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Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

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Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#31

Post by fmxexpress »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #19
sourc3 wrote: post #3

Expected? Yes. Normal? Yes. Only thing there is out there? No. For every $30/hr posting on the net, there is another one for $100. I also personally know of folks who are making +$150 with Django. It really depends on who you work for. Although you will see a lot more of `build Uber for $5K` type of one off jobs, there are some reputable companies who need more capacity on new projects. If I were you I would cast a w…

Who pays >150? I always hear about this but neither as freelancer or as employee who hires freelancers I have ever seen somebody making that much as freelancer. Sometimes consulting companies charge that much but the freelancers probably get paid only a fraction of that.

Real estate, finance, oil & gas, software development clients. I charge $160/h. 20+ years of experience.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#32

Post by PragmaticPulp »

You will not find a standard range of freelancer rates, just as you won't find a standard range of developer salaries in the United States.

The $20-30/hr job listing you shared will not attract any experienced Python developers. Experienced Python developers can easily secure jobs with $100K+/year salaries and benefits in any medium sized city. That job listing is searching for entry-level Python engineers who don't yet understand their value in the marketplace. It is not representative of standard freelance rates. The job listing requests a good command of the English language, so it's not even clear that they're targeting only Americans with the listing.

Generally speaking, the best paid freelancers do not find jobs via public job listings. They use their reputation and network in combination with their unique skillsets to find contract jobs with companies who need them.

The best freelancers also negotiate their rates for each contract. Their rate can vary significantly depending on how many other opportunities that have, the difficulty of the work, and other factors.

Personally, I don't know any full-time freelancers who charge less than $80-90/hr. Below this hourly amount, it becomes more financially beneficial to find a full-time job.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to find accurate information about freelance rates from the public internet. Smart companies will not post a high hourly rate on job listings because they could miss opportunities for candidates to negotiate lower rates. Smart freelancers will not advertise their typical rate because it will impact their opportunity to negotiate or change their rates in private conversations with new employers.

The optimal strategy is to constantly look for new contract jobs, raising your asking rate until companies are telling you "No" more than "Yes". This is how you will find your market rate.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#33

Post by duxup »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #16
jxf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US you would pay roughly 35% to 40% in taxes. However (in general), expenses incurred in the course of your business would not be taxable. For example, if you earned $150,000 as a contractor, but you incurred $30,000 in expenses then you would have $120,000 in potentially taxable income. The tax code is very, very complex, though, and there isn't a simple answer to this question. There are a vast array of fact…

I would include health insurance premiums in the US as a tax when comparing to other developed countries since they don’t have to pay those. Easily $5k/per family member per year plus $28k available in case of emergencies due to out of pocket maximums and $10k to $15k per family member per year if you’re 45+.

I think if you do that it becomes really hard to compare a lot of things.

So health insurance is a cost ... albeit not the same for everyone, at some companies you pay surprisingly little and that is compensation ON TOP OF your pay...

Other places not.

It's really hard to get good 1:1 comparisons.

Taxes and etc in the US are widely unevenly applied depending on the situation compared to what seem to be 'more' standardized and predictable numbers, services, in Europe.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#34

Post by SamReidHughes »

gt2 wrote: post #2

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/europe. Senior level rates in US range from 100-300/hr. I know it's a big range, but it comes down to speed, creativity, references, portfolio, fit for the project, availability. As far as the half the money as a 9-5, it's actually the other way around-- as a…

What “they say” is 75/hr, salary divided by 1000. I’m guessing you doubly applied the 2x factor.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#36

Post by [deleted] »

AzzieElbab wrote: post #8
gt2 wrote: post #2

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/europe. Senior level rates in US range from 100-300/hr. I know it's a big range, but it comes down to speed, creativity, references, portfolio, fit for the project, availability. As far as the half the money as a 9-5, it's actually the other way around-- as a…

150/hr sums up to 200k/year if you work 30 hours a week for 11 months. ----- Fixed typo

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#37

Post by lotsofpulp »

duxup wrote: post #33
lotsofpulp wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would include health insurance premiums in the US as a tax when comparing to other developed countries since they don’t have to pay those. Easily $5k/per family member per year plus $28k available in case of emergencies due to out of pocket maximums and $10k to $15k per family member per year if you’re 45+.

I think if you do that it becomes really hard to compare a lot of things. So health insurance is a cost ... albeit not the same for everyone, at some companies you pay surprisingly little and that is compensation ON TOP OF your pay... Other places not. It's really hard to get good 1:1 comparisons. Taxes and etc in the US are widely unevenly applied depending on the situation compared to what seem to be 'more' standar…

This topic is concerning freelancer income, so it doesn’t involve an employer paying for a portion of an employee’s health insurance premiums.

It’s also very easy to compare even if you are an employee, as health insurance premiums are shown in box 12 code DD of an employee’s W-2. And health insurance premiums don’t vary that much between healthcare.gov and ACA complaint insurance that employers subsidize.

What is clear is that there exists a healthcare expense in life, and so if you are paying for it via taxes in one region, you would have to figure out how much it costs in the other region where it’s not included in taxes to make the comparison more accurate.

You can use this table from the state of NJ to reasonably guess how much healthcare will cost you in a moderately high CoL area in the US:

https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#38

Post by sebastianconcpt »

wchrisn wrote: post #24
blocked_again wrote: post #5

Since the project is long term, 20$ - 30$ per hour comes to around $41k - $61k per year. This is a pretty good amount in the vast majority of the countries. The target audience is obviously not developers living in Silicon Valley. Probably looking for developers from Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa or South America. Also, there are a lot of countries that offer tax benefits when you are working as a freelancer.

In some countries say like India, a freelancer can register as a one person business/one person company and all income treated as business income. This way your tax payable becomes based on income-business expenses similar to an LLC or corp.

Yeah. Brazil is like that.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#39

Post by antjanus »

fmxexpress wrote: post #31
Ididntdothis wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who pays >150? I always hear about this but neither as freelancer or as employee who hires freelancers I have ever seen somebody making that much as freelancer. Sometimes consulting companies charge that much but the freelancers probably get paid only a fraction of that.

Real estate, finance, oil & gas, software development clients. I charge $160/h. 20+ years of experience.

I have a buddy who charges $200/h for JavaScript work in Oil & Gas. He works on-site, wears a suit, and makes bank in a cheap city. Never has issues getting work.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancer Rates in the US

#40

Post by aaronm67 »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #19
sourc3 wrote: post #3

Expected? Yes. Normal? Yes. Only thing there is out there? No. For every $30/hr posting on the net, there is another one for $100. I also personally know of folks who are making +$150 with Django. It really depends on who you work for. Although you will see a lot more of `build Uber for $5K` type of one off jobs, there are some reputable companies who need more capacity on new projects. If I were you I would cast a w…

Who pays >150? I always hear about this but neither as freelancer or as employee who hires freelancers I have ever seen somebody making that much as freelancer. Sometimes consulting companies charge that much but the freelancers probably get paid only a fraction of that.

Where are you?

In NYC and SF, you'd never fill your contract if you were trying to pay < 150.

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