How much should I charge as a freelancer to hit a specific take-home target?

Start from your target take-home, then add back the taxes you'll owe on that income — the 15.3% self-employment tax up to the $184,500 Social Security wage base, plus federal income tax under the 2026 brackets — to find the gross income you need, then divide by your realistic billable hours. Working backwards this way is more accurate than picking a rate first and hoping it's enough.

How many billable hours should I assume per year when setting my rate?

Most freelancers bill meaningfully less than a full 2,080-hour work year once you account for admin time, marketing, unpaid pitching, and gaps between projects — many land somewhere in the 1,200-1,600 billable-hour range, though it varies a lot by field and workload. Using an unrealistically high billable-hours assumption is one of the most common reasons freelancers underprice their rate.

How is a freelance rate calculator different from one that ignores taxes?

A rate calculator that ignores taxes only tells you the gross rate needed to hit a revenue target, not what you'll actually keep — which matters a lot given that self-employment tax alone can be up to 15.3% of net earnings before federal income tax is even applied. This calculator works from your target after-tax take-home, not a pre-tax revenue goal.

How do I set a consulting day rate instead of an hourly rate?

The math is the same as an hourly-rate calculation, just using billable days per year instead of billable hours — figure out your target take-home, gross it up for self-employment and federal income tax, then divide by the number of billable days you realistically expect to work rather than 250-plus calendar workdays.

Freelance Rate Calculator 2026 | What to Charge

Working Backwards From Your Target Take-Home to a Freelance Rate

Instead of guessing at a rate and hoping it's enough, this calculator starts from the take-home pay you actually want and works backwards — through 2026 self-employment tax, federal income tax, and your billable utilization — to the hourly or day rate you'd need to charge.

How the backwards calculation works

Enter your target annual (or monthly) take-home pay
The calculator adds back the 15.3% self-employment tax you'll owe on net earnings up to the $184,500 Social Security wage base, then federal income tax under the 2026 brackets, to find the gross self-employment income needed
Divide that gross figure by your realistic billable hours or days per year — not a full 2,080-hour year, since freelancers rarely bill every working hour — to get the rate you need to charge
Adjust your billable-utilization assumption to see how a busier or slower year changes the required rate

Freelance Rate Calculator