Find a steadier starting point for your rate.
Put your own annual income goal, expenses, and billable hours into a blank Excel-compatible worksheet. It calculates a sustainable hourly baseline and an estimate for one project.
Your numbers stay yours
Download the blank worksheet.
The input cells start empty. Download it without a RateRook account; RateRook does not receive the numbers you enter.
Download the blank worksheet.xlsx file · Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers
A clear baseline
Four inputs. Two useful estimates.
The worksheet uses a transparent calculation, so you can see how your inputs shape each result.
Set an annual income goal
Enter your before-tax income goal for a 12-month period.
Add business expenses
Use annual expenses from the same period. Enter zero if you have none.
Estimate your available hours
Enter annual billable hours, then positive project hours for a project estimate.
Hourly baseline
(income goal + annual expenses) ÷ annual billable hours
The result stays blank until the three inputs are present and annual billable hours are above zero. Zero expenses are valid.
Project estimate
hourly baseline × estimated project hours
Enter positive project hours to get an estimate. No extra buffer or markup is applied.
The income goal is before tax. This worksheet does not calculate or adjust for taxes, and it does not include fees or non-billable time.