What should you charge per hour?

Start from the take-home pay you want. This works backwards through tax, expenses and time off.

Your minimum hourly rate

—

Day rate (8 billable hours): —
Revenue needed per month: —
Revenue needed per year: —
Billable hours per year: —
Estimated tax per year: —

Take-home pay you want per year

After tax, what you want to keep. Business expenses per year

Software, equipment, insurance, coworking.

Tax rate

Weeks off

Billable hours per week

hrs

Only hours you can invoice. Admin, emails and pitching don't count.

How this rate is worked out

Your take-home pay is grossed up for tax, business expenses are added, and the total is divided by the hours you can bill: (take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate) + expenses) ÷ billable hours.

How many hours can I bill?

Fewer than you work. Admin, emailing, pitching and gaps between projects go unpaid, so many freelancers plan around 20 to 30 billable hours a week rather than 40. Lower the hours above and watch the rate climb.

Is this the rate I should quote?

Treat it as a floor: the rate below which you lose money. Quote above it to leave room for discounts, late payers and slow months.