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Estimate a sustainable freelance rate

Start from the income you want to keep, add what the business costs to run, and be realistic about how many hours you can actually bill.

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How to use

  1. Enter the take-home income you want and annual business expenses.
  2. Enter your effective tax rate, weeks off and the share of working hours you can bill.
  3. Read the minimum rate and adjust.

Worked example

$60,000 take-home, $8,000 expenses, 25% tax, 6 weeks off, 40-hour weeks at 60% billable: $88,000 revenue over 1,104 billable hours ≈ $79.71 per hour.

Supported formats and limits

InputIncome goal, expenses, tax, time off, billable share
OutputHourly and day rate, breakdown
EngineRequired revenue ÷ billable hours

Limitations

  • Tax is simplified to one effective rate; your real tax depends on where you live.

Questions

How is the rate calculated?

Pre-tax income = take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate). Required revenue = pre-tax income + expenses, plus an optional buffer. Billable hours = (52 − weeks off) × hours per week × billable share. Rate = revenue ÷ billable hours. $60,000 take-home, $8,000 expenses, 25% tax, 6 weeks off and 40-hour weeks at 60% billable gives $88,000 over 1,104 hours, about $79.71 an hour.

How is the day rate worked out?

Day rate = hourly rate × (hours per week ÷ 5), so a 40-hour week makes an 8-hour day.

Privacy

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