Freelance Rate Calculator

Freelancers systematically underprice. They anchor on salary ÷ 2080, forget that only ~60% of hours are billable, that both halves of payroll tax land on them, that vacation and health insurance are self-funded, and that contracts end. The result is being broke while busy. This skill runs the real math: target take-home → sustainable hourly rate → safe fixed-bid quotes.

Overview

scripts/freelance_rate.py (offline, stdlib-only) answers four questions that keep freelancers up at night:

• rate — "I need $70k take-home: what's my hourly rate?" Full breakdown: tax gross-up, overhead, benefits load, billable ratio, bench cushion → hourly / day / weekly rates
• salary — "I'm leaving a $95k job: what rate replaces it?" (Spoiler: not $45.67/h. It's ~2.4× that once benefits and taxes are honest.)
• check — "A client offers $60/h — what does that actually pay?" Reverse-engineers the offered rate into annual/monthly net and equivalent salaried pay, and flags shortfalls against your minimum
• project — "This looks like 60 hours: what do I quote fixed-bid?" Hours × rate × risk buffer (+ rush premium), with effective-rate exposure if scope creeps

Every assumption (billable ratio 60%, 46 workweeks, SE tax 15.3%, income tax 18%, 1 bench month) is documented and overridable per flag.

When to Use