Freelance Income Target Calculator
Turn your take-home goal into a daily billing target based on the real number of billable days you can sell in a year.
How it works
Revenue = target income + expenses · Billable days = weeks × billable days per week · Day rate = revenue ÷ billable days
Freelancers rarely sell five days a week — holidays, admin, sales and downtime eat into the calendar, so the honest planning number is billable days, not working days. Add the income you want to keep to the expenses of running the business, then divide by the days you can realistically sell. Overestimating billable days is the classic mistake: it quietly sets your rate too low and leaves the year short.
Worked example
To net $90,000 after $10,000 of expenses, you must bill $100,000. Working 46 weeks at 3.5 billable days each gives 161 billable days, so the day rate is 100,000 ÷ 161 ≈ $621 per day.
Frequently asked questions
Why use billable days instead of working days?
Because you cannot sell every working day. Admin, marketing, invoicing, learning and gaps between projects are real work but unbillable, so realistic billable days are often only 50–70% of the days you work. Planning off the smaller number keeps your rate high enough.
Should expenses include my own salary?
No — keep them separate. The income field is what you want to keep; expenses are the costs of the business (software, insurance, equipment, subcontractors). Adding them together gives the revenue you actually need to bill.
How many billable weeks should I assume?
Start from 52 and subtract holiday, sick time and admin-heavy weeks. Many full-time freelancers land around 44–48 sellable weeks once time off and slow periods are honestly counted.
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Educational estimate, not financial advice.