# The LAUNCH. Staffing Startup Cost Index

The cash required to open a staffing agency, modelled state by state and niche by niche from real wage data: setup, six months of overheads, and the payroll gap that actually sinks new agencies.

Updated: 2026-08-31

## Direct answer

Starting a staffing agency costs far more in working capital than in setup fees. Formation, insurance and software run around $9,000. Ten contractors on a 52-day cash cycle typically lock up six figures before a single invoice is paid. This index models that total for every US state and recruitment niche.

## Methodology

1. Setup costs are held at $9,000 (entity formation, insurance binders, contracts, software, first-year compliance) and overheads at $4,500 per month over a six-month runway. Both are stated assumptions you can override in the calculator.
2. Contractor pay is the state median hourly wage for the highest-employment occupation in the niche, from the BLS OEWS May 2025 release.
3. The payroll gap assumes 10 contractors, 40 hours a week, 12.5% employer burden, a 7-day pay cycle and 45-day client payment terms — a 52-day cash cycle.
4. The funded column applies a 90% advance rate against invoices, leaving a 10% reserve plus the pay-cycle lag as the residual cash requirement.

## Download

[Download the complete CSV](https://launch-rec.com/api/public/data/startup-cost-index.csv)

## Attribution

Cite as: LAUNCH. (2026). The LAUNCH. Staffing Startup Cost Index. Launch Found. https://launch-rec.com/data/startup-cost-index