FREE CALCULATOR
Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
Estimate the minimum hourly rate you need to reach your annual income goal while covering your business expenses.
YOUR ESTIMATE
Minimum hourly rate
$0.00
Working weeks: 0
Annual billable hours: 0
Revenue target: $0
This is a pre-tax estimate. Taxes, insurance and other personal obligations vary by location and are not included.
HOW IT WORKS
How to calculate your freelance hourly rate
This calculator estimates an hourly rate from four values you control: your desired annual income, annual business expenses, weeks off per year and expected billable hours per week.
The formula
(52 − weeks off) × billable hours per week
Hourly rate
(desired annual income + annual business expenses) ÷ annual billable hours
Example
Suppose your desired annual income is $50,000, your annual business expenses are $5,000, you plan to take 4 weeks off and expect to bill 25 hours per week.
48 × 25 = 1,200 billable hours
$50,000 + $5,000 = $55,000 annual target
$55,000 ÷ 1,200 = $45.83 per hour
What the result means
The result is a planning estimate based entirely on the numbers you enter. It is not a universal market rate and it does not determine what a particular client will be willing to pay.
The current calculator is a pre-tax estimate. Taxes, insurance and similar personal obligations are not automatically added by the tool. Include appropriate costs in your planning where they apply to your situation.
Frequently asked questions
Does this calculator include taxes?
No. The current calculation does not automatically add income taxes, insurance or other personal tax obligations.
Why use billable hours instead of total working hours?
The calculator bases the rate on hours you expect to invoice to clients. Administrative work or other non-billable time does not directly create billable revenue, so you should enter a realistic billable-hours estimate for your own work.
Can I use this rate to price a complete project?
It can be one input, but a project price may also need to account for direct project costs and the margin you want to achieve. You can use the Project Pricing Calculator for that calculation.
What if my expenses change?
Enter the updated annual expense estimate and recalculate. The result changes automatically according to the values you provide.