Freelance Day Rate Calculator
Enter your target annual income and the tool works out the day rate you need to charge, accounting for holidays and non-billable time.
Your desired gross income before tax.
52 minus holidays, sick days, and unpaid downtime. 46 is a reasonable default.
Days actually billed to clients. Allow 1 day for admin and business development.
day rate required to hit $75,000 per year
This tool calculates the day rate you need to charge clients to reach a target annual income, once you subtract holidays, sick days, and the time spent on admin and business development rather than billable work.
The most common mistake freelancers make when setting a day rate is dividing their target income by 365 or 260. You cannot bill every day. Once you account for two weeks sick leave, four weeks holiday, and one admin day per week, the number of actual billable days in a year is closer to 180 than 260. The required day rate is correspondingly higher.
How we work it out
Total billable days equals working weeks multiplied by billable days per week. The day rate is your target income divided by total billable days. The hourly rate divides the day rate by your hours per day. All figures are gross, before tax.
Questions
Why is 46 the default for working weeks?
52 weeks minus roughly 4 weeks holiday, 1 week public holidays, and 1 week sick leave. This varies by country and personal situation. Adjust to match your realistic available weeks.
Why is 4 the default for billable days per week?
One day per week spent on admin, invoicing, prospecting, and business development is a common rule of thumb. Adjust down if you are working through an agency that handles this, up if you are unusually efficient.
Is this gross or net income?
Gross, before tax. To set a rate that covers a target take-home, increase the target income to account for your expected tax rate before entering it here.
Between clients. Officially research.