True Hourly Rate Calculator
The hourly rate on your payslip isn't the one you actually earn. Add in unpaid overtime, the commute and work costs — or, for freelancers, unbillable time, holidays and business costs — and see the wake-up number: what you're really paid per hour.
Estimate only. This calculator gives estimates for information only, not financial or employment advice. Your actual take-home pay depends on your full personal tax position.
The wake-up number
You think you earn £17.95/hour. You actually earn £11.26/hour once every cost and every hour is counted — a 37.3% gap.
That £30 takeaway = 2.7 hours of your life at your TRUE rate.
- Negotiate on total hours, not just job title or salary — two offers with the same salary can have very different TRUE hourly rates once unpaid overtime and commute are counted.
- A remote or hybrid role that removes your commute is effectively a pay rise — value it in the same terms as a salary offer, not as a soft perk.
- Freelancers: price at least 40% above what an equivalent employee earns per hour to cover unbillable time, holidays, sick pay and business costs an employer would otherwise absorb.
- Track your actual hours for a fortnight before you next negotiate — most people underestimate unpaid overtime by several hours a week.
Why your "hourly rate" isn't what you think
Most people calculate their hourly rate as salary divided by contracted hours — but that ignores unpaid overtime, the commute (which is unpaid time you have to spend to do the job) and the money that leaves your pocket just to get to work and eat lunch. Once you divide your actual take-home pay, after those costs, by every hour the job costs you, the TRUE hourly rate is often noticeably lower than the headline figure. Freelancers face the same effect from a different angle: a day rate only gets paid for billable days, so unbillable admin time, unpaid holidays and business costs all quietly reduce the real hourly return.