What is billable percentage?

It is the share of your working hours that you can actually invoice to clients. The rest may be admin, sales, learning, or bench time. Lower billable % means you need a higher rate to hit the same income.

How is this different from the hourly rate calculator?

Both estimate what to charge per hour. This version emphasizes target salary plus annual expenses and billable utilization in one view. Use whichever matches how you think about your year.

Should I charge exactly this rate?

Treat the result as a floor, not a ceiling. Market positioning, demand, rush fees, and value-based pricing can justify higher rates. Revisit the numbers at least yearly.

Freelance Rate Calculator

Combine your income goal, overhead, calendar reality, and billable ratio to back into a sustainable hourly bill rate.

Target income & time

We divide (salary + business costs) by realistic billable hours to suggest a minimum rate.

Desired take-home salary ($ / year)

Annual business expenses ($)

Working weeks per year

Hours worked per week

Billable time (% of work hours)

Suggested bill rate

$77.72/hr

≈ $621.79/day (8 hr) · Billable hours/year: 1248

Breakdown

Revenue needed (salary + costs): $97000
Total hours worked / year: 1920
Billable hours / year: 1248.0

Why utilization changes your rate

Freelancers rarely bill every working hour. Proposals, email, bookkeeping, and gaps between projects shrink the hours you can attribute to paying work. If you ignore that and divide salary by all 40 hours, you undercharge. Modeling billable percentage forces your rate to cover non-billable time honestly.

Add annual business expenses—software, insurance, equipment, subcontractor pass-throughs—so your top-line revenue covers taxes and savings too (this calculator focuses on salary + expenses as a clean baseline). Compare results with our hourly rate calculator and read how to set freelance rates for strategy beyond the math.

Frequently Asked Questions

Bill clients at the right rate

Billed helps you invoice tracked time, fixed fees, and retainers—so the rates you set show up cleanly on every statement.

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