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Freelance Rate Calculator

Calculate the hourly and day rate that actually covers your target income, business expenses, taxes, and non-billable time.

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Minimum hourly rate

$120.50
Day rate (5-day week)$602
Gross revenue needed$138,571
True billable hours1,150 (46 weeks)

Billable hours are typically only 50–60% of working time once admin, marketing, and unpaid gaps are counted. Dividing a salary by 2,080 hours understates a sustainable rate badly.

About this tool

How it works

Grosses up target income plus annual business expenses by the effective tax rate, then divides by true billable hours: weekly billable hours times fifty-two weeks minus time off. The day rate assumes a five-day week of the entered billable load.

A practical way to use it

Targeting $85,000 take-home with $12,000 expenses, a 30% effective tax rate, 25 billable hours a week, and 6 weeks off requires about $120/hour — not the $41/hour a salary-divided-by-2,080 shortcut suggests.

Use results as a practical aid, and verify important decisions against your own source data and qualified guidance.