Start with what you keep.
Enter the annual income you want after tax, plus your monthly business costs.
✳ FREELANCE RATE CALCULATOR FOR US FREELANCERS
Freelance rate
calculator.↗
For US freelancers and 1099 contractors. Turn your take-home
goal into a rate that covers your time, costs, and tax reserve.
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Start with your monthly budget or an annual take-home goal.
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The 25% tax assumption is illustrative. Include federal income, self-employment, and state/local taxes in your effective rate. IRS guidance
Your rate, worked out
A planning baseline from your budget and paid capacity.
YOUR PLANNED HOURLY RATE
$74.78 / hour
For each hour you can actually invoice.Billable hours / year1,150
Annual revenue target$86,000.00
46 working weeks × 25 billable hours per week.
WHERE YOUR REVENUE GOESUSD / MONTH
Take-home Tax reserve Expenses Buffer after tax
A cost-based plan, not a market rate or exact tax assessment. Monthly is an annual average; weekly is a working-week target.
Price a project
FREE ESTIMATEInclude delivery, research, meetings, testing, and revisions.
hours
Project baseline$2,991.30
Hours × your planned hourly rate, including any buffer. Before applicable sales tax, payment fees, and scope changes.PUT YOUR RATE TO WORK
One payment. Your calculator stays free.
Take the plan into your next proposal.
Four useful files, one simple purchase.
One payment. Your calculator stays free.
YOUR RATE IS THE STARTING POINTTurn your number into
THE COMPLETE PRICING KIT · US$9 ONCETurn your number into
your next confident quote.
YOUR NUMBERS, PUT TO WORK
A 5-day project starts at $2,991.30 with your current inputs.
40 billable hours at your calculated minimum rate. Before sales tax, payment fees, or an added margin.PERSONALIZED FROM YOUR CALCULATOR INPUTS
One rate. A plan you can work with.
Know what to quote, what to set aside, and how a different workload changes the numbers. Keep your plan in the formats you actually use.
PDF reportExcel .xlsxPowerPoint .pptxInvoice PDF
- See where each month’s revenue goes.A personalized PDF of your hourly and day rates, take-home goal, expenses, and estimated tax reserve.
- Test your next move in Excel.An editable workbook with formulas, a project quote worksheet, and billable-hours scenarios. Change your assumptions and compare.
- Present the plan clearly.An editable five-slide PowerPoint with your rate baseline, monthly allocation, assumptions, and an illustrative project quote. Review internal figures before sharing.
- Start your next project invoice.A draft invoice PDF using your day rate and chosen project length. Add your scope, business details, and applicable taxes before sending.
ALL FOUR DOWNLOADS
Download after payment in this browser.
Keep the files for your own planning.Preview the PDF report
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Keep the files for your own planning.Preview the PDF report
Your calculator results stay free. US$9 once adds the PDF report, editable Excel workbook, PowerPoint summary, and draft invoice PDF. Tax reserves use your assumptions; exact taxes and tax savings are not calculated.
YOUR PERSONAL INCOME PLAN
ALL FOUR FILES INCLUDEDMake your numbers work for you.
Files use your current calculator inputs. Change the inputs and download again to refresh your plan. Excel formulas recalculate when you edit the workbook; PowerPoint contains an editable snapshot. Review internal financial details before sharing.
Access stays in this browser. Download your files now; clearing cookies or switching browsers loses access. Estimates update when you change the calculator.
A LITTLE CLARITY GOES A LONG WAYBuilt around your life.
Built around your life.
Not the other way around.
Make room for real life.
Use billable weeks and hours. Keep time for holidays, admin, and finding your next client.
Know your starting point.
Your rate covers your income goal, expenses, and estimated tax. Add a margin when pricing your work.
PUT YOUR RATE TO WORK
Does your current rate cover your goal?
Enter your rate to compare projected revenue against the income goal above.
This compares gross revenue at your billable schedule, before actual taxes and expenses. It is not a prediction of client demand.What if your billable hours change?
The same income goal can require a different rate when fewer hours reach an invoice.
Uses your current weeks, income goal, expenses, and tax assumption.Freelance hourly rate examples
These are planning examples, not average market rates or recommended tax rates. Every input is shown so you can judge whether a scenario fits your business.
| Scenario | Annual take-home | Monthly expenses | Billable schedule | Tax assumption | Hourly floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part-time practice | $30,000.00 | $250.00 | 46 weeks / 15 hours per week | 25% | $62.32 |
| Full-time independent | $60,000.00 | $500.00 | 46 weeks / 25 hours per week | 25% | $74.78 |
| Higher income goal | $100,000.00 | $1,000.00 | 46 weeks / 25 hours per week | 30% | $134.66 |
How to calculate your freelance rate
1. Work backward from take-home pay
Divide your annual take-home goal by one minus your combined effective tax rate. Add your annual business expenses to find the revenue your work needs to bring in.
Base revenue = take-home / (1 - tax rate) + annual expensesThe tax rate is entered as a decimal: 25% becomes 0.25. Personal spending plus monthly savings becomes your annual after-tax income goal. Business expenses are added separately and assumed deductible.
