Freelance Hourly Rate & Billable Hours Calculator
Most freelancers undercharge because they divide desired salary by 2,080 hours without accounting for self-employment taxes, health insurance, and unbillable admin time. Calculate your true minimum billable rate below.
Income Targets & Overhead Factors
Includes software subscriptions, health insurance, hardware depreciation, and accountant fees.
Self-employment + state + federal taxes.
Vacation, sick leave, and holidays.
Industry standard is 55–65% billable client work.
To take home $95,000 cleanly after taxes & overhead.
Reclaim 6.5 Unbillable Hours / Week
Every hour spent transcribing client calls or manually writing meeting recaps reduces your billable utilization. Subra Professional Space transcribes audio memos and meetings directly on your device with 0 cloud sync — keeping client NDAs 100% intact.
The Salary × 2 Myth
Many online guides suggest doubling an employee salary. But if you have high health insurance costs or work in a high-tax jurisdiction, you may still run cashflow negative without factoring real billable utilization.
Why 60% Billable?
A sustainable 40-hour freelance week realistically yields 24 hours of billable client work. The remaining 16 hours are absorbed by proposals, invoicing, scope definitions, and client calls.
Zero Cloud Data Leakage
Client confidentiality is non-negotiable for high-rate consultants and attorneys. Subra Space AI runs speech models entirely on your phone or laptop hardware — no third-party APIs see your files.