Income Per Hour: The One Metric Every Vendor Should Track

Why Revenue Alone Is Misleading

Ask most craft fair vendors how their show went and they'll tell you their revenue number. "I had a $1,200 day!" That sounds great. But was it? A $1,200 day at a two-day show where you drove four hours round-trip, paid a $400 booth fee, and spent 18 hours total — setup through teardown — is a very different outcome than a $1,200 day at a local one-day show with a $75 fee and a 20-minute drive.

Revenue is a vanity metric for vendors. Income per hour is what actually tells you if a show was worth your time.

The Formula

Income per hour (IPH) is straightforward:

IPH = Net Income ÷ Total Hours

Where:

• Net Income = Gross sales − Booth fee − Travel costs − Show supplies − Payment processing fees
• Total Hours = Drive time (round trip) + Setup time + Selling hours + Teardown time

Example: You make $800 at a show. Booth fee was $150, travel was $40 in gas and tolls, processing fees were $20. Net = $590. You spent 2 hours driving, 1.5 hours setting up, 8 hours selling, and 1 hour tearing down — 12.5 total hours. IPH = $590 ÷ 12.5 = $47.20/hr.

Is that good? Depends on what you're comparing it to.

What's a "Good" IPH?

There's no universal benchmark, but here's a practical framework:

• Under $15/hr: Below minimum wage in most states. Worth examining seriously before returning.
• $15–30/hr: Decent. Not spectacular. Worth doing if you enjoy the show or it has strategic value (good location, builds your brand).
• $30–60/hr: Good. This show is working for you. Prioritize it.
• $60+/hr: Great. Find more shows like this one.

Your personal bar depends on your goals and alternatives. But calculating IPH for every show quickly reveals which ones you should be loyal to — and which ones you've been returning to out of habit.

IPH Across Your Show Calendar

The real power of IPH comes when you compare it across all your shows in a year. You might discover that your busy holiday market with the highest revenue actually has mediocre IPH because of the extreme hours, while a smaller spring market you almost dropped has consistently been your best performer on a per-hour basis.

This kind of insight changes how you build your show calendar. Instead of chasing the biggest shows, you start building around the most efficient ones.

How to Improve Your IPH

There are only a few levers:

• Increase revenue — Better pricing, higher-ticket items, bundles, better display that converts browsers into buyers.
• Reduce costs — Negotiate booth fees for repeat appearances, reduce mileage by prioritizing local shows, buy supplies in bulk.
• Reduce hours — Get faster at setup and teardown. Use a cart or dolly. Pre-pack your booth in a way that makes setup efficient.
• Drop low-performing shows — The most direct lever. Freeing up a weekend from a $12/hr show lets you apply to a $45/hr one.

Don't Forget Unpaid Hours

A complete IPH calculation also includes the prep time before the show — making inventory, packing, making signage, doing applications. Some vendors track this separately as "business hours" versus "show hours." Either way, the more time you spend on a single show, the lower your effective IPH gets.

Batch production helps here. Making 50 candles in one session is more efficient than making 10 before each show. Streamlining your booth setup so it takes 45 minutes instead of 2 hours adds up to real money over a year.

Start Tracking It

The only way to know your IPH is to track your time and expenses for every show. Most vendors who start doing this are surprised by what they find — both the hidden gems they didn't appreciate and the shows they should have dropped years ago.

Your time is finite. IPH is how you spend it wisely.