Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator

Work backward from your desired take-home income to find the hourly rate you actually need to charge. Unlike simple salary-division math, this tool accounts for non-billable time, business expenses, and self-funded costs like health insurance and retirement.

Desired annual take-home income ($)

Annual business expenses ($)

Software, equipment, subscriptions, etc.

Self-funded costs ($/year)

Health insurance, retirement, etc. (optional)

Working weeks per year

52 weeks minus vacation/holidays (default: 48)

Billable hours per week

This is typically less than total working hours. For example, a 40-hour work week often yields only 20-30 billable hours due to admin, marketing, and non-billable tasks.

Your target hourly rate

$87.50/hr

Annual billable hours1,200

Total annual costs$105,000

Income / hr$83.33

Expenses / hr$4.17

Self-funded / hr$0.00