Hourly pricing
Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
A sustainable hourly rate has to pay for more than the hour in front of the client. It also carries unpaid work, expenses, taxes, and downtime.
Calculate with Hourly
Start with the calculation you need
Hourly rate calculator
Convert an annual income target into a sustainable hourly rate.
Try a scenario
Load common starting numbers, then edit any field to match your own business.
Suggested hourly floor
$115.74
Annual billable hours
1,175
Revenue target
$136,000.00
Formula used
- Annual billable hours
25 x 47 = 1,175- Hourly floor
($90,000.00 + $12,000.00) / (1 - 25%) / 1,175 = $115.74The tax reserve is treated as a percentage of gross revenue.
Assumptions used
- Billable capacity
- 25 billable hours per week for 47 working weeks.
- Tax reserve
- 25% of gross revenue is reserved before calculating the hourly floor.
This is a floor for planning. Round up for risk, value, revisions, and slow months.
Questions people usually check before using this result
Should I include unpaid vacations?
Yes. If you do not bill during time off, those weeks should be excluded from billable capacity.
Can this work for agencies?
Yes, but agencies should also model utilization, payroll burden, management time, and profit margin.
Billable capacity sets the floor
If you can bill 20 hours per week for 46 weeks, your rate has to carry the whole business across 920 annual billable hours.
Round for quoting
The exact calculated rate is a floor, not necessarily the quote. Round up to a price that is easy to explain and leaves a buffer.
Use the number responsibly
What to verify before you act on the result.
BizCalcKit is designed for planning and comparison. Treat the result as a working estimate, then confirm the details that depend on your location, client, platform, or tax situation.
Good use cases
- Turning an annual income goal into a minimum hourly planning rate.
- Seeing how expenses, tax reserve, billable hours, and time off affect the rate floor.
- Comparing full-time work, part-time freelance capacity, or agency utilization assumptions.
Check before sending
- Billable hours are realistic after admin, sales, revisions, meetings, and unpaid time.
- The tax reserve matches your current filing situation and state or local exposure.
- The final quote also reflects scope, risk, expertise, client value, and market demand.
Quick workflow
- 1.Enter the income goal, annual expenses, and tax reserve the rate needs to support.
- 2.Estimate billable hours per week and unpaid weeks away from client work.
- 3.Use the calculated hourly floor for planning, not as the only pricing signal.
- 4.Round up for revisions, project risk, slow months, and client value.
Questions to check before you decide
Should I include unpaid vacations?
Yes. If you do not bill during time off, those weeks should be excluded from billable capacity.
Can this work for agencies?
Yes, but agencies should also model utilization, payroll burden, management time, and profit margin.