Set your take-home goal
Enter the annual amount you want to keep after business costs and your tax reserve.
Free freelance calculator
Freelance hourly rate calculator
Find the hourly rate that covers your income goal, taxes, expenses, time off, and the hours clients never see.
- Built around realistic billable hours
- Includes taxes, overhead, and vacation
- No signup and nothing uploaded
Calculate your sustainable rate
Income + costs + realistic billable time
Your target hourly rate
$79.86/ hour
This rate funds your take-home goal, business costs, tax reserve, and planned time off.
- Annual revenue target
- $92,000
- Monthly revenue target
- $7,667
- Billable hours per week
- 24.0 hours
- 20-hour project floor
- $1,597
Your numbers never leave this browser.
Price from the real numbers
How to use the Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
Add the true cost of freelancing
Include annual software, insurance, equipment, accounting, and other business expenses.
Plan realistic billable time
Account for vacation and the time spent on sales, admin, proposals, and other non-billable work.
Use your sustainable rate
Copy the result and use it as the baseline for hourly work and fixed-price project estimates.
The formula
How to calculate a freelance hourly rate
Your rate should divide the revenue your business needs by the hours you can actually invoice—not every hour you work.
Sustainable hourly rate
Revenue target = expenses + (take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate))
Billable hours = working weeks × weekly hours × billable %
Hourly rate = revenue target ÷ annual billable hours
This is a planning model, not tax, accounting, or legal advice. Taxes and deductible expenses vary by location and business structure.
Stop guessing
Why use a freelance rate calculator?
Salary math misses the unpaid work and costs of running a business. A sustainable rate gives every proposal a defensible financial floor.
Cover the whole business
Build operating costs and a tax reserve into your price instead of paying them from personal income.
Respect non-billable work
Plan around sales, admin, communication, and learning time that keeps the business moving.
Set a project floor
Convert the hourly target into a minimum fixed-project price before adjusting for value and risk.
Already know your rate?
Calculate exactly what an out-of-scope client request should cost.
Pricing questions
Freelance Hourly Rate FAQ
How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?
Add annual business expenses to the gross income needed to reach your take-home goal after your tax reserve. Divide that revenue target by the number of hours you can realistically bill each year.
What does billable percentage mean for a freelancer?
Billable percentage is the share of working time you can charge to clients. The rest goes to proposals, marketing, bookkeeping, email, learning, and other work required to run the business.
Should a freelance rate include taxes and business expenses?
Yes. A sustainable rate needs to cover business costs and leave room for taxes as well as personal income. This calculator treats the tax percentage as a planning reserve, not tax advice.
How much vacation should I include in my freelance rate?
Use the time you genuinely want or expect to take off, including holidays. Fewer working weeks mean fewer billable hours, so the rate must be higher to reach the same annual goal.
Can I use an hourly rate to price fixed-fee projects?
Yes. Multiply the estimated project hours by your target rate to establish a minimum price, then adjust for risk, complexity, value, revisions, and urgency before presenting a fixed fee.
When should I raise my freelance rate?
Recalculate when your expenses, income target, availability, expertise, or demand changes. For existing projects, follow the pricing and notice terms in your agreement rather than changing an approved fee without discussion.
ScopeYes does not store calculator inputs. For a stronger project foundation, use the free freelance scope of work template.