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
Result
Rate to list
$83.94
Rate you keep per hour
$71.35
Billable hours per week
19.5
Annual billable hours
897
Weekly income at full booking
$1,391
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One click, a permanent link with your numbers baked in.
How to use this
- 1Enter target annual take-home ($).
- 2Enter annual business expenses ($).
- 3Enter available hours per week (hrs).
- 4Enter realistic utilization (%).
- 5Enter weeks worked per year.
- 6Enter platform / referral fee (%).
- 7Read your rate to list on the right — it updates as you type.
- 8Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Independent tutors quote a rate off session length and forget that only a fraction of the work week converts into billable hours. Prep, cancellations, no-shows, admin, and marketing eat the rest. This calculator starts from your income goal and business costs, divides by the hours you can actually bill after applying a realistic utilization rate, and returns the rate you need to charge per session hour to hit that goal.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Target annual take-home: 60000 $
- Annual business expenses: 4000 $
- Available hours per week: 30 hrs
- Realistic utilization: 65 %
- Weeks worked per year: 46
- Platform / referral fee: 15 %
Results
- Rate to list: $83.94
- Rate you keep per hour: $71.35
- Billable hours per week: 19.5
- Annual billable hours: 897
- Weekly income at full booking: $1,391
What each field means
Inputs
- Target annual take-home ($)
- The target annual take-home used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 60000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Annual business expenses ($)
- The annual business expenses used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 4000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Available hours per week (hrs)
- The available hours per week used in the calculation, measured in hrs. Starts at 30 hrs so you have a working example on load.
- Realistic utilization (%)
- The realistic utilization used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 65 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 10–100 %.
- Weeks worked per year
- The weeks worked per year used in the calculation. Starts at 46 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 1–52.
- Platform / referral fee (%)
- The platform / referral fee used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 15 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–60 %.
Results
- Rate to list
- 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.
- Rate you keep 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.
- Billable hours per week
- Returned as a decimal number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Annual billable hours
- Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Weekly income at full booking
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
What utilization rate is realistic for a new tutor?
40–55% in the first year is typical once you count marketing time, trial lessons that don't convert, and gaps between clients. Established tutors with a referral base and waitlist can run 70–85%. Treat anything above 85% as unsustainable — you need slack for illness and no-shows.
Why does the platform fee matter so much?
A 15–30% marketplace cut (common on tutoring platforms) means you must list a meaningfully higher rate than what you actually need to earn. A tutor needing $50/hr net at a 20% fee must list $62.50, not $50, or they fall short of their income goal every single hour.
Should I count prep time as billable?
No — prep, grading, and parent communication are real hours but they're not sold to the client unless you explicitly charge for them. Fold that time into your 'available hours' denominator or your utilization percentage, whichever you track more accurately.
How do cancellations affect this?
A 24-hour cancellation policy without a fee effectively lowers utilization further because that slot often can't be refilled. Building a cancellation fee or requiring payment upfront recovers some of that lost revenue and should be reflected by nudging utilization down if you don't enforce one.
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
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Tutor Hourly Rate & Utilization Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/tutor-hourly-rate-utilization
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/tutor-hourly-rate-utilization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tutor Hourly Rate & Utilization Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Tutor Hourly Rate & Utilization Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/tutor-hourly-rate-utilization) (2026).