# Marginal Cost

Marginal Cost Definition: Marginal cost represents the costs when the total production increases.

Marginal costs are based on production expenses such as materials, labor, equipment, electricity anything that is associated with the output. This is the variable cost, if you would like to calculate the average variable costs for production, try our Average Variable Cost Calculator.

Marginal cost does not take into account the fixed costs such as marketing and administrative costs that are not dependent on the production size. We also have a Average fixed cost calculator.

Change in costs can occur when the production costs either increases or decreases. A business may need an increase in output or a decrease depending on the number of orders received . An example is a company needs to manufacture more units to meet demand, this requires hiring more workers, moving to a larger warehouse and also increases the amount of raw materials needed. This results in a change in production costs with it going higher. To obtain the change in costs, deduct the cost of production before the increase or decrease in production.

Change in Quantity production will increase or decrease with each level, quantities are used to calculate the changes made as the amount of goods produced translates directly to costs. Higher quantity = high costs. To calculate the changes in quantity, the number of goods produced in the first production run is deducted from the number of goods produced in the following production run.

Marginal Cost Formula: change in costs/change in quantity

### How to calculate marginal cost

Example 1:
• A company is producing 100 units at the cost of $500, • The average cost per unit is$5
• we add an extra unit and the costs are now $550 • Using the formula: 50 is the change in cost and the change in quantity is 1. • 50/1 =$50. The marginal cost for the 101st unit is \$50

### How to Use Marginal Cost

Enter the change in total cost.

Enter the change in Quantity.