Quick answer
Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator quick answer
Formula: Required billable rate = (target annual income + annual business overhead) ÷ annual billable hours.
Example: A $70,000 target plus $10,000 overhead across 46 billable weeks × 25 billable hours/week requires about $69.57 per billable hour.
Reviewed September 1, 2026 · Methodology
Worked example
A $70,000 target plus $10,000 overhead across 46 billable weeks × 25 billable hours/week requires about $69.57 per billable hour.
What to do with the result
Do not assume every working hour is billable. Admin, selling, bookkeeping, project gaps and unpaid time reduce billable capacity.
Public API & AI agent access
Yes — this calculator is callable programmatically. Use GET /api/v1/freelance-rate, the public calculator API, or tannerd.net's MCP, A2A and WebMCP agent interfaces. Results include a human-facing citation URL.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a freelance rate higher than an employee hourly equivalent?
A freelancer typically has nonbillable time and business overhead that must be recovered through billable work.
Does this include taxes?
No. Enter any additional annual amount you personally want the modeled rate to recover inside the target or overhead inputs.
Formula provenance
API identifier: freelance-rate · Formula version: tncalc.freelance-rate.1.0.0 · Engine release: 6.6.1. Build provenance · Public validation · Release history.