Hourly rate calculator
Turn an annual salary into an hourly rate, an hourly rate into annual pay, or work out the hourly rate a freelancer needs to bill to reach an income target. Every assumption is a box you can change, and none of it is a tax calculation. For example, $52,000 a year is $25 an hour at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks.
Last reviewed October 19, 2026. What you type stays in your browser.
Salary and hourly pay
| Hourly | $25.00 |
|---|---|
| Weekly | $1,000.00 |
| Monthly (annual divided by 12) | $4,333.33 |
| Annual | $52,000.00 |
| Hours counted per year | 2080 |
The rate a freelancer or contractor needs to bill
Start from the income you want to pay yourself, add what the business costs to run, and spread it over the hours you can really bill. This is the minimum rate that gets you there, before your own income tax.
| Hourly rate to bill | $71.91 |
|---|---|
| Revenue needed per year | $86,000.00 |
| Billable hours per year | 1196 |
| Weeks worked per year | 46 |
| The same income as a 40-hour, 52-week salary would be | $38.46 an hour |
With the example numbers, $80,000.00 of income and $6,000.00 of costs over 1196 billable hours needs $71.91 an hour. The same income as a 40-hour, 52-week salary would be $38.46 an hour: the gap is time off, unbillable hours and costs.
How these are calculated
Annual pay to hourly: annual pay / (hours per week x paid weeks per year). $52,000 / (40 x 52) = $25 an hour. Hourly to annual: hourly rate x hours per week x paid weeks. Monthly pay is the annual figure divided by 12.
Rate to bill: (income you want + business costs) / (1 - the share you set aside) = revenue needed. Revenue needed / billable hours per year = the hourly rate. Billable hours per year = hours per week x weeks worked x billable share.
The default numbers are examples to show how the sums work. They are not a benchmark or a recommended rate.
Wages, billing rates, tax and take-home are different things
An employee's hourly wage, a freelancer's billing rate and what ends up in a bank account are three different numbers. This page works out the first two from the assumptions you type. It does not calculate tax or take-home pay.
How taxes work differs for employees and contractors. The IRS explains the tests for employee or independent contractor, and self-employment tax, which self-employed people calculate and pay themselves. For a paycheck estimate, the IRS has a Tax Withholding Estimator. There is no single multiplier that turns a W-2 wage into a contractor rate, so this page uses the set-aside box instead of pretending to know yours.
Questions
How do I calculate my hourly rate from a salary?
Divide the annual pay by the hours you work in a year: hours per week x paid weeks per year. $52,000 / (40 x 52) = $25 an hour. Change the hours and weeks above if yours differ.
How much is $70,000 a year hourly?
$33.65 an hour at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks (2,080 hours). With 50 paid weeks (2,000 hours) it is $35.00.
How much is $17.50 an hour weekly?
$700 a week at 40 hours, which is $36,400 over 52 weeks, before tax. At 30 hours a week it is $525.
What is the difference between hourly and salary?
Hourly pay is a rate for each hour recorded. Salary is a fixed amount for a period. Turning a salary into an hourly figure needs an assumption about hours, which is why hours and weeks are editable here. Whether someone is owed overtime depends on the job and the law, not on whether the pay is described as hourly or salaried; see the US Department of Labor's overtime guidance.
How do I calculate the hourly rate for a contractor?
Work backwards from the income you want: add business costs, divide by the hours you can bill in a year. With $80,000 of income, $6,000 of costs, 6 weeks off and 65% of a 40-hour week billable, the rate is $71.91 an hour. The second calculator above does this with your numbers.
How do I convert a contractor hourly rate to a salary?
Multiply the rate by the hours you bill in a year, not the hours you work. $60 an hour for 1,500 billable hours is $90,000 of revenue. That is before business costs and tax, so it is not comparable to a salary until you take those off.
How do I turn a day rate into an hourly rate?
Divide the day rate by the hours in the day. $350 over an 8-hour day is $43.75 an hour; over a 7-hour day it is $50.00. Whether a rate is good depends on your field, location and costs, so use the second calculator for your own minimum.
What is the difference between a 1099 hourly rate and a W-2 hourly rate?
For an employee, the employer withholds taxes and pays its share of Social Security, Medicare and unemployment tax. A contractor is generally not withheld from and pays self-employment tax themselves (the IRS gives the rate as 15.3%: 12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare, on net earnings), and covers their own time off, insurance and equipment. So a contractor usually needs a higher rate than an equivalent wage to take home the same, by an amount that depends on their situation. Read the IRS guidance and ask an accountant.
How much should I charge per hour as a freelancer?
There is no single right number. It depends on your field, location, experience and what clients in your market pay. Work out your minimum with the second calculator, then compare it with what comparable work sells for where you sell.
Can this calculate my net pay?
No. It does not calculate tax. For a US paycheck estimate use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator.
Is anything I type saved or sent?
No. The numbers are worked out in your browser and are not sent anywhere. The site only records that the calculator was used, never the amounts.
Related
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