Climbing Gym Profit Calculator — monthly profit, payback and break-even members

1. Gym, day passes and memberships

Comfortable capacity (climbers at once)

Open hours per week

Average visit length (hours)

Day passes sold a month

Day pass price ($)

Members

Monthly membership fee ($)

Visits per member a month

Rentals, shop and cafe spend per visit ($)

Shop and cafe cost (%)

2. Youth programs and parties

Kids in youth programs and camps

Monthly youth tuition ($)

Coaching cost (% of tuition)

Birthday parties a month

Party package price ($)

Cost per party: host, food, supplies ($)

3. Monthly costs

Front desk and floor staff on duty while open

Staff hourly wage ($)

Payroll tax and workers comp (%)

Route setting: setters, holds and supplies a month ($)

Monthly rent ($)

Monthly utilities ($)

Monthly insurance ($)

Software, marketing and other fixed costs a month ($)

Card and billing fees (%)

Hold, rope and auto-belay replacement reserve (% of revenue)

4. The build and any loan

Walls, flooring and equipment ($)

Fit-out: desk, locker rooms, party rooms, cafe ($)

Margin you want (%)

Share of the build financed (%)

Loan interest rate (% a year)

Loan term (months)

Payback you want (months)

Fill in the numbers, then click Check this gym.

Result

Line	Per month

If demand comes in under plan

Demand	Members and day passes	Profit a month	Profit a year	Payback (months)

5. Compare with a second scenario

Scenario A is everything above. Scenario B keeps your hours, staff, rent and costs, and changes only the day passes, prices, members, youth program and parties below. The build cost stays the same, so compare scenarios that fit the same building.

Scenario B: day passes a month

Scenario B: day pass price ($)

Scenario B: members

Scenario B: monthly membership fee ($)

Scenario B: youth program kids

Scenario B: monthly youth tuition ($)

Scenario B: parties a month

How it is built

Visits: day passes + members × visits per member. Revenue: day passes × price, plus members × monthly fee, plus kids × tuition, plus parties × package price, plus visits × rentals, shop and cafe spend. Costs: shop cost, youth coaching, party cost, card fees and the replacement reserve as a share of revenue, front desk staff for every open hour, route setting, rent, utilities, insurance and other fixed costs, and any loan payment.

Payback: build cost ÷ monthly profit before the loan payment. Lowest prices: the day pass price, and separately the membership fee, at which margin equals your target, and the day pass price at which payback equals your target; typing any back reproduces the target. Sensitivity: the same gym with day passes and members cut by 10% and 20% (youth and parties held). Break-even: profit is exactly linear in demand, so the break-even share of planned demand is solved exactly. Crowding check: climber-hours against comfortable capacity and open hours.

Common questions

How much does it cost to open a climbing gym?

Plan on roughly $400,000 to $1.5 million for walls, flooring, auto-belays and equipment in a 10,000 to 25,000 square foot building, plus a fit-out for the front desk, lockers, party rooms and a small cafe. Enter your own quotes for both and the calculator adds them into one build cost and divides it by monthly operating profit to give a payback.

How many members does a climbing gym need to break even?

It depends on rent, staff and pricing, so the calculator solves it: it scales members and day passes together until monthly profit is exactly zero and reports the member and day-pass counts at that point. Youth programs and parties pay for some fixed costs first, so the break-even is lower than a membership-only plan suggests.

How much of a climbing gym's income comes from memberships?

Often half or more of revenue, and the steadiest part because it bills monthly. The calculator counts memberships at the fee you enter, and warns when they are over 60% of revenue, because one price change or a competitor opening nearby then moves the whole business.

What day pass and membership price do I need for my target margin?

The calculator solves for the day pass price and, separately, the membership fee that make margin equal your target, and shows the day pass price that reaches your payback target. The test suite checks that charging exactly those prices earns the target for hundreds of random gyms.

Is my data uploaded, and is this financial advice?

Nothing is uploaded: it runs in your browser with no accounts. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type, not tax, legal, lending or financial advice. Lease terms, licences, waivers, insurance and safety rules depend on where you operate.