What should you charge per hour?
Type the take-home pay you need. Rate Sheet adds your expenses and 2026 self-employment tax, takes out the weeks you won't bill, and prints your minimum rate.
Calculators
- Freelance hourly rate calculatorStart from the money you want to keep. Get the hourly and day rate that pays for it.
- Salary to hourly converterHourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Type one, read the rest.
- Project quote calculatorHours × rate, plus a buffer for the unknowns, plus expenses. Split into deposit and balance.
Self-employment tax in 2026
| Part | Rate | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security | 12.4% | up to $184,500 of SE earnings |
| Medicare | 2.9% | no cap |
| Additional Medicare | 0.9% | above $200,000 single / $250,000 joint |
Sources: IRS Topics 554 and 560, SSA. Self-employment tax, explained.
Billable hours, honestly
| Billable / week | 4 wk off | 6 wk off | 8 wk off |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 h | 960 | 920 | 880 |
| 25 h | 1,200 | 1,150 | 1,100 |
| 30 h | 1,440 | 1,380 | 1,320 |
A salaried year is 2,080 hours. How many hours freelancers really bill.
Guides
- How many billable hours do freelancers really have in a year?Start from 2,080 hours, subtract holidays, vacation, sick days and admin, and see how billable hours change the rate you need to charge.
- Day rate vs hourly rate: which should freelancers charge?When a day rate beats an hourly rate, how to convert one into the other, and how to set half-day and weekly rates without losing money.
- How to quote a freelance project: hours, buffer, expenses and depositA step-by-step way to turn an estimate into a fixed-price quote, with a contingency buffer, pass-through expenses and a deposit, plus a worked example.
- Hourly to salary conversion chart for 2026 (and what it means for freelancers)Hourly to yearly, monthly and weekly pay from $20 to $150 an hour, plus salary to hourly, benefits value from BLS data and the freelance reality check.
- Self-employment tax explained: 2026 rates, wage base and examplesSelf-employment tax in 2026: 15.3% on 92.35% of profit, the $184,500 Social Security wage base, the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax and worked examples.
- How to calculate your freelance hourly rate (with 2026 tax numbers)A five-step method to price your time: start from take-home pay, add expenses and self-employment tax, divide by the hours you can really bill.