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Turn a salary goal into a defensible hourly rate.
Most freelancers undercharge because they copy a salaried number and divide by 2,080 hours. That ignores unpaid admin time, vacations, taxes, software, insurance, and the fact that only part of your week is billable. This calculator starts from the income you actually want to take home, adds the real costs of running your business, and divides by the hours you can realistically bill — giving you a floor rate backed by arithmetic instead of guesswork.
People use this before quoting a single client. The most common freelance failure is copying a salary and dividing by 2,080 — which ignores unpaid admin, taxes, insurance, and gaps between contracts. This calculator exists because "what should I charge?" is really "what must I charge to not lose money," and that number is almost always higher than instinct says.
It depends on your target income, expenses, and billable hours. A common outcome: to match a $100,000 salary with $10,000 in expenses, 48 working weeks, and 60% billable time, you need roughly $96/hour — far above the ~$48/hour a naive salary division suggests.
Use your calculated hourly floor to price projects internally, then quote fixed project prices to clients. Fixed pricing lets you keep the upside of working efficiently while the hourly floor protects you from losing money.
Published "market rates" often come from surveys that include part-timers and underchargers. Your floor rate is personal: it is the minimum that makes freelancing rational for you. Compete on value and specialization, not on being the cheapest.