<story><title>Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US</title><text>Hello,&lt;p&gt;I have often been somewhat confused when it comes to hourly rates for freelancers in IT.
While it is pretty normal to charge more than 60€&amp;#x2F;h here in Europe I’m always shocked to come across postings like these from the US:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;soshace.com&amp;#x2F;jobs&amp;#x2F;python-back-end-web-developer-remote-soshace-16-09-2019&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;soshace.com&amp;#x2F;jobs&amp;#x2F;python-back-end-web-developer-remot...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is a remote python job for an intermediate or senior developer that pays 20-30$&amp;#x2F;h. And not the first one of that kind I came across.&lt;p&gt;That would mean a freelancer makes less than half the money as compared to a 9-5.&lt;p&gt;Is this normal?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>AzzieElbab</author><text>150&amp;#x2F;hr sums up to 200k&amp;#x2F;year if you work 30 hours a week for 11 months.
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Fixed typo</text></item><item><author>gt2</author><text>Like anything else you can find all ranges offered and all ranges accepted.
I thought the exact opposite was the norm, with higher rates in US companies than UK&amp;#x2F;europe.&lt;p&gt;Senior level rates in US range from 100-300&amp;#x2F;hr.  I know it&amp;#x27;s a big range, but it comes down to speed, creativity, references, portfolio, fit for the project, availability.&lt;p&gt;As far as the half the money as a 9-5, it&amp;#x27;s actually the other way around-- as a freelancer, you need more money to compensate for  things like insurance, taxes, risk that come with being an independent&amp;#x2F;freelancer.  So they say to match a 75k salary, you need approximately 150&amp;#x2F;hr.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Arubis</author><text>Tl;dr: I charge a fair amount (effectively well into $three digits&amp;#x2F;hr) and making what I have previously at a w2 is a real fight.&lt;p&gt;Presuming you meant $150&amp;#x2F;hr: indeed, and if you’re freelancing, you almost certainly don’t have that high a proportion of billable time. Prospecting, marketing, deliberate learning, and other overhead are all necessary parts of the deal and can easily take half your available time. I tend to do all that in downtime between contracts, so it’ll look like 25-35 billable hours per week but with maybe 25-30 weeks&amp;#x2F;year utilization. Others just overlap everything; works well with longer contracts.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US</title><text>Hello,&lt;p&gt;I have often been somewhat confused when it comes to hourly rates for freelancers in IT.
While it is pretty normal to charge more than 60€&amp;#x2F;h here in Europe I’m always shocked to come across postings like these from the US:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;soshace.com&amp;#x2F;jobs&amp;#x2F;python-back-end-web-developer-remote-soshace-16-09-2019&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;soshace.com&amp;#x2F;jobs&amp;#x2F;python-back-end-web-developer-remot...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is a remote python job for an intermediate or senior developer that pays 20-30$&amp;#x2F;h. And not the first one of that kind I came across.&lt;p&gt;That would mean a freelancer makes less than half the money as compared to a 9-5.&lt;p&gt;Is this normal?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>AzzieElbab</author><text>150&amp;#x2F;hr sums up to 200k&amp;#x2F;year if you work 30 hours a week for 11 months.
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Fixed typo</text></item><item><author>gt2</author><text>Like anything else you can find all ranges offered and all ranges accepted.
I thought the exact opposite was the norm, with higher rates in US companies than UK&amp;#x2F;europe.&lt;p&gt;Senior level rates in US range from 100-300&amp;#x2F;hr.  I know it&amp;#x27;s a big range, but it comes down to speed, creativity, references, portfolio, fit for the project, availability.&lt;p&gt;As far as the half the money as a 9-5, it&amp;#x27;s actually the other way around-- as a freelancer, you need more money to compensate for  things like insurance, taxes, risk that come with being an independent&amp;#x2F;freelancer.  So they say to match a 75k salary, you need approximately 150&amp;#x2F;hr.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>davidmurdoch</author><text>Assuming you meant 150&amp;#x2F;hr...&lt;p&gt;Freelancers have costs that W2 employees do not, like self employment taxes and the full cost of health insurance.</text></comment>