How much to charge for tamales per dozen
At the example prices below, a dozen red chile pork tamales costs $10.63 to $13.49 in ingredients. Add 60 minutes of work at $15.00 an hour and $0.75 for a bag and label, and the dozen costs $26.38 to $29.24 to make. A 40% margin puts the price at $43.97 to $48.73 a dozen. The amounts come from this planner's own ranges, so a heavier hand with the pork or the masa moves you along the range. Every price in the form is a placeholder you can change.
Your prices
Ingredients for one dozen
Quantities are the planner's range for one dozen standard tamales with masa harina and a red chile pork filling. The low column uses the low end of each range, the high column the high end. See the pages on masa, pork, lard and corn husks for where each range comes from.
| Ingredient | Amount | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Masa harina | 2 to 2.5 cups | $0.84 to $1.05 |
| Lard | 0.6 to 0.67 cups | $1.21 to $1.35 |
| Broth | 1.7 to 1.75 cups | $1.19 to $1.22 |
| Raw pork shoulder | 0.75 to 1.25 lb | $2.99 to $4.99 |
| Red chile sauce | 1.3 cups | $2.28 |
| Corn husks (with 10% spares) | 14 to 20 husks | $1.12 to $1.60 |
| Salt, baking powder, spices | one batch | $1.00 |
| Ingredients per dozen | $10.63 to $13.49 |
Per tamale that is $0.89 to $1.12. A chicken or cheese filling replaces the pork and sauce lines; the chicken and cheese pages have those amounts.
Labor, packaging and a price
Labor is 60 minutes at $15.00 an hour, $15.00 a dozen. With $0.75 of packaging, the cost to make a dozen is $26.38 to $29.24. The price at a margin is cost divided by one minus the margin, so 40% means cost divided by 0.6. The 0% row is the break-even price.
| Margin | Price per dozen | Per tamale |
|---|---|---|
| 0% (break-even) | $26.38 to $29.24 | $2.20 to $2.44 |
| 30% | $37.69 to $41.77 | $3.14 to $3.48 |
| 40% | $43.97 to $48.73 | $3.66 to $4.06 |
| 50% | $52.76 to $58.48 | $4.40 to $4.87 |
What other sellers charge
ThePricer (updated August 5, 2026) says most tamales cost $2 to $6 each, or about $20 to $60 a dozen. By their table an independent bakery or local vendor charges $24 to $48 a dozen, a high-volume tamaleria $12 to $30, and a premium or specialty shop $45 to $65. These ranges are theirs.
For home cooks, they put ingredients for a batch of 30 to 40 at $25 to $60, or $0.70 to $1.80 a tamal before labor. They count 3 active hours for a batch of 36 and show that a $20-an-hour value on that time turns a $48 ingredient bill into about $3 a tamal. Compare that with the table above: the labor line is what separates a cost of ingredients from a price you can live on.
Home-sale rules for meat foods vary by state, so check your local rules before you sell.
For the general version of this math with any recipe, use the bake price calculator. To plan how many dozen to make for a party, go back to the tamale planner.