The Freelance Rate Calculator (2022)
(Spanish version)
How much do you need to charge to sustain your freelance business?
Take 10 minutes and figure out your hourly / daily / weekly rate:
Instructions:
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OR
Click here to download directly
Now you can fill out your own spreadsheet!
START
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ANNUAL EXPENSES
Daily Monthly Yearly ← Annual Expenses, per category, will be equal to:
Group Category ↓ ↓ ↓ ( Daily x 365 ) + ( Monthly x 12 ) + ( Yearly x 1 )
Living
Rent or Mortgage $1,200 ← How much for the roof over your head?
These are the essential expenses that you will need to cover in order to sustain your current lifestyle. If you cannot afford these costs, you cannot be a full-time freelancer - sorry!
Utilities ( Gas / Electric ) $150 ← Lights? Electricity? Heat? Stove?
Phone & Internet $200 ← Cell phone bill? Cable? Internet? Landline?
Meals & Entertainment $20 $200 ← Groceries? Takeout? Dinner with friends?
Insurance ( Health / Other ) $350 ← Health / Dental / Vision / Life insurance? Car insurance?
Travel
Transportation $9 $100 $350 ← Car payments? Train, bus, or subway fare? Uber or Taxi rides?
You will most likely need to cover these costs, too.
Travel ( Hotel & Airfare ) $1,000 ← Plane tickets? Hotel or AirBnB? Train or bus trips? Event travel?
Business I
Office Supplies $10 $500 ← Pens, paper, ink? Work stations or small office furniture?
These are your core business expenses. Ex. If you need a computer every three years, then consider taking the full cost and dividing it by 3, then placing the amount in the "Yearly" column.
Hardware & Software $2,000 ← New computer? Monitors? 1-time software purchases?
Trade Assets $1,000 ← Fonts? Icons? Books? Plug-ins?
Subscriptions $100 ← Adobe Creative Cloud? Sketch? InVision? Pro Tools?
Website $100 ← Hosting? Servers? Cloud? Domain registrations?
Business II
Advertising $100 ← Google Ads? Print or online ads? Facebook? Instagram?
These can be considered optional if you are just getting started.
Legal & Accounting $1,000 ← Contracts? Taxes? Accounting? Legal advice?
Professional Development $2,000 ← Tuition? Professional classes? Networking events?
Business III
Office Space $350 ← Co-working space? Dedicated office?
Once you are established, these additional expenses could be part of your financial planning.
Contractors & Hired Help $1,000 ← Need to hire some help on projects? Any additional help?
Other $100 $1,500 ← Business insurance? Business entity fees? Other expenses?
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Daily Monthly Yearly
SUB TOTALS $29 $2,960 $10,350 ← Amount you spend per day, month, & year
Annual multiplier x 365 x 12 x 1 ← Multiply amounts by the number of days, months, & year
ANNUAL TOTALS $10,585 $35,520 $10,350 ← Add these amounts to get your total annual expenses
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$56,455 ← Your total annual expenses
in ANNUAL EXPENSES
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So, you need to earn $56,455 to break even???
No, you need to earn more.
How to Break Even
You need to earn enough to pay for all annual expenses AFTER sales fees and taxes are paid.
Expenses + Fees + Taxes = Break Even ← The Break Even Formula
Continue
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Sales Fees and Taxes
You can't escape them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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SALES FEES
Credit Card Service Other Credit Card Do you accept credit card payments? Service Do you pay any third-party fees? (ex. sales commissions, Upwork) Other All other sales that have a transaction fee. If none, enter 0%.
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What % of your sales are from credit card / service / other?
→ % of Total Sales 90% 10% 0%
What is the sales fee, per sale? → Transaction Fee 3.0% 15.0% 0.0%
TOTAL FEES $1,524 $847 $0
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$2,371 ← Your total annual sales fees
in SALES FEES
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TAXES
How are you filing taxes? → Single YES YES ← Select "Yes" for Sole Proprietorship or Single-Member LLC
NO
Married ( Filing Jointly ) NO ← Select "Single" for Married Filing Separately
2021 Federal Tax Rates
Annual Expenses $56,455
Income Bracket Rate
Sales Fees $2,371 $0 10% $1,027 You will be taxed at different rates, per income tax bracket. We have automatically calculated your Federal Income Tax, based on these rates.
The income needed to pay for your annual expenses and sales fees $10,275 12% $4,807
→ TOTAL INCOME $58,826 $41,775 22% $15,213
$89,075 24% $34,647
Based on your TOTAL INCOME → Federal Income Tax $8,559 ← $170,050 32% $49,335
$215,950 35% $162,718
What is your State Income Tax? → State Income Tax 9.9% $539,900 37% Source
* U.S. average rate is 9.9%
State Tax Rates TOTAL TAX $14,382 ← Your total annual taxes
* Source in TAXES
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Break Even
Expenses + Fees + Taxes
$56,455 $2,371 $14,382
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$73,209 ← Your required total annual sales to break even
in TOTAL ANNUAL SALES
Final Step
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Calculate Your Rate
What should you charge per hour?