Harvest
Time Tracking
Sign up free

Fast Hourly Rate Calculator

Harvest simplifies the complex process of calculating hourly rates with flexible project and person-specific rate settings, ensuring accurate billing and profitability.

Try Harvest Free

What should you charge per hour?

Most freelancers and consultants dramatically undercharge. This calculator accounts for what most people miss: non-billable time, taxes, and overhead.

$
Accounting for vacation, holidays, sick days
60%
Most freelancers can bill 50-70% of their time. The rest goes to admin, marketing, proposals, and learning.
$
Software, insurance, equipment, accounting, taxes beyond income tax, etc.
Your break-even rate $0
Recommended rate (+20% buffer) $0
Billable hours per week 0h
Equivalent daily rate $0

Start tracking your billable hours

How this hourly rate calculator works

It works back from the income you need to the rate you must bill, accounting for the hours you can't bill.

  • Billable hours/year = working weeks × hours per week × billable %.
  • Break-even rate = (target income + business expenses) ÷ billable hours.
  • Recommended rate = break-even plus a 20% buffer for taxes, slow periods, and profit.

Raising your billable percentage or trimming expenses lowers the rate you need.

Fast Hourly Rate Calculation with Harvest

See how Harvest's platform helps you calculate accurate hourly rates using flexible settings for projects and individuals.

Screenshot of Harvest's hourly rate calculator interface

Fast Hourly Rate Calculator FAQs

  • The fastest way to calculate your hourly rate is to divide your total annual income by the number of hours you work in a year. Typically, this is 2,080 hours for full-time employees. For freelancers, use Harvest to input various rates and adjust for expenses and taxes for a more tailored result.

  • Yes, Harvest allows you to input multiple hourly rates for different jobs or projects. This flexibility ensures that each project is billed accurately according to its specific requirements, enhancing financial management.

  • Taxes significantly affect your take-home pay. For freelancers, self-employment tax in the U.S. is 15.3%, covering Social Security and Medicare. It's essential to include these taxes in your hourly rate calculations to ensure net income goals are achieved.

  • Freelancers should consider desired annual income, business expenses, taxes, non-billable hours, and profit margins. Tools like Harvest help by allowing you to track project costs and adjust rates to meet financial objectives.

  • Harvest supports freelancers by providing tools to set flexible rates per project and track billable hours. This ensures they can estimate accurate hourly rates based on project costs and desired income.

  • Pay frequency affects hourly rate calculations. For instance, salaried employees should divide their annual salary by total working hours, while freelancers must account for variable income and non-billable time, adjusting rates to cover all costs efficiently.

  • Harvest excels in managing multiple hourly rates by allowing users to set flexible per-project and per-person rates. This helps in accurately billing each project, ensuring profitability and accurate financial tracking.

  • Industry norms, such as standard skill requirements and market demand, significantly influence hourly rates. For example, IT services often command higher rates due to specialized skills, whereas hospitality rates tend to be lower. Understanding these norms helps in setting competitive rates.