How many hours per week should a freelancer actually bill?

20-30 billable hours per week is realistic for most experienced solo freelancers. The remaining time goes to sales, admin, learning, and rest. New freelancers often think they'll bill 40 — they almost never do once you account for unbillable client meetings, proposal writing, invoicing, and tax administration.

What effective tax rate should US freelancers use?

It varies by state and bracket. A typical solo freelancer with $80-120k net profit, no S-corp election, in a moderate-tax state pays roughly 22-28% federal income, 14-15% self-employment tax (after the half-deduction), and 0-7% state — combined effective ~28-35%. Your CPA can give a personalised number; conservative estimation: 30%.

Should the calculator include retirement contributions in expenses?

If your target take-home is what you want to spend, then yes — list SEP-IRA / Solo 401(k) / Roth IRA contributions as expenses, because that money leaves your account before you spend it. If your target take-home is what you want gross of retirement saving, leave them out and put them in a separate line.

Why does the result include a project-risk margin?

The calculator gives you a floor — the rate that exactly covers your target if every billable hour invoiced gets paid on time. Real freelancing has scope creep, slow months, late payments, and occasional bad debts. A 10-25% margin on top of the floor absorbs those without forcing you to renegotiate mid-project.

How is this different from a salary-to-hourly conversion?

A W-2 salary calculator divides salary by 2,080 hours and gives you a 'hidden' hourly rate. A freelance rate calculator works the other direction: starting from desired take-home, it adds back self-employment tax, business expenses, and unbillable hours to get the rate you actually need to charge. The same target take-home requires a much higher hourly rate as a freelancer than as an employee.

Hourly Rate Calculator for US Freelancers — Back-Solve from Income

The most common mistake new US freelancers make is converting their old W-2 salary to an hourly rate by dividing by 2,000 and quoting that. A $100k salary doesn't equal $50/hour as a freelancer — it equals roughly $80-95/hour, because everything an employer used to pay (employer-side payroll tax, unbillable training time, health insurance, paid time off, equipment) now comes out of your invoice. This calculator does the math the other direction: starting from the take-home you want, it adds back the costs and gives you the rate that actually covers them.

What goes into a US freelance hourly rate

Five inputs determine the floor:

Target take-home income. What you want to actually deposit and spend, after taxes and after expenses. Be specific — "$80k" is concrete, "comfortable" is not.
Billable hours per week. Hours the client pays for. Realistic: 20-30 hours/week for most experienced solo freelancers. New freelancers underestimate the time spent on sales, proposals, admin, and learning.
Working weeks per year. 52 minus vacation, sick, and dry weeks. Realistic: 46 weeks with one buffer week.
Annual business expenses. Software, equipment depreciation, internet, home-office portion, professional fees, health insurance, retirement contributions, training. List everything.
Effective tax rate. Federal income tax + 15.3% self-employment tax (after the half-deduction effect) + state income tax. Most solo freelancers in moderate-tax states land at 25-35% combined.

The formula:

gross_revenue_needed = (target_take_home + expenses) / (1 - effective_tax_rate)
hourly_rate         = gross_revenue_needed / (billable_hours/week × weeks_worked)

Worked example — $80k take-home, US freelancer

Input	Value
Target take-home	$80,000
Billable hours/week	25
Working weeks	46
Annual expenses	$8,000
Effective tax rate	28%

Gross revenue needed: ($80,000 + $8,000) / (1 − 0.28) = $122,222 Billable hours: 25 × 46 = 1,150 hours Floor rate: $122,222 / 1,150 = ~$106/hr

Add a 15% project-risk margin: quote at $122/hr. Round to $120/hr for clean billing.

For comparison: a W-2 employee earning the same $80k take-home (after taxes), with employer-paid health insurance and 401k match, has an "all-in" employer cost of ~$110-130k including payroll tax + benefits. Your $120/hr quote × 1,150 billable hours = $138k — almost exactly the same all-in cost from the client's perspective, just packaged differently. The rate isn't expensive; it's the freelance equivalent of a W-2 salary.

What the calculator doesn't include

Surge demand or scarcity premium. If you're booked 6 months out, charge more. The calculator gives the floor, not the market clearing rate.
Project complexity. Greenfield work commands more than maintenance; specialised skills more than commodity.
Equity / risk-share gigs. Different math entirely — the calculator assumes cash invoicing.
Payment-rail and FX costs. Add 1-3% on top of the calculated floor if you're routinely paid via card / PayPal / SWIFT wire.

Practical adjustments for US freelancers

S-corp consideration. Once your Schedule C profit crosses ~$80k, modeling an S-corp election (paying yourself a "reasonable salary" + the rest as distribution) often saves $4-12k in self-employment tax annually. The calculator's "effective tax rate" can drop from 28% to ~22-24% under S-corp. Worth talking to a CPA at that revenue level.
State tax variance. Florida, Texas, Washington, Tennessee, and Nevada have no state income tax — your rate floor drops by 4-7%. New York, California, and Oregon push it up by the same amount. Account for where you actually live and pay tax.
Retirement-contribution leverage. SEP-IRA (up to 25% of net SE profit) and Solo 401(k) ($70k total contribution limit in 2025) reduce taxable income meaningfully. If you list those as "expenses" in this calculator, your effective tax rate drops because the IRS doesn't see that money as income — but the take-home you actually deposit also drops by the same amount, so net the floor rate stays roughly the same. Use whichever framing matches how you mentally budget.

Adjacent guides

Freelance tax in the United States — quarterly estimates, Schedule C, deductions.
US invoice generator — what to put on the invoice once you're quoting.

General information — not financial or tax advice

This page is general guidance for US-based freelancers. Tax brackets, SE thresholds, and state rules change yearly; consult a CPA or licensed financial planner before structuring decisions. Authoritative source: IRS Self-Employed Tax Center and Bureau of Labor Statistics OES for occupational benchmark rates.