Calculate how many billable hours per week you need to hit your income target after accounting for vacation, sick days, and admin time.
Invoicing, Tax & Tools
Bill clients, track time, and file taxes — software built for the self-employed
Knowing how many billable hours you need each week is fundamental to running a sustainable freelance business. Without this number, you're either overworking or underearning — and often both.
The calculation starts with your revenue goal divided by your rate — that's your raw hours needed. But the available hours in a year are significantly less than 52 × 40. Subtract vacation and sick days, then apply a realistic estimate of non-billable admin time (15-30% for most freelancers).
If the resulting weekly billable hours target feels too high (above 35), you have two options: raise your rate or reduce your income goal. There's no third option — you cannot sustainably bill more than ~35 hours per week without sacrificing business development, learning, and quality of life.
Track your actual billable hours weekly. The gap between target and actual is your most important business metric. If you're consistently below target, identify whether it's a demand problem (not enough clients) or an efficiency problem (too much time on non-billable work).
Billable Hours
Hours worked on client projects that can be charged to the client, as opposed to non-billable hours spent on admin, sales, or professional development.
Utilization Rate
The percentage of total working time spent on billable client work, a key measure of freelance business efficiency.
Hourly Rate
The amount a freelancer charges per hour of work, calculated to cover expenses, taxes, and desired income.
Most freelancers can sustain 25-35 billable hours per week long-term. 40+ billable hours per week is possible short-term but typically unsustainable — there's no time for admin, business development, or rest.
Invoicing, chasing payments, writing proposals, new client emails, bookkeeping, professional development, networking, marketing, and strategic planning. It's all valuable work — you just can't bill it to clients.
You need to raise your rate. If 1,440 available billable hours/year at $75/hr = $108,000 capacity but you need $120,000, your rate needs to be $83/hr minimum. The calculator's shortfall indicator flags this scenario.
Automate invoicing and payment reminders (FreshBooks, Bonsai). Use proposal templates. Batch email responses to specific time blocks. Set up accounting automation. Many freelancers can cut admin time by 30-50% with the right tools.
Hourly Rate Calculator
Calculate your optimal freelance hourly rate based on your income goal, billable hours, overhead costs, and desired profit margin.
Utilization Rate Calculator
Calculate your freelance utilization rate — the percentage of working time spent on billable client work.
Profit Margin Calculator
Calculate your freelance gross and net profit margin to understand how much of your revenue you actually keep.