Browser-only practice economics · no account
What does a first year in private practice cost before it pays you?
Every line defaults to a price this site already cites: the carrier’s rate sheet, the EHR’s pricing page, the directory’s fee, a posted office day, the Board’s reduced schedule, the Franchise Tax Board. Change any of them. The page adds them up and says how many sessions a month they eat.
Your lines →Your lines
Eight costs, three of them optional, and your schedule.
Amounts are what the sources publish today; the office is one recurring furnished day a week at the low end of the Bay Area sample, and telehealth-only practices set it to zero. The two-year Board costs are spread across the year. Nothing here is tax: that layer is on the estimated-tax calculator.
Where each default comes from
A published price on every line, and the page here that reads it.
| Line | Default | Published by | Read on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional liability | $320 a year, full-time California, $1M/$3M; 50% off in the newly-licensed year | CPH & Associates, CAMFT rate sheet | the liability insurance page |
| Practice-management software | $79 a month, SimplePractice Essential; $0–$99 across fifteen systems | SimplePractice pricing FAQ | the fifteen-systems comparison |
| Directory listing | $29.95 a month | Psychology Today, join page (read 4 September 2026) | where clients come from |
| Office | $225 a month, one recurring furnished day; sample $175–$500 | eleven public offers, listed on the office page | the Bay Area office cost page |
| Professional corporation (S election) | $800 minimum franchise tax from year two; 1.5% of net income, whichever is higher; year one pays the 1.5% only | Franchise Tax Board, corporations | the cost of incorporating |
| Board renewal | $120 per two years, active LMFT (reduced schedule plus the $20 fund fee) | BBS fee-reduction FAQ | the fee schedule page |
| Continuing education | under $170 per two-year cycle, 36 hours | BBS continuing education | the CE page |
| Card processing | 3.15% + $0.30 per transaction | SimplePractice pricing FAQ | the SimplePractice page |
| EIN, NPI | $0 | IRS; CMS NPPES | the opening checklist |
The defaults are the published prices on the date shown on each page; the reader's own quote replaces them.
Then what
The overhead is the small number. The others are on their own pages.
The tax layer
The estimated-tax calculator
Self-employment tax and the four payment dates on your own profit.
The fee that makes the year work
The rate-target calculator
Start from the take-home you need and work back to the fee.
How many clients that is
The caseload calculator
Sessions a week into clients on the books, with the median for company.
The list the money sits on
Opening a private practice: the checklist
Sixteen sourced items, from the entity to the records rule.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
Published prices
- CPH & Associates, CAMFT rate sheet (California full-time $320; discounts)
- CPH & Associates, LMFT policy page
- SimplePractice, subscription plan and pricing FAQs
- Psychology Today, membership ($29.95 a month), read 4 September 2026
- Franchise Tax Board, corporations: the $800 minimum and the first-year rule
- BBS, fee reduction FAQ (the schedule halved from 1 July 2026)
- BBS, continuing education requirements
46 working weeks a year is the schedule assumption every calculator on this site shares. The office figure is a Bay Area sample, not a state average; there is no published state average, and the page does not invent one.
