Tools/Income & self-employment/Freelance Rate Calculator✓ CHECKED AGAINST WORKED EXAMPLES · SEP 29, 2026

What hourly rate do I need to charge to take home what I want?

Enter the after-tax income you want and what you pay for yourself, and see the hourly rate that covers self-employment tax, income tax, expenses and the time you cannot bill.

Edit on my map

After-tax income you want$What you want to keep in a year after all tax. Prefilled with the after-tax pay on your Money Map (before any saving).Health insurance you pay yourself$Yearly premium. The default is the 2024 national average total premium for one person at a private employer, $8,486 (AHRQ); a marketplace plan will differ, so use your quote.Retirement saving out of that income$What you want to put away each year. Treated as coming out of after-tax income, so no tax deduction for it is counted.Business expenses$An example, not a quote: software, insurance, accounting and equipment. Replace it with your own.Billable hours a weekhoursAn example. Hours you can bill, not hours you work: selling, invoicing and admin are unpaid, so most freelancers bill well under 40.Weeks a year you billweeksAn example. 52 less holidays, vacation, sick days and gaps between clients.State income tax rate%A flat rate on profit after half of self-employment tax. A state with brackets is not modelled.

Filing status

Assumes no other income in the household.

THE HOURLY RATE YOU NEED

$119/hr

To take home $111,400 after tax and pay for $8,486 of health insurance and $3,000 of expenses, you need to bill $163,808 a year: $119 an hour over 30 billable hours a week for 46 weeks, or $13,651 a month. Self-employment tax takes $22,721 and federal income tax $18,201. Dividing the take-home by a 40-hour, 52-week year gives only $54 an hour.

Billed a year

$163,808

A month

$13,651

Self-employment tax

$22,721

Federal income tax

$18,201

UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULT

LIBRARY CHAPTERBudgeting on an Irregular IncomeHow to budget on a conservative baseline, smooth uneven earnings with a buffer account that pays you a steady salary, rank where each month's money goes, and handle self-employment and estimated tax.

Terms:Income buffer

Where your billing goes

Of $163,808 billed, $3,000 goes to expenses, $22,721 to self-employment tax, $18,201 to federal income tax, $8,486 to health insurance, leaving $111,400.

The rate you need at different billable hours a week, over 46 weeks

10 hours

$356

15 hours

$237

20 hours

$178

25 hours

$142

30 hours

$119

35 hours

$102

40 hours

$89

The billing needed is fixed at $163,808; the fewer hours you can bill, the higher the rate. At 10 hours a week it is $356 an hour and at 40 hours $89; yours is highlighted.

What different hourly rates leave you

Hourly rate	Billed a year	Left after expenses and tax	Against your target
$95	$131,100	$97,169	−$22,717
$105	$144,900	$106,762	−$13,124
$119	$164,220	$120,166	+$280
$120	$165,600	$121,105	+$1,219
$130	$179,400	$130,493	+$10,607
$150	$207,000	$149,705	+$29,819

Left after expenses and tax must cover your $111,400 of take-home, $8,486 of health insurance and retirement saving: $119,886 in all. Each row shows how far a rate is above or below that.

What moves the needle

Each row re-runs the calculation with one change. Click to apply.

How it's computed

FORMULA

Target = after-tax income you want + health insurance + retirement saving

Profit = billing − business expenses; self-employment tax = 15.3% × 92.35% of profit (Social Security up to $184,500), half of it deductible

Federal tax = brackets on (profit − half of self-employment tax − standard deduction − 20% qualified business income deduction)

Billing needed = the amount at which profit − self-employment tax − federal tax − state tax = target

Hourly rate = billing ÷ (billable hours a week × weeks a year)

The income you want is after all tax and after the business expenses. Health insurance and retirement saving are paid out of it, so they are added to the target. The health-insurance deduction and solo 401(k) deductions that lower a self-employed person’s income tax are not counted, so the tax shown is a little higher than a self-employed person who takes them would owe.
Your income from freelancing is your only income, and a single filer takes the standard deduction. 2026 brackets, thresholds and Social Security wage base are from Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the SSA.
The 20% qualified business income deduction applies below its 2026 income threshold ($201,750 single, $403,500 joint). Above it the deduction depends on the kind of business and the wages it pays, so this page leaves it out and the rate shown is higher than a qualifying business would need.
Billable hours (30 a week) and weeks (46 a year) are examples: the more of your time you can bill, the lower the rate. Unpaid time, such as finding clients, invoicing and admin, is why the hourly rate is far above take-home divided by 2,080 hours.
The default health premium is the $8,486 2024 national average for one person at a private employer (AHRQ MEPS-IC), used as a stand-in; replace it with a quote.
Quarterly estimated tax payments are how the tax is paid, not an extra cost; late or missed payments can add a penalty that is not modelled.

WORKED EXAMPLE · SAMPLE NUMBERS

Target: $111,400 take-home + $8,486 health insurance + $0 retirement saving = $119,886. Billing $163,808 − $3,000 expenses = $160,808 profit; self-employment tax $22,721; federal income tax $18,201 after a $26,669 business-income deduction; left $119,886 = the target. $163,808 ÷ (30 hours × 46 weeks) = $119 an hour.

SOURCES

[1]Topic no. 554, Self-employment taxInternal Revenue Service [2]Qualified business income deductionInternal Revenue Service [3]Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted tax items (brackets, standard deduction, QBI thresholds)Internal Revenue Service, 2025 [4]Estimated taxesInternal Revenue Service [5]Health Insurance Benefits at Private Employers, Estimates from MEPS-Insurance Component: 2008-2024 (Research Findings #54)Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, December 2025

HSBuilt by Hussain Sehorewala · checked against worked examples · Sep 29, 2026

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Questions about this result

Start from the after-tax income you want, add what you pay for yourself (health insurance, retirement saving, business expenses), work out the billing that leaves that much after self-employment tax and income tax, and divide by the hours you can actually bill. On the example on this page that is about $163,808 a year, or $118.70 an hour over 30 billable hours for 46 weeks.

Because take-home divided by 40 hours and 52 weeks assumes every hour is billed and paid, no tax on the self-employed, and nothing to buy for yourself. On the example, $111,400 ÷ 2,080 is about $53.56 an hour. A freelancer also pays both halves of Social Security and Medicare tax, buys their own insurance and expenses, and is not paid for the hours spent finding work, invoicing or on leave.

Fewer than you work. Selling, proposals, invoicing, bookkeeping and learning are unpaid, and there are gaps between clients. Many freelancers bill about half to three-quarters of a 40-hour week. Try 20, 25 and 30 in the chart: the rate needed falls from $178 an hour at 20 hours to $119 at 30 and $89 at 40.

The self-employed pay Social Security and Medicare tax on themselves: 15.3% of 92.35% of net profit, which is 12.4% for Social Security up to $184,500 of earnings in 2026 and 2.9% for Medicare with no limit. An employee pays half of that and the employer pays the other half. Half of self-employment tax is deductible when figuring income tax.

Yes, generally by quarterly estimated payments rather than through a paycheck. The tax is the same either way; the payments just move it earlier. Paying too little can add a penalty, which this page does not model.

The health-insurance and retirement deductions that lower a self-employed person’s income tax, state taxes with brackets, other household income, sales or business taxes, and above the qualified business income threshold, the deduction itself (the rate shown is then higher than a qualifying business would need).

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