Why your freelance rate isn't your salary
A $50/hour freelance rate does not mean a $104,000 salary (50 × 2,080 hours). Freelancers only bill a fraction of their hours — the rest goes to admin, sales, and gaps between clients — and they get no paid holidays, sick days or employer benefits. A useful rule of thumb: a freelance rate needs to be roughly 1.5–2× the equivalent salaried hourly wage just to break even on what an employer would otherwise provide. The calculator makes that gap explicit instead of leaving you to guess.
What a salary really costs an employer (and you)
When you're employed, your employer quietly pays for a lot on top of your salary: their share of payroll taxes, health cover, paid leave, retirement contributions and equipment. As a freelancer you become your own employer, so those costs come out of your rate. To compare fairly you have to add them back: self-employment tax, your own health insurance and retirement, plus a buffer for the paid time off you no longer get. This tool lets you fold those in so you're comparing like with like.
Billable hours: the number that changes everything
The single biggest lever is how many hours you actually bill. Full-time is about 2,080 hours a year, but few freelancers bill more than 1,000–1,400 of them — the rest is unpaid running of the business. Fewer billable hours means each one has to cost more to hit the same income. Enter a realistic billable figure (not your total working hours) and the calculator shows the rate or salary that matches; be honest here or the whole comparison drifts.
Which way should you compare?
Two questions, one tool. Going freelance? Start from your current salary and find the hourly or day rate you'd need to charge to keep the same take-home once you cover your own benefits and downtime. Weighing a job offer? Start from your freelance rate and see the salary that would actually leave you no worse off. The honest answer usually surprises people in both directions — which is exactly why it's worth running the numbers before deciding.
Educational estimate. Tax rates, benefit costs and billable hours vary by country and situation; adjust the inputs to your own numbers.
Frequently asked questions
What salary does $50/hour freelance equal?
Far less than the naive 50 × 2,080 = $104k. After unpaid time, self-employment costs and lost benefits, a $50/hr freelance rate often equates to a salaried role paying roughly $55,000–$70,000 — enter your real billable hours and costs above for your number.
How do I convert a freelance rate to a salary?
Multiply your rate by your realistic billable hours (usually 1,000–1,400, not 2,080), then subtract self-employment costs and the value of benefits you now pay yourself. The calculator does all of that.
What multiple of a salary should my freelance rate be?
Roughly 1.5–2× the equivalent salaried hourly wage, to cover unpaid time, taxes, benefits and business costs. So a $30/hr salaried job maps to about a $45–60/hr freelance rate.
How many hours a year can a freelancer actually bill?
Usually 1,000–1,400 of the ~2,080 full-time hours. The rest goes to admin, marketing, and gaps between projects — which is why billing your total working hours overstates your income.
Does this account for taxes and benefits?
Yes — you can fold in self-employment costs and a benefits/paid-time-off allowance so the freelance and salaried figures are compared fairly, not just multiplied out.