Agency Blended Rate Calculator — Rex's Toolbox

Rex says

Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.

Try a scenario

Click to load — tweak from there.

Inputs

Senior hours per month(hrs)

Senior cost per hour($/hr)

Salary ÷ 2,080, fully burdened

Mid-level hours per month(hrs)

Mid-level cost per hour($/hr)

Junior hours per month(hrs)

Junior cost per hour($/hr)

Overhead load on delivery cost(%)

Rent, tools, admin, non-billable staff

Target gross margin(%)

Result

Blended bill rate to quote

$130

Loaded blended cost per hour

$58

Total delivery hours

120

Revenue at this rate

$15,556

Gross profit per month

$8,556

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Ask Rex about this resultRex reads your numbers and suggests the next move.Agency Utilization Rate Target CalculatorWork out the billable-hour utilization your team needs to cover payroll and overhead.Retainer Scope Creep Cost CalculatorSee what unbilled extra hours are doing to a retainer's real margin.Project Effective Hourly Rate CalculatorDivide the real project fee by every hour it consumed, including sales and admin.

How to use this

1Enter senior hours per month (hrs).
2Enter senior cost per hour ($/hr) — Salary ÷ 2,080, fully burdened.
3Enter mid-level hours per month (hrs).
4Enter mid-level cost per hour ($/hr).
5Enter junior hours per month (hrs).
6Enter junior cost per hour ($/hr).
7Enter overhead load on delivery cost (%) — Rent, tools, admin, non-billable staff.
8Enter target gross margin (%).
9Read your blended bill rate to quote on the right — it updates as you type.
10Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.

About this calculator

Agencies rarely staff a project with one seniority level — a strategist, a senior, and a junior all touch the same retainer. The blended rate is the weighted average bill rate across that mix, and it's the number you quote when a client asks 'what's your hourly?'. This calculator weights each role's cost by the hours they actually contribute, adds the agency overhead load, then grosses the result up to your target gross margin. The output is both the blended cost per hour (your floor) and the blended bill rate (your quote). Most independent agencies run 50-60% gross margin on delivery; anything under 40% means overhead eats the account before it reaches net profit.

FormulaBlended cost/hr = Σ(role cost/hr × role hours) ÷ Σ(role hours), then × (1 + overhead load). Blended bill rate = blended cost ÷ (1 − target gross margin).

Worked example

Using the values the calculator loads with:

Inputs

Senior hours per month: 20 hrs
Senior cost per hour: 78 $/hr
Mid-level hours per month: 60 hrs
Mid-level cost per hour: 48 $/hr
Junior hours per month: 40 hrs
Junior cost per hour: 29 $/hr
Overhead load on delivery cost: 25 %
Target gross margin: 55 %

Results

Blended bill rate to quote: $129.63
Loaded blended cost per hour: $58.33
Total delivery hours: 120
Revenue at this rate: $15,555.56
Gross profit per month: $8,555.56

What each field means

Inputs

Senior hours per month (hrs): The senior hours per month used in the calculation, measured in hrs. Starts at 20 hrs so you have a working example on load.
Senior cost per hour ($/hr): Salary ÷ 2,080, fully burdened
Mid-level hours per month (hrs): The mid-level hours per month used in the calculation, measured in hrs. Starts at 60 hrs so you have a working example on load.
Mid-level cost per hour ($/hr): The mid-level cost per hour used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 48 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
Junior hours per month (hrs): The junior hours per month used in the calculation, measured in hrs. Starts at 40 hrs so you have a working example on load.
Junior cost per hour ($/hr): The junior cost per hour used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 29 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
Overhead load on delivery cost (%): Rent, tools, admin, non-billable staff
Target gross margin (%): The target gross margin used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 55 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 5–90 %.

Results

Blended bill rate to quote: Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
Loaded blended cost per hour: Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
Total delivery hours: Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
Revenue at this rate: Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
Gross profit per month: Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.

FAQ

Should I quote the blended rate or per-role rates?

Quote blended when the client buys an outcome or a retainer, because it hides staffing mix changes and lets you swap seniority without renegotiating. Quote per-role when the client procures by role (common in enterprise and government MSAs) — but then set each role's rate off the same margin math so the mix can't quietly erode profit.

What counts as fully burdened cost per hour?

Salary plus employer payroll taxes, benefits, PTO accrual, and equipment, divided by realistically billable hours — not 2,080. If a delivery person bills 1,400 hours a year, dividing by 2,080 understates cost by about a third.

Why apply overhead as a percentage instead of a fixed add?

Percentage loading scales with the size of the engagement, which matches how agency overhead actually behaves: bigger accounts consume more account management, QA, and tooling. If your overhead is genuinely fixed, model it in a break-even calculator instead and keep this rate purely delivery-cost driven.

Is 55% gross margin realistic?

For services delivered by employees, 50-60% is the common healthy band, with 60%+ typical for strategy-heavy work and 35-45% for production-heavy or subcontractor-heavy work. Track it monthly per account — the blended rate you quoted is meaningless if scope creep pushes actual hours past what you priced.

Accuracy and limitations

Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.

Related tools

Agency Utilization Rate Target Calculator

Work out the billable-hour utilization your team needs to cover payroll and overhead.

Retainer Scope Creep Cost Calculator

See what unbilled extra hours are doing to a retainer's real margin.

Project Effective Hourly Rate Calculator

Divide the real project fee by every hour it consumed, including sales and admin.

Cite this calculator

Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.

APA

RevenueLab. (2026). Agency Blended Hourly Rate Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/agency-blended-rate

HTML

<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/agency-blended-rate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Agency Blended Hourly Rate Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>

Markdown

Source: [Agency Blended Hourly Rate Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/agency-blended-rate) (2026).