Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
Work out the hourly rate to charge so your billable hours cover your target take-home pay, business expenses and tax. Adjust for unbillable admin time too.
How to calculate your freelance hourly rate
- Enter the take-home income you want for the year.
- Add your billable hours per week, working weeks per year, expenses and tax rate.
- Optionally add a non-billable percent for admin time, then read your target rate.
Examples
Targeting $80k after a 25% tax rate
$80,000 income, $10,000 expenses, 25% tax, 30 billable hours over 48 weeks
Charge about $83.33 per hour ($120,000 gross over 1,440 hours)
Frequently asked questions
How is the required hourly rate calculated?
Gross needed is your target income plus expenses divided by one minus your tax rate. That gross is then divided by your billable hours for the year to give the rate.
What counts as billable hours per week?
Only the hours you can actually invoice clients. Time spent on admin, marketing and quoting is not billable, so set this lower than your total working hours.
What does the non-billable percent do?
It trims your billable hours to reflect time lost to unpaid work. A higher percent means fewer hours to earn from, which raises the rate you need.
Should I use this rate for fixed-price projects?
Yes, as a baseline. Estimate the hours a project will take, multiply by this rate, then add a margin for scope risk.
Is my information private?
Yes. The math runs entirely in your browser and nothing you enter is uploaded.
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