Hourly Rate Calculator for Self-Employed Women

How your hourly rate is calculated

First, the cal­cu­la­tor finds the yearly rev­enue you need so that, after tax and busi­ness costs, you keep the income you want. Then it di­vides that by your bill­able hours a year: work­ing weeks × bill­able hours a week.

If tax is charged on rev­enue (gross re­ceipts): month­ly rev­enue = (take-home + costs) ÷ (1 − tax rate). If tax is charged on profit (most US self-em­ployed women: self-em­ploy­ment tax plus income tax): month­ly rev­enue = take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate) + costs. Hourly rate = month­ly rev­enue × 12 ÷ (weeks × hours).

Why billable hours are fewer than working hours

Emails, prep, find­ing clients, learn­ing, book­keep­ing and social media are work too, but no one pays for them di­rect­ly. Usu­al­ly only 50–70% of your work­ing time is bill­able. If you work 35 hours a week, 18–24 bill­able hours is an honest number.

You also won’t work 52 weeks: va­ca­tion, hol­i­days, sick days and slow weeks add up. For most ser­vice providers, 42–46 work­ing weeks is re­al­is­tic.

Sessions, packages and groups

Ses­sion: hourly rate × length. Pack­age: ses­sion price × number of ses­sions, minus your dis­count — the dis­count costs you money, so the cal­cu­la­tor shows it in dol­lars.

Group seat: the price of one pri­vate ses­sion of the same length, di­vid­ed by the number of people you expect. Groups rarely fill com­plete­ly, so at 70% fill each seat costs more than at 100%. This is the price that meets your income goal — you can charge more for the format and the com­mu­ni­ty.

Your break-even rate

The break-even rate is the price at which your rev­enue only covers costs and tax, and noth­ing is left for you. If you charge less than that now, you’re paying to do your job. It isn’t a reason for shame — it’s a useful start­ing point for rais­ing your prices.

What this calculator doesn’t cover

It isn’t tax or legal advice: rates and rules depend on your state, coun­try and busi­ness struc­ture, so you enter your own tax rate. Market prices also depend on ex­pe­ri­ence, niche and demand — the cal­cu­la­tor shows the price that meets your goal and your break-even point, not the ceil­ing.