Freelancer Hourly Rate Calculator
Calculate the hourly rate you need as a freelancer based on income goals, taxes, overhead, and billable hours.
Revenue Breakdown
How It Works
Freelancing is not just “salary ÷ hours”. Your hourly rate needs to cover your target take-home income, taxes, overhead, and the reality that not every working hour is billable.
This freelancer hourly rate calculator estimates the hourly rate you need based on billable hours per week and working weeks per year. Fewer billable hours means a higher hourly rate.
Use it to sanity-check pricing, plan part-time freelancing, or translate a salary goal into a realistic consulting rate.
- Target take-home: The money you want to keep after tax.
- Billable hours: Only hours you can invoice, not admin/sales.
- Weeks per year: Vacation, sick days, downtime, breaks.
- Overhead: Tools, accounting, subscriptions, non-billable work.
- Tax estimate: A simple planning assumption (varies a lot).
About This Calculator
We built this freelance rate calculator for consultants, developers, designers, marketers, and anyone who charges hourly or needs to price projects confidently.
If you’re often not fully booked, the biggest mistake is assuming 40 billable hours/week. Setting realistic billable hours protects your income and avoids underpricing.
- Not fully booked?: Lower billable hours/week to avoid undercharging.
- More admin time?: Increase overhead % to match reality.
- Stable retainer work?: Higher billable hours can make rates more competitive.
FAQ
How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?
A simple approach is: (target take-home + taxes + overhead) ÷ billable hours per year. This tool does that calculation for you and lets you adjust assumptions.
What are billable hours?
Billable hours are the hours you can invoice to clients. Non-billable time includes admin, sales, meetings, proposals, and learning time.
What should I use for overhead?
Overhead includes tools, software, accounting, insurance, equipment, and non-billable time. Many freelancers start with 10%–30% depending on their setup.
Is the tax rate accurate?
This is a simplified estimate. Real taxes vary by country, deductions, business structure, and local rules. Use this as a planning tool, not tax advice.
Why does working weeks per year matter?
If you take vacation, sick days, or have downtime between projects, you’ll work fewer weeks. Fewer weeks means fewer billable hours and a higher required hourly rate.