Free · Hourly rate worksheet

What do your hours need to earn?

Find a starting price for one hour of your work. Add what you want to earn, what your business costs, and the hours you can charge for. Use dollars per month. Your numbers stay on this page and are not saved.

New to these terms? Get a quick explanation and an example.

The numbers below are examples. Replace them with your own.

Monthly income goal ($)

What does income goal mean?

The amount you want to pay yourself each month, before your personal taxes.

Example: If you want to pay yourself $4,000 a month, enter 4000.

Monthly business overhead ($)

What does overhead mean?

The regular costs of running your business. Think insurance, phone bills, and software.

Example: If those bills add up to $600 a month, enter 600. Add costs for a specific job to that job’s quote. Do not count the same cost twice.

Monthly billable hours

What does billable hours mean?

The hours you get paid for. Do not count unpaid time spent driving, doing paperwork, or finding clients.

Example: 25 paid hours a week for 4 weeks is 100 billable hours. Enter 100.

Revenue reserve (%)

What does revenue reserve mean?

Revenue is the money clients pay you. A reserve is a share of that money you plan to set aside as a buffer.

Example: At 15%, you set aside $15 from each $100 a client pays. Pick a share that fits your plan, or enter 0 for no reserve. The example is not a suggested tax rate.

Estimated baseline hourly rate—

Enter your numbers, then select Calculate.

A starting price to help cover your goals and costs. It is not a promise of profit or the final price for a job.

What does baseline hourly rate mean?

Your starting price for one paid hour of work. It combines your income goal, business costs, and reserve.

Example: With the sample numbers, it is $54.12 per hour. A 3-hour job starts at about $162.36, before extra job costs. Check what the job needs before you quote.

How does it work?

First, we add your income goal and business costs. Then we divide that amount by your paid hours. If you choose a reserve, we raise the rate so you can set that share aside.

With the sample numbers: $4,000 + $600 = $4,600. Over 100 paid hours, that is $46 an hour. To set aside 15% of what clients pay, the rate becomes $54.12 an hour.

See the full formula

Baseline rate = (monthly income goal + monthly overhead) ÷ [billable hours × (1 − reserve percentage ÷ 100)].

Check each job before you set a price. Add any extra supplies, travel charges, or other costs you have not counted here. This tool does not work out your taxes.