Freelance Rate Calculator
Beta planning calculator.
Find the hourly rate that actually covers your taxes, expenses, and time off — computed bracket-by-bracket for 2026.
To take home $80,000 a year after expenses and estimated taxes.
Set your working year
01Start with what you want to keep.
Your income after business expenses and taxes.
Software, equipment, insurance, and other costs.
Hours you invoice, not hours you work.
Vacation, holidays, and time between projects.
Updates as you type. Nothing is saved or sent.
Where the money goes
02Federal income tax
On $84,996 of taxable income
| Bracket | Taxable income band | Income in bracket | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 | $12,400.00 | $1,240.00 |
| 12% | $12,400 – $50,400 | $38,000.00 | $4,560.00 |
| 22% | $50,400 – $105,700 | $34,596.37 | $7,611.20 |
| 24% | $105,700 – $201,775 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| 32% | $201,775 – $256,225 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| 35% | $256,225 – $640,600 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| 37% | $640,600 – and above | $0.00 | $0.00 |
- Self-employment tax 92.35% × $108,782 net earnings = $100,460 tax base
- $15,370
- Social Security 12.4% · earnings base capped at $184,500
- $12,457
- Medicare 2.9% · no wage cap
- $2,913
- Additional Medicare 0.9% above $200,000
- $0
- Texas income tax Estimate using federal taxable income
- $0
- Total estimated tax
- $28,782
Taxable income deducts $7,685 of regular SE tax and the $16,100 federal standard deduction. Additional Medicare is not deductible.
Flat 30% guess vs bracket-by-bracket
A flat-30% calculator would tell you $83/hr — that’s $4/hr too high compared with this estimate.
≈ $101,166/year W-2 salary
Produces the same estimated take-home with employee payroll taxes. Benefits, retirement contributions, and employer-paid insurance are excluded.
How your rate is calculated
Federal taxes are calculated bracket-by-bracket. State taxes are approximations: every state schedule uses the federal taxable-income base, without state deductions, credits, exemptions, or tax-benefit recapture. Some indexed state thresholds in the source compilation are prior-year figures pending publication.
The gross-up, explained
We start with your take-home goal and add business expenses. We try a revenue amount, calculate its taxes, and check how much remains. We narrow the range by repeatedly testing its midpoint until the take-home matches your goal within a dollar. Dividing that revenue by your billable hours gives your hourly rate.
Billable hours = weekly billable hours × (52 − weeks off). The employee comparison separately solves for a salary after employee Social Security, Medicare, federal tax, and estimated state tax. We assume one earner, no other wages or spouse income, the standard deduction, and fully deductible business expenses. The Additional Medicare threshold ($200,000 single, $250,000 married filing jointly) is tested against self-employment earnings alone, not combined wage or household income.
The flat-30% comparison divides your target by 0.7, adds expenses, then divides by billable hours. Effective tax rate means total tax divided by gross revenue.
2026 federal brackets and standard deductions
Single · $16,100 standard deduction
| Bracket | Taxable income band |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 |
| 12% | $12,400 – $50,400 |
| 22% | $50,400 – $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,700 – $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,775 – $256,225 |
| 35% | $256,225 – $640,600 |
| 37% | $640,600 – and above |
Married filing jointly · $32,200 standard deduction
| Bracket | Taxable income band |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $24,800 |
| 12% | $24,800 – $100,800 |
| 22% | $100,800 – $211,400 |
| 24% | $211,400 – $403,550 |
| 32% | $403,550 – $512,450 |
| 35% | $512,450 – $768,700 |
| 37% | $768,700 – and above |
Texas state schedule used in this estimate
Applied to federal taxable income, not the actual state return base.
| Bracket | Taxable income band |
|---|---|
| 0% | $0 – and above |
Sources and annual updates
- IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — federal brackets and deductions ↗
- SSA — contribution and benefit base ↗
- IRS — self-employment tax ↗
- IRS — Additional Medicare tax ↗
- IRS — Schedule SE instructions (regular SE tax deduction) ↗
- Tax Foundation — state rates and brackets (February compilation) ↗
- Oklahoma Tax Commission — enacted brackets ↗
- South Carolina DOR — current individual income tax ↗
- Utah Tax Commission — rate revisions ↗
- Georgia DOR — current income tax rate ↗
- West Virginia Tax Division — rate cut ↗
Tables are refreshed each January and checked for enacted changes during the year. The last source check was 2026-09-23. A CPA review of this implementation and disclaimer is pending; this public beta has not been independently reviewed.
What this estimate doesn’t include
- Local taxes and state business, gross-receipts, disability, or paid-leave taxes
- QBI deduction, AMT, itemized deductions, credits, and additional age-based deductions
- Quarterly estimated payments, penalties, and S-corp scenarios
- State-specific deductions, exemptions, credits, phaseouts, and recapture
- Other household earnings, investment income, benefits, and retirement contributions
- Special low-income SE filing thresholds and optional SE methods
A few useful answers
How much should I charge as a freelancer?
Start with your take-home target, then account for expenses, time you cannot bill, and taxes. This gives a planning floor; your experience, market, project risk, and value to clients also influence your quote.
How is this different from other rate calculators?
This freelance hourly rate calculator with taxes works backward from your take-home goal and shows each federal bracket. It also compares the result with a flat-tax guess, with state approximations clearly disclosed.
Which tax year does this use?
The calculator uses tax year 2026. The latest source-check date is 2026-09-23; tables and citations are in the methodology above.
Is my data stored?
No. Your inputs stay in memory in this browser tab. We do not save them, put them in the URL, send them to a server, or use analytics on this calculator. Reloading restores the defaults.
Why gross up instead of adding a simple markup?
Taxes also apply to the extra money you charge to cover taxes. A gross-up solves for enough revenue after that tax, instead of assuming that one markup will work for every income.
How does 1099 vs W-2 pay compare?
Freelance revenue must cover expenses and both portions of regular payroll tax. The W-2 card estimates the employee salary with the same take-home under the selected assumptions; it is not a total-compensation comparison.