How do you calculate cost per mattress?

Add material and direct labor for the direct cost, apply your overhead rate to that direct cost, then add per-unit fixed charges. With $85 material, $12 labor, a 35% overhead rate, and $3.50 fixed, the direct cost is $97 and overhead is $33.95.

What is a typical material cost for a queen mattress?

It varies widely, an entry foam queen might carry $60-90 in materials, while a hybrid with pocketed coils and multiple foam layers can run $150-300. The $85 default here reflects a mid-tier foam build.

How is overhead allocated to a mattress?

Most bedding plants apply overhead as a percentage of direct cost or direct labor to spread plant rent, supervision, utilities, and equipment depreciation across units. A 35% rate on $97 direct cost adds $33.95 of overhead per mattress.

What is a good gross margin on a mattress?

Wholesale bedding margins commonly target 30-45% gross. Knowing fully loaded cost lets you back into a wholesale price that hits that target, a unit costing roughly $134 needs about $215-245 wholesale for a 35-45% margin.

Direct cost vs total cost per mattress, what's the difference?

Direct cost is just materials plus direct labor ($97 in the example). Total cost adds overhead and fixed per-unit charges, landing well above direct cost, quoting off direct cost alone is how shops lose money on volume.

Why include per-unit fixed charges?

Items like brand royalties, law-tag compliance, or amortized tooling don't scale with materials but still hit every unit. Folding in $3.50 per mattress keeps these from disappearing into a vague overhead bucket and undercosting the bed.

Mattress, Bedding & Foam Product Assembly calculator

Cost Per Mattress Calculator

Cost per mattress is the fully loaded unit cost to build one finished bed, foam, springs, fabric, and quilting materials, plus the direct labor to assemble it, an overhead allocation for the plant, and any per-unit fixed charges like royalties or freight reserves. Cost estimators, plant controllers, and sales teams in the bedding industry use it to set wholesale prices, protect margin in a category where foam and steel prices swing hard, and decide which SKUs are worth keeping. It matters because mattresses look simple but stack cost across many components: a single misjudged overhead rate can quietly erase the margin on an entire model line. Getting it right turns gut-feel pricing into defensible quotes.

What this calculator does

Calculate the total manufacturing cost per mattress including materials (foam, spring, fabric, adhesive), direct labor, and allocated overhead.
Use this when building product cost sheets for quoting, comparing cost across mattress models, or identifying the highest-cost components for value engineering.
It sums material and direct labor into a direct cost, adds an overhead allocation calculated as a percentage of that direct cost, then adds per-unit fixed charges for a fully loaded cost per mattress.

Formula used

Direct cost = material cost + direct labor cost
Overhead = direct cost × (overhead allocation rate ÷ 100)
Total cost per mattress = direct cost + overhead + per-unit fixed charges

Inputs explained

Material cost per mattress:
Direct labor cost per mattress:
Overhead allocation rate:
Per-unit fixed charges:

How to use the result

Use it when quoting a new bedding program, repricing after a foam or steel cost change, or comparing the true profitability of different SKUs.
Overhead allocated as a flat percentage of direct cost can misprice low-labor, high-material SKUs, activity-based costing gives a truer picture for very different product mixes.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for plastic resins and materials stands at 292.875 (BLS, Jul 2026), up 10.7% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
Manufacturing hourly earnings average $30.35 (BLS, Jul 2026), up 4.2% from a year earlier. Median machinist pay is $28.24/hr (OEWS 2025), with state medians on each state page. Manufacturers have 481k open positions nationally (BLS JOLTS).

Common questions

How do you calculate cost per mattress? Add material and direct labor for the direct cost, apply your overhead rate to that direct cost, then add per-unit fixed charges. With $85 material, $12 labor, a 35% overhead rate, and $3.50 fixed, the direct cost is $97 and overhead is $33.95.
What is a typical material cost for a queen mattress? It varies widely, an entry foam queen might carry $60-90 in materials, while a hybrid with pocketed coils and multiple foam layers can run $150-300. The $85 default here reflects a mid-tier foam build.
How is overhead allocated to a mattress? Most bedding plants apply overhead as a percentage of direct cost or direct labor to spread plant rent, supervision, utilities, and equipment depreciation across units. A 35% rate on $97 direct cost adds $33.95 of overhead per mattress.
What is a good gross margin on a mattress? Wholesale bedding margins commonly target 30-45% gross. Knowing fully loaded cost lets you back into a wholesale price that hits that target, a unit costing roughly $134 needs about $215-245 wholesale for a 35-45% margin.
Direct cost vs total cost per mattress, what's the difference? Direct cost is just materials plus direct labor ($97 in the example). Total cost adds overhead and fixed per-unit charges, landing well above direct cost, quoting off direct cost alone is how shops lose money on volume.

Last reviewed 2026-08-11.