NumberTally Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator — Price Your Work Right
Find the minimum hourly rate that hits your income goal as a freelancer. Covers business expenses, taxes, and your real billable hours — plus a breakdown of where every billed dollar goes and what the rate looks like at different workloads.
What you want to keep for yourself, after business costs and taxes.
Taxes set-aside, insurance, software, equipment, home office.
Billable only — not admin, marketing, or learning. 20–27 is typical full-time.
52 minus vacation, holidays, and slow weeks.
US freelancers often set aside 25–30% for income + self-employment tax.
Advanced options
10–20% is sane: covers estimating errors, late payments, and slow months.
Optional — overrides the annual target above (×12).
Why freelancers underprice their work
Most new freelancers divide their old salary by 2,080 and call it a rate. That math ignores three things: you will not bill 40 hours a week (marketing, admin, and proposals eat a third of it), nobody withholds your taxes, and nobody pays you when you are sick. The honest formula is (target income + expenses) ÷ (1 − tax rate) ÷ real billable hours — the calculator runs it for you.
The rate you get is your floor, not your price. Market demand, specialization, and experience should push your actual quotes above it — and the profit margin option builds in the buffer that turns surviving into growing.
Billable hours: the number everyone gets wrong
A 40-hour work week yields roughly 20–27 billable hours for an established freelancer and often under 15 when starting out. The comparison table in the results shows your required rate at 20, 25, 30, and 35 billable hours per week — watch how brutally the rate climbs when billable hours drop. If your pipeline is thin, raising your rate matters less than filling the hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many billable hours per year is realistic?
For a full-time freelancer, 1,000–1,400 billable hours per year is the realistic range — roughly 20–27 billable hours per week. The rest goes to marketing, admin, proposals, and learning. New freelancers should use the low end until client flow is steady.
Should my rate cover income taxes?
Yes — build taxes into the rate rather than hoping money is left over. US freelancers owe self-employment tax (15.3%) plus income tax, and many set aside 25–30% of revenue. That is what the tax set-aside input is for.
Is hourly pricing better than project pricing?
Hourly is simpler and protects you when scope creeps. Project pricing can earn more per hour once you are fast, but only with careful scoping. Many freelancers use this calculator’s rate internally, then quote projects as rate × estimated hours plus a buffer.
What profit margin should I use?
10–20% is a sane default. The margin covers estimating errors, late payments, equipment surprises, and slow months — plus it is how a business grows instead of merely surviving.
Should I charge differently for rush work?
Yes. Rush fees of 25–50% are standard because rush work displaces other clients. Decide your rush policy in advance and state it in contracts so it is never a surprise.