Freelance Rate Calculator
Our freelance hourly rate calculator turns your income goal, expenses, tax and billable hours into a rate that actually works.
Formula & worked example
Formula: Revenue needed = income ÷ (1 − tax) + yearly expenses. Hourly rate = revenue ÷ billable hours, where billable hours = weekly hours × billable % × working weeks.
Example: 60,000 goal, 25% tax, 500 monthly expenses, 40 h weeks, 60% billable, 6 weeks off: 86,000 ÷ 1,104 h ≈ 77.90 per hour.
Method & source: Revenue-required method: income grossed up for tax, plus expenses, over billable hours. See how we test our calculators.
Next step: try hourly to salary or work hours with breaks or savings goal.
What Is a Freelance Rate Calculator?
A freelance rate calculator converts the income you want into the hourly rate you should charge. It starts from your goal and works out how much you must bill after covering business expenses, tax and the reality that not every working hour can be invoiced.
This freelance hourly rate calculator is built around your own numbers: annual income goal, monthly expenses, tax rate, weekly working hours, billable percentage and weeks off.
How Our Freelance Rate Calculator Works
Fill in your target income and how you work. The calculator builds the rate from the ground up.
- Income goal: The take-home profit you want after tax and expenses.
- Tax: Your estimated tax rate on profit, added on top of the goal.
- Expenses: Monthly business costs multiplied by twelve and added to the revenue you need.
- Billable hours: Weekly hours × billable percentage × weeks worked.
- Results: Hourly rate, day rate, weekly revenue and a project price for any number of hours.
Nothing here is tax advice, but it gives you a defensible, number-based starting point for quotes.
Why Setting the Right Rate Matters
Many freelancers underprice because they compare their rate to an employee’s hourly wage, forgetting unpaid time and overheads.
- Cover expenses, tax and holidays without working nights and weekends.
- Stop under-quoting projects.
- Understand how billable percentage changes the rate you need.
- Negotiate with confidence using a transparent formula.
- Plan raises as your costs and goals change.
Pricing from your goals rather than from guesswork is the simplest way to build a freelance business that pays what you need.
Worked walkthrough: a designer’s day rate
A designer wants to take home 48,000 a year, pays 300 a month in software and equipment, estimates 20% tax, works 30 hours a week, bills 65% of those hours and takes 5 weeks off. Income before tax is 48,000 ÷ 0.80 = 60,000; adding 3,600 of expenses makes 63,600 of revenue needed. Working weeks are 47, so billable hours are 30 × 65% × 47 = 916.5. The minimum rate is about 69.39 an hour, or 555 for an 8-hour day. A 30-hour project would be quoted at roughly 2,082 before any buffer for revisions.
Practical tips for freelance rate calculations
- Base the billable percentage on your real diary. Time spent on admin, emails, pitching and learning is rarely billable, so 50–70% is typical.
- Set aside tax separately and use a realistic rate. If you are unsure, use a higher percentage – it is safer to over-save than under-save.
- Treat the result as a minimum. Add a margin for slow months, late-paying clients and unpaid revisions.
- Quote projects with the project-hours box and add a contingency of 10–20% for scope changes.
- Revisit your rate once or twice a year. As your skills and costs grow, your number should too.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Add the income you want (grossed up for tax) to your yearly expenses, then divide by the hours you can realistically bill in a year. The calculator does this for you.
It is the share of your working hours that you can invoice. Admin, marketing, emails and sales calls are usually unbilled, so 50–70% is common.
Holidays, sick days and public holidays are unpaid when you are self-employed. Fewer working weeks means fewer billable hours, which raises the rate you need.
It is an estimate. The calculator grosses up your income goal by the tax percentage you enter. Check the rules that apply to you or ask an accountant.
Enter the hours you expect for the project in the project field. The calculator multiplies them by your hourly rate; add a buffer for revisions.
Estimates only – not financial advice. Results are estimates based only on the figures you enter and simplified assumptions (constant prices, costs and rates; no unexpected fees). They are not financial, tax or accounting advice. Check important decisions with a qualified professional. See our full disclaimer.