What should a copywriter in US charge?
Start from the income you want to take home. We add taxes, expenses, holidays and unpaid admin time, then tell you the hourly, daily and project rate that gets you there.
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| Billable share | Hourly |
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Quote a fixed project: add a 15% buffer for scope creep. For a 40-hour project that is –.
Copywriter rates in other countries
Other professions in US
Guides to price with confidence
How to Calculate Your Freelance Hourly Rate, Step by Step
A five-step method to turn the income you want into an hourly and day rate, including tax, costs, time off and unpaid admin hours.
Read the guideHow to Quote a Fixed-Price Project Without Losing Money
Estimate hours by task, add a buffer, apply your hourly rate and protect the price with scope and change rules. Includes a worked example.
Read the guideHow Much Should a Freelancer Set Aside for Tax?
A simple system to reserve tax money from every invoice, with a worked example and what to check with your tax authority.
Read the guideFreelance Payment Terms: Deposits, Due Dates and Late Payments
How to set deposits, invoice due dates and a late-payment process so you get paid on time, with wording ideas for your proposals.
Read the guideCopywriter rates in US: what to include
The starting figures are placeholders, not market data: a take-home goal of $40,000, business costs of $2,000 and 65% billable time. Change them to match your situation.
Typical business costs for a copywriter include writing and SEO tools, a website and professional memberships.
Worked example for a copywriter in US
With the starting figures above ($40,000 take-home, $2,000 costs, 25% tax, 65% billable, 40 hours a week, 6 weeks off), you would need about $55,333 in revenue a year. Across roughly 1,196 billable hours, that is about $46 an hour or $241 a day. If your billable share fell to 50% the hourly figure rises to about $60; at 80% it falls to about $38. These are illustrations of the formula, not market rates: replace every input with your own.
How copywriters usually price work
Copywriters often price per word, per page or per project, with day rates for retainer or in-house stints. Per-word pricing can punish you for editing tightly, so many writers price by deliverable and check the result against an hourly target.
Where copywriters lose money
- Research time that was not included in the quote.
- Rounds of stakeholder edits from people you never meet.
- Pricing per word for work that is mostly strategy or interviews.
Agree word count ranges, interviews included, sources the client supplies and the number of review rounds.
Tax and admin in US
Freelancers in the US pay income tax plus self-employment tax (15.3% on net earnings, before deductions) and usually make quarterly estimated payments. A flat 25% is a rough blended estimate; check IRS guidance or an accountant.
Health insurance is not provided by an employer, so many freelancers add it to business costs.
- US clients usually ask for a W-9 before paying you, and report payments of $600 or more on a 1099-NEC (check current IRS thresholds).
- Sales tax on services depends on the state, so confirm whether your services are taxable where your client is.
- Quarterly estimated payments mean tax is due during the year, not only at filing time.
Tax year: calendar year. Authority: IRS. Rules and thresholds change: confirm on the official site.
Questions
Is it better for a copywriter to charge per word or per hour?
Per-word pricing is simple to quote but ignores research and rewrites. Many copywriters quote per project and use an hourly figure to check they are not underpricing the work.
Do US freelancers need to pay self-employment tax?
Generally yes: self-employed people pay both the employee and employer parts of Social Security and Medicare tax on net earnings above a small floor. The IRS explains the current rules and rates on its self-employment tax page.
How the rate is calculated
Revenue needed = take-home income ÷ (1 − tax rate) + business costs. Billable hours = weekly hours × weeks worked × billable share. Hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours.
Why not just divide a salary by 2,080 hours?
An employee is paid for holidays, admin and downtime. A freelancer is not. Those hours still need to be covered by the hours you do bill.
Is the tax rate accurate?
No. It is a single flat estimate, because rules differ by country and income. Check with an accountant before you set prices.