Salary to Freelance Rate Calculator
A $90,000 salary does not mean a $43/hour freelance rate. Here is the rate that genuinely leaves you no worse off.
The trap of dividing salary by 2080
Two thousand and eighty is the number of hours in a 40-hour, 52-week year. But freelancers do not bill all of them, and they fund benefits an employer used to cover. This calculator loads both back in, so you set a rate that matches the real value you were giving up.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the freelance rate so much higher than salary / 2080?
The naive formula assumes you bill every working hour and get free benefits. In reality you lose hours to admin and gaps and pay for your own benefits and extra tax, so the true equivalent rate is far higher.
What is a realistic self-employment overhead?
Many freelancers use 25% to 40% to cover lost PTO, their own benefits, gaps between contracts and the employer half of payroll taxes they now pay themselves.