What Should You Charge to Take Home $80,000 a Year?
Keeping $80,000 after tax and expenses means charging about $130 an hour — 1,104 hours of billable time a year, not 1,840 hours.
To actually keep $80,000 a year, you have to bill $143,265 — that gap is $29,333 of tax, $9,000 of business expenses and a 10% profit buffer. Spread across the hours you can genuinely sell, the rate works out at $130 an hour, or roughly $779 for a full day.
The part employees underestimate is the hours. A 40-hour week over 46 weeks is 1,840 hours a year, but admin, pitching and unpaid revisions take a slice, and at 75% utilisation only 1,104 hours of it is billable. The calculator below is set to this scenario — change your tax rate, expenses or how much of the week you actually sell, and watch the rate move.
Results
Client-Ready Hourly Rate
$107.17
Baseline Rate: $97.43 · Healthy utilization
Day Rate
$643
6.0 hrs / day
Monthly Retainer
$4,287
40 hrs / mo
Billable Hours / Year
1,104
60.0% Effective Billable Share
Projected Surplus
+$14,325
After target income, expenses and taxes
Annual Revenue Allocation
Rate Stack
Rate Summary
Rate needed for $80,000 — by how much you can bill
Working 46 weeks a year at 40 hours, with 8 hours a week of admin, $9,000 of expenses and 25% tax.
| Billable share | Billable hours | Hourly rate | Day rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | 736 hours | $195 | $1,168 |
| 60% | 883 hours | $162 | $973 |
| 75% | 1,104 hours | $130 | $779 |
| 85% | 1,251 hours | $115 | $687 |
| 95% | 1,398 hours | $102 | $615 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- About $130 an hour. To keep $80,000 you must bill $143,265, because $29,333 goes to tax and $9,000 to running the business. Divided across 1,104 hours of genuinely billable time, that is $130 — or $779 a day and roughly $3,893 a week.
- Because a salary hides costs an employer was absorbing. On $80,000 you are covering your own tax at 25%, $9,000 of expenses, unpaid holiday and sick days, and every hour spent on admin, invoicing and finding the next client. That is why $130 an hour freelance is not the same deal as $38 an hour on payroll — it is roughly the equivalent.
- Far fewer than the hours worked. This scenario assumes 46 weeks at 40 hours — 1,840 hours — minus 8 hours a week of admin, and 75% of what remains is sold. That gives 1,104 hours. Most established freelancers land between 60% and 80%; anyone assuming 100% is quoting a rate they cannot deliver.
- Quote projects, price them from your hourly number. Clients prefer a fixed figure and it stops you being punished for working quickly, but you still need $130 an hour underneath to know whether a quote is profitable. Estimate the hours, apply the rate, then add a padding percentage for scope creep — the calculator includes one at 10%.
Hourly rate by target income
Target incomes