Virtual Assistant Hourly Rate Calculator

Getting your rate takes five quick steps. Start with honest numbers and let the math do the rest.

1. Type the annual income you want to earn from virtual assistant work. This is your target pay before tax, not your current salary.
2. Type your annual business expenses, such as software, internet, insurance and equipment.
3. Type the billable hours you work in a typical week. Count only hours a client pays for, not admin, marketing or learning.
4. Type the weeks you work in a year, then set your buffer for taxes and benefits.
5. Press Calculate, or press Enter. Your hourly rate appears first and large, with your annual gross, your monthly income and the step-by-step math below.

Hourly rate = Annual gross / Annual billable hours, where Annual gross = (Target annual income + Annual business expenses) x (1 + Buffer percent / 100) and Annual billable hours = Billable hours per week x Weeks worked per year.

Target annual income is the pay you want to keep for yourself in a year, before tax. Annual business expenses are the costs of running your work, such as software, internet, insurance and equipment. Billable hours per week are the hours clients pay for, and weeks worked per year leaves out holidays, sick days and quiet weeks. The buffer is a percent added on top for taxes and benefits, so the rate covers costs an employer would normally pay.

The buffer matters because freelancers pay costs employees never see. In the US, self-employment tax alone is 15.3 percent, and income tax, health insurance and retirement savings sit on top of that. Harvest recommends adding 25 to 30 percent for taxes and overhead.

A virtual assistant wants to earn $50,000 a year and spends $5,000 a year on business costs. She bills 25 hours a week and works 48 weeks a year, and she sets a 30 percent buffer for taxes and benefits. Here is exactly what the calculator does.

1. Annual billable hours = 25 hours x 48 weeks = 1,200 hours.
2. Income plus expenses = $50,000.00 + $5,000.00 = $55,000.00.
3. Base rate = $55,000.00 / 1,200 hours = $45.83 an hour.
4. Buffer amount = 30 percent of $55,000.00 = $16,500.00, so annual gross = $55,000.00 + $16,500.00 = $71,500.00.
5. Hourly rate = $71,500.00 / 1,200 hours = $59.58 an hour.
6. Monthly income = $71,500.00 / 12 = $5,958.33.

As a second check, take a virtual assistant who wants $60,000, spends $6,000, bills 30 hours a week for 50 weeks and sets a 25 percent buffer. The annual gross is $82,500.00 across 1,500 hours, which gives $55.00 an hour and $6,875.00 a month.

A 40-hour working week is not 40 billable hours. Admin, proposals, marketing, invoicing and learning fill a large part of every freelance week, and no client pays for that time. Harvest notes that most freelancers can bill 50 to 70 percent of their time, and SmartBizCalc uses a 75 percent billable rate for established virtual assistants. If you work 40 hours a week, plan on 20 to 30 billable hours.

Weeks matter just as much. A full year has 52 weeks, but holidays, sick days and quiet spells cut into it. Planning on 48 weeks leaves four weeks for time off. Enter the hours you truly bill, not the hours you sit at your desk, and the rate will cover your real working year.

Your buffer pays for the costs that sit between your gross income and your take-home pay. It should cover federal and state income tax, self-employment tax, health insurance, retirement savings and unpaid time off. A buffer of 25 to 30 percent is a common starting point.

Once you have your rate, compare it with the market. SmartBizCalc puts 2026 US rates for general admin work at $20 to $30 an hour for a new virtual assistant, $32 to $45 for an experienced one and $45 to $60 for a senior one, while specialized work such as bookkeeping or tech support reaches $60 to $100 an hour. If your calculated rate sits far above the market for your skills, check your billable hours first. If it sits far below, you may be undercharging. You can also compare your rate with employee pay using our salary to hourly calculator.

The most common mistake is dividing by 40 hours a week. That counts admin and marketing as paid work, so the rate comes out far too low. A virtual assistant who works 40 hours but bills 25 needs a rate built on 25.

The second mistake is skipping the buffer. A rate built only on income and expenses leaves no money for tax, so the tax bill comes out of your salary. Set the buffer before you quote.

The third mistake is copying someone else's rate. Rates vary by skill, niche and location, and a rate that works for a US-based executive assistant will not work for a general admin assistant working from a lower-cost country. Build your rate from your own numbers and review it once a year. When your rate changes, check what it means over a full year with our hourly to salary calculator, and keep the new income inside your plan with our budget calculator.

This calculator gives an estimate for planning and is for informational purposes only, not financial advice. Your actual rate depends on your skills, your clients, your location and your tax situation. See our disclaimer.