Freelance Rate Calculator

What this does

A freelance rate calculator works back from a target take-home income, expenses, tax set-aside, and profit buffer to the hourly, day, and week rate you need to charge.

How to use it

1. Enter your target income.
2. Add expenses and a profit buffer.
3. Set the tax set-aside.
4. Enter your billable hours.

How it works

Admin, sales, and learning are unpaid, so most freelancers bill only part of the working week. Mark your target up for profit, gross it up for tax, then add expenses, which are deductible and so not taxed, and divide by billable hours.

rate = grossed-up target ÷ billable hours

Understanding your result

The rate is what you must charge to hit your take-home target once expenses, tax, and unpaid hours are covered, not your desired salary divided by 40 hours. If the number feels high, remember admin, sales, and gaps between work are unbillable, so a healthy rate funds the whole business.

Example

A $60,000 take-home target with a 10% profit buffer, a 25% tax set-aside and $10,000 of expenses needs $98,000 of billings; at 25 billable hours a week for 48 weeks (1,200 hours) that is about $81.67 an hour.