Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator

Example: a $75,000 take-home target

For this illustrative 2026 budget, enter $75,000 take-home, 25 billable hours per week, 46 weeks per year, and a 35% tax + expense cushion. These are planning assumptions, not IRS rates or a market-rate survey.

• Billable hours: 25 × 46 = 1,150 hours/year.
• Required revenue: $75,000 ÷ (1 − 0.35) = $115,384.62.
• Hourly rate: $115,384.62 ÷ 1,150 = $100.33/hour.

Check what that cushion can actually cover. Assume $10,000 of deductible business overhead: net profit is $105,384.62. With no W-2 wages and earnings below the Social Security cap, estimated SE tax is $105,384.62 × 92.35% × 15.3% = $14,890.37. Revenue minus overhead, SE tax and the $75,000 target leaves $15,494.24 for federal/state income tax and self-funded benefits. Using unrounded amounts, that remainder is a budget, not an income-tax estimate. If those costs exceed it, increase the cushion or rate.

Use the 2026 1099 tax calculator to estimate taxes separately. The rate calculator does not automatically compute SE tax, deductions or tax brackets.

How to factor in self-employment tax

For most U.S. self-employed people, SE tax is 15.3% on 92.35% of net business profit, about 14.13% of profit below the Social Security cap. Your situation may differ; see the IRS links below. Net profit means revenue less deductible business expenses. The 15.3% combines 12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare; it is separate from income tax. See IRS Topic 554.

For 2026, the Social Security portion applies up to $184,500 of combined covered wages and net SE earnings. Medicare has no earnings cap, and Additional Medicare tax may apply at higher incomes. Half of regular SE tax is deductible when calculating adjusted gross income; it does not halve the SE tax bill. See the 2026 IRS Form 1040-ES worksheet, page 9. Sources checked October 16, 2026.

Budget for benefits and overhead

List annual software, equipment, insurance, accounting and payment-processing costs, plus health coverage and retirement savings you will fund yourself. Include each cost once in your cushion. A cash-budget item is not automatically a deductible business expense. Health insurance and retirement contributions you pay for yourself may be deductible, depending on your situation. Check IRS guidance or a tax professional. The cushion is a share of gross revenue, not a markup on your take-home goal.

Allow for non-billable time

Sales calls, proposals, bookkeeping and training consume working hours without necessarily producing invoices. Subtract those hours before entering billable hours per week, and allow for holidays, illness and client gaps in weeks per year. At the same $115,384.62 revenue goal, 20 hours × 46 weeks means $125.42/hour, rather than $100.33 at 25 hours. Use your own tracked utilization.

Convert an hourly rate to a day or project rate

Day rate = hourly rate × agreed billable hours in a day. At a rounded $101/hour, an eight-hour day is $808; a six-hour day is $606. The calculator’s daily result assumes eight billable hours.

Project fee = hourly rate × estimated project hours, plus any separately priced costs and scope contingency. A 30-hour project at $101/hour starts at $3,030; a chosen 15% scope contingency makes it $3,484.50. Define deliverables, revisions and extra-work terms before quoting, and avoid counting overhead twice.

What to charge to match a $X salary

Illustration only — 2026, before federal and state income tax. These hourly rates leave the same cash as the listed W-2 salary after employee payroll tax, plus an assumed $12,000 annual budget for self-funded health coverage and retirement, after paying freelance SE tax. They are not market rates or an exact after-income-tax paycheck match.

Assumptions: single filer; no other wages or income; no business overhead; all invoices collected. The $12,000 benefits budget is a chosen cash allowance, not a typical cost or a deduction from business profit. Paid leave and admin time are reflected in annual billable hours. Add your actual overhead and adjust benefits before quoting.

Method: solve revenue − SE tax − $12,000 = salary − employee payroll tax; divide revenue by annual billable hours. Employee payroll tax uses 6.2% Social Security up to $184,500 and 1.45% Medicare. SE tax uses 12.4% on the first $184,500 of 92.35% of profit, plus 2.9% on all of that earnings base. The model also includes 0.9% Additional Medicare tax above $200,000 for this single-filer assumption. With zero overhead, profit equals revenue. Income taxes, credits, and the income-tax effects of deductions are excluded; actual take-home will differ.

For example, an $80,000 salary leaves $73,880 after employee payroll tax. About $100,011 of freelance revenue covers that amount, $12,000 of benefits and $14,131 of SE tax. At 1,200 billable hours, that is $83.34/hour, rounded up to $84/hour. The calculator’s take-home input means after all taxes: do not enter gross salary as take-home or treat this table as an all-in tax cushion.

Sources checked October 22, 2026: IRS SE-tax rules, IRS Additional Medicare rules, and SSA’s comparison showing 2026 payroll rates and wage cap.

For the full pricing framework, read how much to charge as a freelancer.