Freelance day rate calculator
Enter your day rate and how much you actually work. We’ll turn it into a yearly, monthly, weekly and hourly figure in real time.
These figures are your turnover (money in) before tax, National Insurance or self-employment tax, and business expenses. What you keep will be lower — check with an accountant or your local tax authority for your situation.
How $100 a day becomes a yearly figure
Turning a day rate into an annual salary is simple multiplication — the only real question is how many days you actually work.
The formula
Day rate × days per week × weeks per year = yearly income
So $100 × 5 × 52 = $26,000 if you never take a day off, or $100 × 5 × 48 = $24,000 once you build in a month of holidays and downtime.
There are around 260 weekdays in a year, but almost nobody bills all of them. Public holidays, sickness, admin days, and the natural gaps between contracts mean most full-time freelancers invoice somewhere between 220 and 240 days. Here’s how a $100 day rate looks across a few realistic scenarios:
One thing worth remembering: a day rate is not the same as a salary. There’s no paid holiday, sick pay, pension contribution or employer benefits baked in, and you cover your own tax and expenses. That’s why freelancers usually charge a day rate that looks higher than an equivalent salary — it has to stretch further.
Day Rate Questions
Everything freelancers and contractors ask about turning a day rate into a yearly figure
$100 a day is how much a year?
$100 a day is $26,000 a year if you work every weekday (5 days a week for all 52 weeks). Taking a realistic 4 weeks off brings it to about $24,000, and allowing for public holidays and the odd sick day lands most freelancers around $23,000. Remember this is turnover before tax and business expenses, not a take-home salary.
How do you convert a day rate to an annual salary?
Multiply your day rate by the number of days you work each week, then multiply that by the number of weeks you work each year. For example, $100 × 5 days × 48 weeks = $24,000 a year. Choosing fewer weeks accounts for holidays, sickness and gaps between contracts.
How many working days are there in a year?
There are about 260 weekdays in a year (52 weeks × 5 days). After public holidays and personal leave, most full-time freelancers and contractors actually bill somewhere between 220 and 240 days a year.
Is a freelance day rate the same as a salary?
No. A day rate does not include paid holiday, sick pay, a pension or other employee benefits, and you cover your own tax, insurance and expenses. Because of this, a headline annual figure from a day rate is worth less than the same number paid as a salary.
$100 a day is how much a month?
About $2,000 a month based on roughly 20 working weekdays. If you prefer an even figure, divide your annual total by 12 — so $24,000 a year works out to $2,000 a month.
$100 a day is how much an hour?
At 8 hours a day, $100 a day is $12.50 an hour ($100 ÷ 8). If you work longer days the hourly figure drops, so it’s worth tracking your real hours when you set a rate.
Worked out your rate? Now try BooInvoice
BooInvoice is a free invoice maker built for freelancers and contractors. Add your logo, choose any currency, drop in your day rate and send a clean, professional invoice from your phone in seconds — no account needed to start, no watermark on your PDFs.
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