Freelance Rate Calculator

Figure out the hourly or day rate you need to charge to hit a target income.

Methodology

Required rate = (target income + business expenses + self-funded benefits) ÷ (1 − tax buffer %) ÷ total billable hours per year. This is a planning estimate, not a guarantee of what the market will pay.

Worked example

Someone targeting $80,000/year, billing 25 hours/week for 48 weeks (1,200 billable hours), with $5,000 in expenses and $8,000 in self-funded benefits, needs to charge about $111/hour after a 30% tax buffer. Billing more hours per week (say 40, with no weeks off) drops the required rate, since fixed costs spread across more hours.

Limitations

• The 30% default tax buffer is a rough placeholder, not personalized to your actual bracket — use the 1099 vs W2 or Quarterly Tax calculators for a real tax estimate at your income level.
• Doesn't account for non-billable time spent on sales, admin, or unpaid revisions beyond what you build into your own "weeks off" input.