Freelance Rate Calculator
Freelance rate calculator: the hourly rate that covers your take-home pay Free, no sign-up, and it runs in your browser.
Dedicated page: /en/freelance-rate-calculator
Software, equipment, insurance, marketing, coworking.
Benefits an employer would normally pay for you. Paid out of your take-home pay.
After vacation, holidays and sick days. 48 means 4 weeks off.
The rest goes to admin, sales and unpaid work. Most freelancers bill 50% to 70%.
Default checked 10 Nov 2026: 0% (no state tax entered). Enter your own rate: California top rate 13.3%, New York 10.9%, Texas, Florida and Washington 0%. Check the current value here.
Upwork charges 0% to 15% per contract, Fiverr takes 20%. Leave 0 for direct clients.
Default checked 10 Nov 2026: 15.3% (12.4% Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base, plus 2.9% Medicare) on 92.35% of net profit, per IRS Schedule SE. Check the current value here.
Estimate only, not financial or tax advice. Tax Year 2026. Federal income tax uses the 2026 brackets and the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly), with half of the self-employment tax deductible and a 20% qualified business income deduction applied. State tax is a flat rate on profit, which is a simplification. Confirm the details with a tax professional.
Quick answer
A freelance rate calculator finds the hourly rate that leaves you with your target take-home pay after tax, expenses and benefits. Enter your take-home goal, business costs, weeks and billable share, and it solves for the revenue you need, applying 15.3 percent self-employment tax, 2026 federal brackets, the 20 percent QBI deduction and your state tax.
About this Freelance Rate Calculator
Freelance rate calculator: the hourly rate that covers your take-home pay It is one of the Work and School on ToolUstad, and like every tool here it runs entirely in your browser: nothing you type, paste or open is uploaded to a server, and there is no sign-up or usage limit.
What a freelance rate calculator does
A freelance rate calculator works backwards from the pay you want to the rate you must charge. Most freelancers start from the wrong end: they take their old salary, divide by 2,080 hours, and charge that. That number is too low, because an employee salary hides the employer share of tax, paid holidays, health insurance, retirement and all the hours that are not billable. A freelancer has to cover all of that from the rate. With a target take-home pay of 70,000 dollars, 6,000 dollars of expenses and 9,000 dollars of benefits, the rate is 92.83 dollars an hour, not the 33.65 dollars an hour that dividing 70,000 by 2,080 gives.
The maths is circular, which is why it needs a solver. Your tax depends on your revenue, and your revenue depends on your rate, which depends on your tax. The calculator solves it by trying a revenue figure, working out the tax on it, checking what take-home pay is left, and adjusting up or down until the leftover matches your target. It does this 80 times in a fraction of a second, which is accurate to the cent.
Self-employment tax in 2026
Self-employment tax is 15.3 percent: 12.4 percent for Social Security and 2.9 percent for Medicare. It applies to 92.35 percent of your net profit, which is revenue minus business expenses. The 92.35 percent exists because employees only pay their half of payroll tax on their wages, and the law gives the self-employed the same treatment. Half of the self-employment tax you pay is deductible from your income tax. The Social Security part stops at the 2026 wage base of 184,500 dollars, up from 176,100 dollars in 2025, while Medicare has no cap. There is also a 0.9 percent additional Medicare tax on high earnings. At the default settings, self-employment tax is 14,262.92 dollars on 100,943.91 dollars of profit.
Federal income tax and the QBI deduction
Federal income tax uses the 2026 brackets and the standard deduction: 16,100 dollars for single filers and 32,200 dollars for married filing jointly. The 2026 single brackets are 10 percent to 12,400 dollars, 12 percent to 50,400, 22 percent to 105,700, 24 percent to 201,775, 32 percent to 256,225, 35 percent to 640,600 and 37 percent above that. Before the brackets are applied, the calculator subtracts half of the self-employment tax and the 20 percent qualified business income deduction. The QBI deduction lets most sole proprietors deduct up to 20 percent of their business income from taxable income. It lowers income tax, not self-employment tax. At the defaults, federal income tax is 7,680.99 dollars. High earners face QBI limits and the additional Medicare tax, so the estimate is simplified for them.
Learn: how to use the Freelance Rate Calculator
- Enter the take-home pay you want each year, after all tax.
- Add your yearly business expenses, such as software and equipment.
- Add health insurance, retirement and other benefits you pay for yourself.
- Enter the weeks you work and the hours per week, and the share that is billable.
- Pick your filing status and your state tax rate, or leave it at 0 percent.
- Read your hourly rate, day rate, monthly revenue and the full tax breakdown.
Features
- Solves for the revenue that leaves your exact target take-home pay.
- Self-employment tax at 15.3 percent on 92.35 percent of profit.
- 2026 federal tax brackets and standard deduction, single or married filing jointly.
- 20 percent qualified business income deduction included.
- State tax as an editable rate, with California 13.3 percent and Texas 0 percent as a guide.
- Platform fee for Upwork, Fiverr or other marketplaces, from 0 to 20 percent.
- Day rate and project price for 10 hour jobs.
- Tax set-aside percentage, so you know what to hold back from every invoice.
- A naive rate comparison, so you can see what the take-home pay alone would give.
Worked example
With a target take-home pay of 70,000 dollars a year, 6,000 dollars of expenses and 9,000 dollars of health insurance and retirement, working 48 weeks at 40 hours with 60 percent billable, you have 1,152 billable hours a year. The rate that covers it all is 92.83 dollars an hour, which is 106,943.91 dollars of revenue a year and 8,911.99 dollars a month. Of that revenue, 14,262.92 dollars goes to self-employment tax and 7,680.99 dollars to federal income tax, a total tax bill of 21,943.91 dollars, so you should set aside about 20.5 percent of every invoice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?
Add your target take-home pay, your business expenses, your benefits and your taxes, then divide by your billable hours.
What is the self-employment tax rate?
Self-employment tax is 15.3 percent: 12.4 percent for Social Security and 2.9 percent for Medicare.
What is the Social Security wage base for 2026?
The 2026 wage base is 184,500 dollars, up from 176,100 dollars in 2025. Social Security tax of 12.4 percent applies only to earnings up to that amount. Medicare tax of 2.9 percent has no cap.
How many billable hours should I plan for?
Start with 48 weeks, which leaves 4 weeks for holidays and sick days, and 40 hours a week.
Should I charge expenses separately?
If a cost belongs to one client, such as travel or a licence bought for their project, charge it to the client on top of your rate.
What is the 20 percent qualified business income deduction?
The qualified business income deduction lets most pass-through businesses, including sole proprietors, deduct up to 20 percent of their qualified business income from taxable income. It lowers federal income tax but not self-employment tax.
How much should I set aside for taxes?
At the default settings, total tax is 21,943.91 dollars on 100,943.91 dollars of profit, which is about 20.5 percent of every invoice.
Does the calculator include state tax?
Yes, as an editable rate. The default is 0 percent, which fits Texas, Florida and Washington. California has a top rate of 13.3 percent and New York 10.9 percent.
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