Work out your hourly rate
Change any number and the result updates as you type.
52 minus holiday, sick & admin
Reinvestment & rainy days
All the hours at your desk, billable or not
The share of your working hours you can invoice. The rest is sales, admin, and email.
Charge at least
$140.00 / hr
About $850 a day · from 773 billable hours a year.
Revenue to cover$108,100.00
Billable hours / yr773
Break-even rate$121.64 / hr
How we work it out
- Add up what you needIncome goal plus expenses: $94,000 a year. With your 15% buffer: $108,100.
- Count the hours you can bill46 weeks × 4 days × 6 hours, 70% of them billable: 773 hours.
- Divide, then round up$108,100 over 773 hours: $140.00 an hour.
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How to use the freelance rate calculator
- Enter your income goal: what you want to pay yourself in a year, before income tax.
- Add your yearly business expenses, like software, equipment, insurance and an accountant.
- Set your working weeks, days and hours. Be honest about holidays and sick days.
- Slide billable utilization to the share of that time you can actually invoice, and add a profit buffer.
- Read your minimum hourly rate, the day rate it implies and your break-even rate.
How the freelance rate calculator works
The calculator works backwards from the money you need. It adds your income goal and expenses, puts a buffer on top, then divides by the hours you can really bill, not the hours you’ll be at your desk.
Revenue to cover(income goal + expenses) × (1 + profit buffer)
Billable hoursweeks × days × hours a day × utilization
Hourly raterevenue to cover ÷ billable hours
- Income goal + expenses
- $85,000 + $9,000 = $94,000
- With a 15% buffer
- $108,100
- 46 weeks × 4 days × 6 hours
- 1,104 hours
- At 70% billable
- 773 hours
- $108,100 ÷ 773 hours
- $140 / hr
That’s about $850 a day. Without the buffer you’d break even at $121.64 an hour, which is the floor, not the goal.
Freelance rate calculator FAQ
What should I charge as a freelancer?
Start with the rate from this calculator: it’s the least you can charge and still reach your income goal. Then look at what clients in your field pay for similar work, and what the result is worth to them. If the market pays more, charge that. If it pays less, you’ll need more billable hours, lower costs or a different niche. If the result is above what your current clients pay, the rate increase letter moves them up with notice.
Why is my freelance rate so much higher than my old hourly wage?
An employer pays for your holidays, sick days, equipment and the hours you spend in meetings. As a freelancer your rate has to cover all of that, plus the sales and admin time no client pays for.
What is billable utilization?
It’s the share of your working hours you can invoice. The rest goes on proposals, email, bookkeeping and finding the next client. If you’re not sure, start around 60–70% and adjust once you’ve tracked a few weeks.
Should my income goal include tax?
Use the amount you want to earn before income tax, like a salary. Then put a slice of every payment aside for tax. The tax set-aside calculator works out how much.
Should I charge hourly or by the project?
Either works. Even when you quote a fixed price, keep your hourly rate underneath: estimate the hours, multiply by your rate and add a margin for the unknowns. That way a project price never quietly drops below what you need, and once the work is done, the project profitability calculator shows whether it held.
More money tools
Invoice generatorAdd your line items, watch the totals and tax add up, and copy a clean, itemized invoice.Late-fee & terms calculatorSee what a late invoice really costs and generate fair late-fee language for your payment terms.Tax set-aside estimatorFind the slice of every payment to park for tax, so April is boring instead of brutal.Project profitabilityCompare your quote against real hours and costs to see which projects actually earn their keep.