2. Divide by time you can actually bill
Multiply billable weeks by billable hours per week. Divide annual revenue by those hours. Time spent on admin, sales, unpaid revisions, and holidays reduces your available billable hours.
Hourly floor = annual revenue / annual billable hoursIn monthly-budget mode, working weeks = 52 minus days off divided by five. Billable hours per week = total working hours minus non-billable hours. Annual-goal mode lets you enter working weeks and billable hours directly. An eight-hour day rate is hourly rate times eight; monthly revenue is annual revenue divided by twelve.
Optional profit buffer
To leave extra room above the base cost floor, choose a pre-tax buffer as a share of revenue. The target becomes Revenue target = base revenue / (1 - buffer rate). A 20% buffer is not a 20% markup: an $86,000 base becomes $107,500 in revenue. Extra revenue is included in the tax reserve; the remaining after-tax buffer appears separately in the report.
Worked example: a $60,000 take-home goal
With $500 in monthly expenses, an illustrative 25% combined tax rate, and no extra profit buffer, you need $86,000 in annual revenue. At 46 billable weeks and 25 billable hours per week, that is 1,150 hours: $74.78 per hour, $598.26 per eight-hour day, and $7,166.67 in monthly revenue. The calculator uses full precision before displaying rounded amounts.
Why salary divided by 2,080 can fall short
A freelancer's revenue also has to support business costs and tax reserves. A 40-hour workweek does not mean 40 hours are billable. Using a full employee work year can spread your costs across hours you cannot invoice.
A minimum rate is a starting point
This calculation finds a cost-based floor. Your expertise, project scope, client value, revisions, demand, and risk can justify a different quote. It does not measure market rates or guarantee that clients will book your time.
Method maintained by BERNASHI LTD. This tool models pricing assumptions; it is not a tax return calculator. See the linked IRS resources and the tax FAQ for scope and limitations.
THE NUMBERS BEHIND YOUR NEXT QUOTE
Explore all guides Freelance pricing & tax guides.
Work through a real pricing question, then use the calculator to put your own numbers to the test.
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How to Price QA Testing and Maintenance as a Freelance Developer
Price the whole project, not just coding hours. Worked examples show how QA, regression testing, deployment and ongoing maintenance affect your freelance rate.
How to Calculate Your Freelance Rate From a Salary Goal
Work backward from the income you want to keep. A worked example covering expenses, tax reserves, billable hours, day rates and project quotes.
GOOD QUESTIONS
A little more clarity.
How is my freelance hourly rate calculated?
Base revenue = desired take-home divided by (1 minus effective tax rate), plus annual business expenses. If a profit buffer is selected, divide base revenue by (1 minus the buffer percentage). Divide that target by annual billable hours. The day rate assumes eight billable hours.
What is the difference between monthly spending and savings?
Personal spending and savings are both part of the after-tax income you want to keep. Their sum is multiplied by twelve. Business costs are entered separately. Annual income mode lets you enter one take-home target instead, so the same costs are not counted twice.
How do non-billable time and the profit buffer affect the rate?
In monthly-budget mode, non-billable hours are subtracted from your total working hours. Days off reduce working weeks using a five-day-week assumption. Fewer billable hours increase the required rate. The optional profit buffer adds a pre-tax share of revenue above your cost floor; extra modeled tax is reserved before showing the remaining buffer.
Does this calculate my exact US tax bill?
No. Enter a combined effective rate that accounts for federal income tax, self-employment tax, and any state/local taxes. The model applies that rate to estimated profit after business expenses. It does not calculate tax brackets, filing status, deductions, credits, or state rules. The starting 25% is an example, not a recommended rate. Confirm your assumptions with a qualified tax professional.
What about quarterly estimated taxes?
US freelancers may need estimated tax payments during the year. This calculator estimates a tax savings reserve, not your required IRS payments or due dates. Use IRS Form 1040-ES and your tax professional to plan payments.
Is this for 1099 contractors?
Yes. It is designed for US freelancers, independent contractors, and solo service businesses setting their rates. Use billable time rather than your whole workweek, and include recurring costs such as software, insurance, and accounting. USD is the default; other currencies remain available.
Which business expenses should I include?
Use costs you actually pay. Designers might include creative software and licensed assets; developers might include coding tools, hosting, and monitoring; copywriters might include editing software, research, and transcription. Add relevant accounting, insurance, and other overhead, avoiding double counting. Expense eligibility and tax treatment depend on your circumstances.
Can I use a different currency?
Yes. Choose your working currency. All calculator amounts use that currency without exchange-rate conversion. The optional report is always priced at US$9; checkout shows any applicable sales tax.
What do I get for US$9?
A personalized monthly breakdown, a PDF income report, an editable Excel workbook with formulas and pricing scenarios, a five-slide PowerPoint summary, and a draft invoice PDF based on eight-hour days. It is a one-time purchase with access in this browser, without an account. Stripe may request an email for payment receipts; there is no email login.
Is my financial information private?
Inputs are saved in your browser. They are sent to our server only when generating your paid report or download and are not intentionally stored there. Stripe handles payment details. Read the privacy policy for provider processing and access cookies.