Setting the right hourly rates for professional services can feel like walking a tightrope. Charge too little, and you risk undervaluing your expertise and leaving money on the table. Charge too much, and you may lose clients to competitors who seem more affordable. This balancing act becomes even more complex when you’re managing rates for multiple employees and contractors, each with different skill levels and specializations.

That’s exactly why we created Harvest’s hourly rate calculator. This tool takes the uncertainty out of rate-setting by leveraging comprehensive U.S. benchmark data to help professional services businesses and freelancers make informed pricing decisions based on what similar businesses are actually charging, not just industry guesswork.

blog-postWhy use our calculator?

If you’ve ever found yourself second-guessing your pricing strategy or wondering how your rates stack up against industry standards, you’re not alone. Many service-based businesses struggle with this fundamental challenge. Whether you’re a freelancer trying to price your first project or an agency owner establishing rates for your entire team, we’re giving you the market insights you need to set competitive rates that reflect the true value of your work.

Where does our data come from?

Our professional services rate benchmark draws from anonymized real-world rate data from thousands of Harvest customers across the United States. We calculated the median hourly rate by role and industry, and included the 40th and 60th percentiles to give you a sense of range. This approach provides a realistic picture of current market pricing rather than relying on theoretical or survey-based estimates.

To ensure data quality and relevance, we applied filters to remove datasets with insufficient sample sizes, consolidated similar job titles into standardized categories, and eliminated statistical outliers that could skew the results.

While factors like location, project scope, overhead costs, and market demand can all affect your final rates, we hope this calculator gives you a helpful starting point for setting more competitive rates in 2025.

Try Harvest’s Hourly Rate Calculator to discover your competitive rate range based on real industry data.