Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
Calculate exactly what you need to charge to meet your income goals and cover business costs.
How to Calculate Your Freelance Hourly Rate
Transitioning from a traditional salary to a freelance rate involves more than just dividing your old salary by 2,000 hours. Freelancers must account for "hidden" costs that employers usually cover, such as self-employment taxes, health insurance, software subscriptions, and non-billable time spent on marketing and invoicing.
The Formula for Freelance Success
To find your ideal rate, we use the Adjusted Revenue Requirement formula:
- Total Gross Income Needed: (Desired Net Income + Annual Expenses) / (1 – Tax Rate).
- Total Billable Weeks: 52 weeks – Vacation weeks – (Sick days / 5).
- Total Annual Billable Hours: Billable Weeks × Billable Hours per Week.
- Hourly Rate: Total Gross Income Needed / Annual Billable Hours.
Why You Should Charge More Than You Think
Many new freelancers make the mistake of calculating based on a 40-hour work week. However, most freelancers only spend about 60% of their time on billable client work. The rest is spent on admin, lead generation, and professional development. If you plan to work 40 hours total, your billable hours should likely be set to 20 or 25 in this calculator.
Example Calculation
If you want to take home $70,000, have $5,000 in expenses, pay 25% in taxes, and work 25 billable hours per week with 4 weeks of vacation:
- Gross Target: ($70,000 + $5,000) / 0.75 = $100,000.
- Annual Hours: 48 weeks × 25 hours = 1,200 hours.
- Required Rate: $83.33 per hour.