Freelance minimum hourly rate and billable-hours calculator
Work backward from your desired take-home income, business costs and realistic billable hours to find a minimum sustainable project rate.
Build your sustainable rate
Tax reserve is an illustrative planning assumption, not a tax calculation. The model uses annual gross receipts = (take-home goal ÷ (1 − reserve)) + overhead.
Your rate floor
Rate sensitivity
Not financial or tax advice. Actual tax obligations, self-employment taxes, deductions and market willingness to pay vary. Your market rate may be above or below this floor.
Why salary divided by 2,080 hours can mislead freelancers
Employees often have paid leave, benefits and a predictable salary. Freelancers spend time selling, writing proposals, doing administration and waiting for feedback. Only part of their working time can be billed to clients. A realistic freelance hourly rate calculation must account for nonbillable hours, time off, overhead and a reserve for taxes.
This free rate floor calculator works backward from your own target income. Use the sensitivity table to see how lower billable utilization changes the required rate. The result is a business sustainability estimate, not a promise that customers will accept your quote.