Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator

Stop guessing what to charge — enter your income goal and real working hours, and see the rate that actually gets you there.

📖 How it works & FAQ

Desired annual salary ($)

Annual business expenses ($)

Billable hours per week

Weeks worked per year

Profit margin / buffer (%)

Why your rate isn't your old salary divided by 2,080

A salaried job pays you for every hour you're at work. Freelancing doesn't. Out of a 40-hour week, most freelancers only bill 20–30 hours — the rest disappears into proposals, invoicing, emails, marketing, and admin. You also lose weeks to holidays, sick days, and dry spells between clients. Dividing your target salary by 2,080 hours quietly bakes all of that unpaid time into a rate that's far too low. This calculator flips the math: it starts from the income you want, adds your real costs, and spreads the total only across the hours a client actually pays for.

What the numbers mean

The formula is: (desired salary + business expenses) × (1 + buffer %) ÷ (billable hours per week × weeks worked). Expenses cover software, hardware, insurance, coworking, accounting — everything the business pays before you do. The buffer is your safety margin for slow months, late payers, and profit you can reinvest; 10–20% is a common starting point. The day rate shown assumes 8 billable hours in a day. All figures are estimates only, not financial, tax, insurance, or legal advice — taxes in particular vary a lot by country and setup.

How to use it

Enter the annual salary you want to take home before tax.
Add up your yearly business expenses — tools, insurance, gear, subscriptions.
Set realistic billable hours per week (be honest — 25 is typical).
Set weeks worked per year, leaving room for vacation and downtime.
Pick a profit buffer and read your hourly and day rate instantly.

FAQ

Does this account for taxes?: No — the salary you enter is pre-tax. If you want to think after-tax, gross up your target salary first, or fold estimated self-employment tax into the expenses field.
What's a realistic number of billable hours?: Most full-time freelancers bill 20–30 hours a week. New freelancers often bill less while they build a pipeline, so start conservative and adjust.
Why is my calculated rate higher than what competitors charge?: Often it means your hours or weeks are set too low, or the market genuinely underprices the work. Try raising billable hours, trimming expenses, or repositioning toward higher-value clients before cutting the rate.
Is my data stored anywhere?: No. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you type is sent to a server or saved.