Free tool · Hourly Rate Calculator

Hourly Rate Calculator for Freelance Moms

Turn the income you want, the hours you can really bill, and your fixed costs into the minimum hourly rate to quote — before a client names a number.

Minimum hourly rate

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Below this you lose money on every hour.

Rate to quote

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Billable hours per year—

Revenue needed per year—

Revenue needed per month—

Day rate (6 billable hours)—

How this is calculated

Minimum rate = (income + 12 × monthly costs) ÷ (1 − tax%) ÷ (billable hours × working weeks). Rate to quote = minimum × (1 + safety margin).

How to use it

Start with the income you'd like to keep in a year, then be ruthless about the hours: not hours you're awake, hours you can actually bill. Add the costs that exist only because you work — software, a phone plan, childcare during work hours — and a tax percentage for your country. The slider adds a margin for everything you can't bill: proposals, emails, the week a child is sick.

How I use the number

When I quote ad-management work, I start from this rate and the hours I know a campaign takes, then round up. Clients rarely ask how you got to a number; they ask whether it's within budget. If it isn't, the answer is to cut scope, not the rate.

Questions I get asked

Why is the minimum rate so much higher than I expected?

Because you only get paid for billable hours. With 15 billable hours a week and six weeks off, a year is 690 hours, not 2,000 — and every unpaid hour of admin, pitching, and school pickups has to be covered by the paid ones.

What should I enter for billable hours?

The hours you can realistically sit down and do client work in a normal week, with kids in the house. For most moms I know that's 10–20, not 40. Be honest and the number will protect you.

Does this include tax?

It sets aside the percentage you enter before working out the rate, so the income figure is what you want to keep after setting money aside. Check your own country's rates; the default 20% is only a placeholder.

Should I quote the minimum or the 'rate to quote'?

Quote the higher one. The safety margin exists because slow months, scope creep, and a client who negotiates you down all happen. The minimum is the floor you never go below.