Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
A sustainable freelance hourly rate is your desired annual take-home divided by (1 − your effective tax rate), plus annual business expenses, divided by your true billable hours — for most full-time freelancers that is 1,100–1,300 hours a year, not 2,080.
The link reproduces your exact inputs.
How this calculator works
The calculator works backwards from the money you actually want to keep. First it grosses your target take-home up for taxes: if you want to keep a given amount after an effective tax rate, your profit before tax must be take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate). Business expenses are then added on top, on the assumption that they are deductible — you need to earn them, but you do not pay income tax on them.
On the hours side, it multiplies your billable hours per week by your working weeks (52 minus weeks off). Dividing required revenue by billable hours gives your break-even rate; quoting below it means missing your income target. The recommended quote adds a 15% buffer for the realities of freelancing: scope creep, payment delays, currency swings and quiet months.
Because tax regimes differ enormously — a freelancer under Portugal’s simplified regime, a Georgia small-business-status holder at 1% and a Dubai resident at 0% face completely different math — this tool takes your effective rate as an input. Our country-specific tax calculators estimate that number for you; use them first if you are unsure, then bring the effective rate back here.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my calculated rate so much higher than my old salary divided by 2,080 hours?
An employee’s salary is backed by paid vacation, employer-paid taxes and benefits, and 100% of hours being paid. As a freelancer you pay both sides of social contributions, cover your own equipment and insurance, and typically bill only 50–70% of your working hours. The calculator prices all of that in, which is why the sustainable rate is usually 1.5–2× the naive salary conversion.
What tax rate should I enter?
Use your expected effective (average) rate, not your top marginal bracket: total income tax plus mandatory social contributions divided by your gross profit. If you are unsure, 25–35% is a common range for mid-income freelancers in Europe and North America; freelancers under special regimes (for example Georgia’s 1% small business status or the UAE’s 0% personal income tax) should enter their actual effective rate.
How many billable hours per week is realistic?
Full-time freelancers average roughly 20–30 billable hours out of a 40-hour week. The rest goes to finding clients, proposals, invoicing, bookkeeping and professional development. If you assume 40 billable hours you will systematically underprice.
Should business expenses include my health insurance and pension?
Include everything you must pay to operate that an employer would otherwise cover: health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, software, hardware, coworking, accounting and liability insurance. If your country treats some of these as tax-deductible, the model already assumes expenses are deducted before tax.
How does the shareable link work?
Your inputs are encoded in the URL as you type. Copy the link and anyone who opens it sees the calculator pre-filled with the same numbers — useful for comparing scenarios or sharing a rate justification with a client or accountant.
Methodology note
This tool is pure arithmetic on your own inputs — it embeds no country-specific tax data. The 50–70% billable-share and 20–30 billable-hours figures referenced above are working assumptions widely reported in freelancer time-tracking surveys, provided as guidance for choosing your own inputs. Results are estimates, not tax or pricing advice.