Issue 2026-08
The Freelance Cost Index, 2026-08
One number for how expensive it is to be a US freelancer this month. Six things we already track get scored on published scales, weighted, and added up: 10 means the cheap end of this decade, 0 means everything is taking a bite at once. Every reading names its source and the date we checked it.
5.6 / 10
Mixed
Published 2026-08-26
The six components
| Component | Reading | Score | Weight | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax drag Federal tax as a share of the benchmark profit. | 25.26% | 4.9 | 25% | IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40 (2025 brackets), SSA wage base; our quarterly tax engine at $90,000 profit checked 2026-08-26 |
| IRS interest What the IRS charges when you fall behind on installments. | 7% | 4.3 | 10% | irs.gov/payments/quarterly-interest-rates (non-corporate underpayment rate, Q3 2026) checked 2026-08-23 |
| Platform take Median commission on the big freelance marketplaces. | 10% | 7.5 | 20% | Published commission tiers: Upwork 10%, Fiverr 20%, Freelancer.com 10% (median) checked 2026-08 |
| Card processing Median card fee on a benchmark invoice. | 2.92% | 6.3 | 15% | Published card pricing on a $2,000 invoice: Stripe, PayPal, Square (median) checked 2026-08 |
| Cross-border cost Median cost of getting a foreign client's payment home. | 4.24% | 1.7 | 15% | Published cross-border pricing on a $2,000 payment: Wise, PayPal, Payoneer (median of providers that publish their FX markup) checked 2026-08-23 |
| Shelter room Solo 401(k) ceiling as a share of the benchmark profit. Higher is better. | 44.7% | 8.2 | 15% | IRS Notice 2024-80 limits; solo 401(k) ceiling at $90,000 profit, age 40 checked 2026-08-26 |
How the index is built
Each component has a published scale: the value that scores 10 and the value that scores 0, with everything in between read off a straight line and clamped at both ends. Weights are tax drag 25%, platform take 20%, card processing 15%, cross-border 15%, shelter room 15%, IRS interest 10%. Tax drag carries the most because it is the biggest line in anyone's year; IRS interest carries the least because it only bites the freelancers who fall behind.
The benchmark freelancer never changes, so the series stays comparable: 90,000 $ of net profit, single filer, 2,000 $ invoices, and cross-border payments of the same size. Medians use only the providers that publish their pricing; a bank that hides its exchange-rate markup is left out rather than guessed at.
Each issue stores the values it was published with. When a fee moves we publish a new issue instead of editing an old one, and our test suite fails the build if the newest issue no longer matches the datasets behind it.
Run your own numbers
Every component is measured by a calculator we already publish.
Back issues
- Issue 2026-08 5.6