What should you charge per hour?
Work backwards from the income you actually want to take home — after taxes, expenses, and the hours you can't bill.
Your numbers
Annual figures. Be honest about billable hours.
"Billable hours" should exclude admin, sales, and downtime — most full-timers bill far fewer hours than they work.
Track billable hours and turn them into invoices automatically with FreshBooks.
Last reviewed:
Methodology
The calculator estimates required annual billings by combining the take-home target and annual business expenses, grossing that figure up by the entered tax rate, and dividing it by annual billable hours. The displayed hourly rate is rounded up to the next whole dollar.
Sources
- IRS Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center — Federal self-employment and estimated-tax guidance
- IRS Publication 505 — Tax withholding and estimated-tax guidance
Rates by profession
Pricing from the income you want, not the market average
Most freelancers pick a rate by copying peers, then wonder why they're always short. The reliable method is to start from the take-home you need, gross it up for the taxes you'll owe, add your annual business costs, and divide across the hours you can realistically bill — which is far fewer than the hours you work.
Once you know that floor, you can price above it with confidence. Charging below it just means working harder to fall behind.
Why billable hours are the number that trips people up
A 40-hour week is not 40 billable hours. Industry surveys commonly find freelancers bill only 50–70% of their working time — the rest goes to admin, sales calls, proposals, invoicing, and learning. If you divide your income goal by 40 paid hours a week, you'll set a rate that quietly loses money once the unpaid hours are counted.
Rates also vary widely by field and experience — the often-quoted U.S. average of roughly $48 an hour hides enormous spread. Use this calculator for your personal floor, then layer on a premium for specialized skills, a strong portfolio, or in-demand niches. The floor keeps you solvent; your positioning is what raises the ceiling.
Frequently asked
Add the take-home income you want plus your business expenses, divide by one minus your tax rate to get the revenue you must bill, then divide by your realistic billable hours per year.
Commonly cited figures put the U.S. average around $48 an hour, but it varies hugely by field, experience, and location. Treat it as a sanity check, not a target — your own costs and goals matter more.
As a freelancer you cover your own taxes, expenses, unpaid admin time, time off, and benefits. Your billable hours are also far fewer than the hours you work, so each billable hour has to carry more.
Most full-time freelancers bill 20–30 hours a week once admin, sales, and downtime are removed — not 40. Be conservative here or you'll underprice.
Multiply your hourly floor by billable hours — roughly ×8 for a day rate. For fixed-price projects, estimate the hours honestly and add a buffer for revisions and scope creep.
Start from your real costs and the take-home you need (this calculator), not a race-to-the-bottom market rate. Underpricing to win early work is hard to climb back from.