Hustlay
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Hourly Rate Calculator for Freelancers

Work backwards from the income you want.

This hourly rate calculator works out the freelance hourly rate and day rate you need to charge to reach your take-home income, after business costs, tax, time off and unbillable hours. Works in dollars, pounds or euros.

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Your numbers (per year)
Currency
$
$
%
%
You need to charge
Hourly rate
$78.83
Day rate
$630.67
Billable hours / year
1,196
Revenue needed / year
$94,285.71
Revenue needed / month
$7,857.14

Estimate only. Tax is applied as one flat rate on profit; your real rate depends on your country, deductions and allowances.

Key takeaways

  • Hourly rate = (take-home + business costs) ÷ (1 − tax rate) ÷ billable hours per year.
  • Example: $60,000 take-home, $6,000 costs and 30% tax need $94,286 revenue; at 40 h/week, 6 weeks off and 65% billable that is 1,196 billable hours and $78.83 an hour.
  • Day rate = hourly rate × hours in a billed day: $78.83 × 8 ≈ $630.67.
  • The billable share matters most — admin, sales and revisions usually eat 25–50% of working time.
app.hustlay.com
Hustlay time log with weekly hours per client
Hustlay’s time log: hours per client turn into profit per hour, next to income and costs.

Set your rate here, then log your hours in Hustlay to see the profit per hour each client really pays you.

Track profit per hour
How it works

From income goal to hourly rate, step by step

  1. Revenue needed = (take-home + business costs) ÷ (1 − tax rate). Tax applies to profit, so costs are added before tax is grossed up.
  2. Working weeks = 52 − weeks off (holidays, public holidays, sick days, training).
  3. Billable hours = hours per week × working weeks × billable share.
  4. Hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours. Day rate = hourly rate × hours per billed day.

Already working? The timesheet calculator shows the rate you actually earned last week, and the profit calculator adds costs.

FAQ

Hourly rate calculator: common questions

Add the take-home income you want to your yearly business costs, divide by (1 − your tax rate) to get the revenue you need, then divide by the hours you can actually bill in a year. Billable hours are usually 50–75% of the hours you work.

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Your quoted rate isn't your real rate.

Hustlay divides each client's profit by the hours you logged — so you know who to raise, keep or drop.

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