Free Tool
What Should I Charge per Hour?
Start from what you want to take home. The calculator adds taxes, costs and time off, and divides by the hours clients actually pay for.
Step 1
What You Want to Keep
What lands in your pocket after taxes and business costs.
Set aside for income and self-employment taxes. In the US, 25–35% of profit is a common range.
Step 2
Your Time
Vacation and holidays
Everything: client work, email, sales, invoicing.
Most freelancers bill 50–75% of the hours they work. The rest goes to finding and running the work.
Step 3
Your Business
Software, insurance, equipment, accounting, coworking.
Extra for slow months, retirement and savings.
Charge at least
$115/hour
Your floor is $98/hour, which covers your take-home, taxes and costs with nothing left over.
- Day rate
- $920
- 8 billable hours
- Billable hours
- 1,222
- per year
- Revenue
- $140,530
- per year
Where each year's revenue goes
- Your take-home$80,000
- Taxes$34,286
- Business costs$4,800
- Buffer$17,863
An employee earning the same before taxes makes about $55/hour. Your rate is higher because you pay your own taxes and costs, and only some of your hours are billable.
Start Charging $115/hourFree account. Sets it as your default rate, so every new project starts there.
Then Check You're Hitting It
per.hr tracks your hours, and Reports shows your effective hourly rate for each client: what you were actually paid per hour of work. You'll see which clients pay you $115 or more.
How the Math Works
- 1. Profit you need. Take-home pay divided by what's left after taxes. $80,000 at 30% tax is $114,286.
- 2. Add costs and a buffer. $400 a month in costs is $4,800 a year. A 15% buffer on top brings the total to about $136,950.
- 3. Count billable hours. 47 working weeks × 40 hours × 65% billable is about 1,222 hours.
- 4. Divide. $136,950 ÷ 1,222 hours is $112, rounded up to $115 an hour.
Ready to use it? Make an estimate, make an invoice or see how per.hr tracks your time.
Questions
How Do I Calculate My Freelance Hourly Rate?
Start with the income you want to keep. Add what you'll owe in taxes and what your business costs each year, then add a buffer for slow months. Divide that by the hours a client will actually pay for: your working weeks times your weekly hours times the share you can bill.
What Share of My Hours Can I Bill?
Most freelancers bill 50–75% of the hours they work. The rest goes to finding clients, writing proposals, email, bookkeeping and invoicing. Track every hour for a few weeks, billable or not, and you'll know your own number.
Why Is My Rate So Much Higher Than an Employee's Hourly Pay?
An employer pays part of an employee's taxes, their equipment, their time off and the hours they spend in meetings. As a freelancer you pay for all of that yourself, out of the hours clients pay for.
How Do I Set a Day Rate?
Multiply your hourly rate by the billable hours in a full day, usually 8. Some freelancers offer a small discount for booking whole days or weeks, since it saves them time finding work.
How Much Should I Set Aside for Taxes?
In the US, self-employment tax is 15.3% of most of your profit, on top of income tax, so 25–35% of profit is a common range. A tax professional can give you your own number.