Utility Stack
Free freelance planning calculator
Estimate the billable hourly rate needed to replace a salary after health insurance, company perks, vacation time, admin overhead, and self-employment tax burden.
Rate result
Enter your W-2 details to estimate a freelance rate.
Estimate only. Actual freelance pricing depends on demand, utilization, taxes, risk, niche, and client acquisition costs.
The calculator adds salary, annual health insurance replacement cost, and annual company perk value. It subtracts vacation time from the working year, assumes 35 billable hours per available week, then adds a 30% buffer for self-employment tax burden and business risk.
A salaried job pays for more than hours at a desk. It may include employer payroll taxes, benefits, paid holidays, equipment, training, management, sales, and idle time between assignments. A freelancer has to price some of that hidden support into the rate.
This estimate does not include state-specific taxes, retirement contribution strategy, business insurance, unpaid family leave, professional services, bad debt, platform fees, or the cost of finding clients.
Treat the hourly result as a floor, not a promise that every client will pay it. If the rate seems too high for your market, the gap is useful information: you may need a niche, higher-value offer, lower expenses, a longer runway, or a staged transition.