this form divides by the margin ratio and answers in revenue. Multiply a break-even unit count by its price and you land on the same dollar figure this view returns directly.

What contribution margin ratio should I enter?

A blended one from your own books: (revenue − variable costs) ÷ revenue over a recent representative period. A lean service business might run 25% — at which point $8,000 of monthly fixed costs needs $32,000 of monthly sales to break even.

Break-Even Calculator

Break-Even Calculator — Break-Even Sales Calculator

The revenue view, built for businesses where "units" is the wrong question — restaurants, retail, agencies with mixed engagements. It needs just two inputs: fixed costs and a blended contribution margin ratio, and divides one by the other. A company carrying $42,000 of monthly fixed costs at a 35% ratio must ring up $120,000 in monthly sales before the first dollar of profit appears. The ratio comes off your own P&L, so the target updates as the product mix drifts.

Break-even point

Solve forFixed costs ($ per period)Contribution margin ratio (% of revenue)

Break-even revenue

$25,000.00

Sales per period at which contribution exactly covers $10,000.00 in fixed costs at a 40% contribution margin ratio.

Standard break-even arithmetic on the costs you enter: contribution margin = price − variable cost, units = fixed costs ÷ contribution margin (rounded up to whole units), and revenue = fixed costs ÷ CM ratio. A planning estimate — taxes, cash timing, and step-fixed costs are not modeled. Not business or accounting advice.

One blended ratio instead of a price list

The ratio form sidesteps per-product math entirely. Pull two lines from a recent month: revenue and total variable costs. A business with $200,000 of revenue and $130,000 of variable costs kept $70,000 — a 35% contribution margin ratio. Against $42,000 of fixed costs, break-even revenue is 42,000 ÷ 0.35 = $120,000 a month.

Because the ratio is a weighted average across everything sold, it quietly encodes the product mix. A promotion that shifts sales toward low-margin items drags the blended ratio down and pushes the break-even target up, even if total revenue holds steady — which is why the ratio is worth recomputing from fresh numbers each quarter rather than set once and trusted forever.

The ratio moves the target more than fixed costs do

Break-even revenue scales inversely with the ratio, and the curve is steep. At $18,000 of fixed costs, a 60% ratio breaks even on $30,000 of sales — but the same fixed costs at a 30% ratio need $60,000. Halving the ratio doubles the revenue requirement, dollar for dollar, while halving fixed costs only halves it.

That asymmetry sets the agenda for a struggling P&L: a few points of ratio recovered — through pricing, supplier terms, or mix — often beat a painful round of fixed-cost cuts. Run the calculator at your current ratio and again a few points higher to see exactly how much revenue pressure each point relieves.

Questions

What revenue breaks even on $42,000 of fixed costs at a 35% contribution margin ratio?: $120,000 per period — 42,000 ÷ 0.35. Below that sales level the contribution falls short of fixed costs; above it, 35 cents of every additional dollar is profit.
How is this different from the units form?: Same identity, different denominator. The units form divides fixed costs by the dollar margin of one unit; this form divides by the margin ratio and answers in revenue. Multiply a break-even unit count by its price and you land on the same dollar figure this view returns directly.
What contribution margin ratio should I enter?: A blended one from your own books: (revenue − variable costs) ÷ revenue over a recent representative period. A lean service business might run 25% — at which point $8,000 of monthly fixed costs needs $32,000 of monthly sales to break even.