The objective of this analysis was to quantify the economic impact of culling high SCC cows to decrease bulk tank SCC. An average US Holstein herd was simulated using @Risk (Palisade Corporation, Ithaca, NY) from Dairy Metrics data provided by Dairy Records Management Systems (Raleigh, NC). The herd consisted of 204 cows with an average SCC of 221,000 cells/mL and an average cull rate of 5.8% for milk quality. A β distribution was utilized to model herd SCC, culling rate, and milk price to make the variables stochastic. A 10,000-iteration simulation of the herd was run culling 12 cows (5.8%) for milk quality per year. Each cow culled represented the cow contributing the most to the bulk tank SCC, which prevented the herd from reaching a monthly SCC threshold of 200,000 cells/mL and a $0.01/kg milk quality premium. Cow contributions to the bulk tank SCC ranged from 5% to 23%, depending on milk production yield and SCC. Benefits of culling the high SCC cows consisted of the premium for milk sold throughout the year by the average farm. Costs included lost milk production from the replacement of the culled cow with a primiparous animal and the retention payoff value of the culled cow. Retention payoff was calculated by taking the sum of the potential future income less operational cost of the cow in question minus the potential future income less operational cost of her replacement. Average ± standard deviation (SD) milk price was $0.41 ± $0.05/kg, and retention payoff of the 12 cull cows was $501.33 ± 238.59 per cow at culling. The average ± SD benefit of culling the 12 high SCC cows was $6,048.02 ± $119.02 per cow-year. Results were highly dependent on the DIM of the culled cow, as milk yield and retention payoff are highly dependent on DIM. Though culling was a profitable option in 100% of iterations in the baseline scenario, this may not be suitable for all herds. Future analysis should include differing herd sizes because as herd size increases, cows contribute a smaller proportion of cells to the bulk tank SCC, herds will have to cull more cows to reach SCC premium levels.