Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator

Work out the hourly rate you need to charge as a freelancer to hit a target take-home income after expenses and tax, or check what take-home a rate really produces.

Need help with the calculation?

Pick a starting scenario

What do you want to work out?

Target take-home income a year What you want to keep for yourself in a year, after business costs and tax.

Business expenses a year Yearly total for software, equipment, insurance, subscriptions, accounting and workspace. Tax set-aside rate (%) Share of taxable income you reserve for tax. Enter the rate that fits your own situation.

Billable hours per week Hours you can actually invoice in a working week, not total hours worked. Weeks worked per year Weeks left after holiday, sick days and gaps between projects are removed.

Advanced: profit buffer and currency

Profit buffer (%) An extra margin on top of income, costs and tax, for reinvestment or a safety cushion. Leave at zero to skip. Currency symbol Used for display only. Change it to your own currency.

Hourly rate you need to charge

Enter your figures to see a result.

Day rate (8 hours)0

Billable hours a year0

Billable share of paid time0%

What one charged hour pays for

Each band is its share of one billed hour. Only the take-home band is money you keep; expenses, tax set-aside and profit are all built into the rate before any of it reaches you.

How the rate is built up

Component	Per year	Per billed hour

Every component is funded by the hours you can invoice. Fewer billable hours or fewer working weeks mean the same yearly total is spread over less time, so each hour must carry more.

For beginners: how to read this result

Your rate is not your wageAn employee's wage is take-home pay. A freelance rate must also cover business costs and the tax an employer would otherwise handle, so the rate is always well above the wage you want to keep.

Unbillable time is realAdmin, sales, email and learning are not billable but still fill your week. The rate is built only on hours you can invoice, which is why billable hours per week is usually well below total hours worked.

Weeks off cost moneyHoliday, sick days and gaps between projects are weeks with no income. Subtracting them from the year raises the rate, because the same yearly target is earned in fewer weeks.

Tax comes off the topThe tax set-aside is taken from taxable income before you keep anything. A higher set-aside rate raises the rate you must charge to still hit the same take-home target.

This is a planning estimate based on the figures you enter. It applies one flat tax set-aside rate and uses no tax brackets, allowances, credits, social-contribution caps or sales tax. Real tax rules vary by country and situation, and actual billable hours change month to month. Treat the result as a starting point and confirm your own tax position before setting a final rate.

To get a result, choose one of the preset scenarios or switch the mode and enter your own figures. The mode toggle decides which question the calculator answers and which input field is shown.

The two modes

Find my rate — you enter the take-home income you want to keep in a year, and the calculator returns the hourly rate, and matching day rate, you must charge. The hourly-rate field stays hidden in this mode.
Check a rate — you enter an hourly rate you are considering or have been offered, and the calculator returns the annual take-home income it actually produces after business costs and tax. The target-income field stays hidden in this mode.

The inputs you supply

Both modes share four further inputs: your yearly business expenses (software, equipment, insurance, subscriptions, accounting and workspace), a tax set-aside rate, billable hours per week, and weeks worked per year. An optional profit buffer adds a margin on top. The tax rate is your own input — the tool uses no tax tables and no jurisdiction data, so enter a rate that fits your situation.

How the math works

The calculator first finds your billable hours a year by multiplying billable hours per week by weeks worked per year. It then builds the total you must invoice from four parts: the take-home income you want to keep, your business expenses, the tax set-aside, and the profit buffer. The tax set-aside is the amount that, once removed from taxable income, leaves your target take-home: taxable income equals take-home divided by one minus the tax rate, and the set-aside is the difference. Dividing the total to invoice by your billable hours a year gives the hourly rate. In Check a rate mode the calculation runs in reverse: the rate multiplied by billable hours gives yearly revenue, and the take-home income is whatever is left after expenses, profit and tax.

Reading the breakdown

The stacked bar splits one charged hour into the four things it pays for, and the table lists the same components as yearly totals and per-hour amounts. Two extra figures sit in the result: the effective billable hours a year, and the billable share of paid time — your billable hours measured against a standard paid working week. A low share is normal, because admin, sales and email are not invoiceable, but it shows how much unbilled time the rate has to absorb.

What is not included

This is a planning estimate. It applies one flat tax set-aside rate and does not use tax brackets, allowances, credits, social-contribution caps or sales tax. It does not model payment timing, late payments, currency conversion or per-client discounts. Real tax rules vary by country and situation, and billable hours change month to month, so treat the result as a starting point and confirm your own tax position before setting a final rate.