What does your session rate need to be?
Start from the take-home you want and the week you will actually run. The page works back to the rate that gets there once the cancellations that go unpaid, the minutes of notes and scheduling after each session, the tax set-aside and the overhead are all in the arithmetic. Every number is yours to change.
No signup. Nothing gated. Your inputs stay in your browser.
Already have a rate and want to see the year it buys? Run the income calculator.
What you want left after tax and after the practice's own costs. The number that reaches your account.
Sessions on the calendar in a normal week. Not the week you could run at a stretch; the one you will keep running.
Session length
38 to 40 follows a school calendar. 50 is year-round with a short break.
Treated as unpaid. The sessions that do happen have to carry the ones that do not, so this pushes the rate up.
The note, the scheduling texts, the reminder, the reschedule. This does not change the rate; it changes what an hour of your time is really worth at that rate.
The share of your net you park for income tax and both halves of Social Security and Medicare. 25 to 30% is the usual self-employed rule of thumb; your accountant has your real number.
Software, liability insurance, licence and association dues, materials, a room if you rent one. Add yours up and set it here.
To take home $85,000 a year, charge
$158.11
per 45-minute session, for every session that actually happens.
Rounded up to something you can print: $160, which puts about $1,466 a year of margin behind the plan.
Per billed hour
$211
$158.11 over 45 minutes
Per hour you work
$158
45 paid + 15 unpaid minutes
Hours worked per week
17.6 hrs
17.6 sessions held, admin included
Take-home per hour worked
$110
after tax and overhead
Where the rate comes from
- Take-home you wantthe number that reaches your account
- $85,000
- Tax set-aside27% of your net, parked for tax
- + $31,438
- Overheadsoftware, insurance, licence, materials
- + $6,000
- Gross the practice must bill$2,783 per working week
- = $122,438
- Sessions on the calendar20 a week for 44 weeks
- 880
- Sessions that will not happen12% cancelled or missed, unpaid
- − 106
- Sessions that actually happenthe only ones that carry the gross
- = 774
$122,438 across 774 held sessions is $158.11 each.
The same hour, three session lengths
Keeping $211 per billed hour, here is what each length prices at. Your 45-minute session is the one the plan above is built on.
30 min
$106
$105.40 exact
45 min
$159
$158.11 exact
60 min
$211
$210.81 exact
How the math works
Nothing hidden. If a number looks wrong for your practice, change it in the panel; the sliders are the whole argument.
Gross from take-home
Overhead is a business cost, so tax applies to what is left after it. Your $85,000 divided by (1 minus 27%) is the net you need before tax, $116,438; adding $6,000 of overhead gives the $122,438 the practice must bill.
Only held sessions pay
20 sessions a week for 44 weeks is 880 on the calendar. At 12% cancelled or missed and unpaid, 774 happen. The gross is spread over those, not over the calendar.
The unpaid minutes
15 minutes after each held session, for notes and scheduling, do not change the rate. They change the hour: 45 paid minutes plus 15 unpaid is 1 hours of your time per session, which is why the per-hour-worked figure sits below the per-billed-hour one.
Three lengths, one hour
The 30, 45 and 60 minute rates all keep $211 per billed hour. They are the same price for the same time, so a family choosing a shorter session is not getting a different deal, just less of it.
Rounding up
The exact rate is $158.11. Rounding up to the next $5 gives $160, a number that fits on a booking page and leaves a little margin for a worse-than-planned month.
What this is not
Advice, or a claim about what anyone else charges. It is arithmetic on numbers you control. Tax rules differ by state and province; the set-aside is a planning share, not a filing.
Vochella puts the rate on your booking page and the session becomes the invoice, so the number you set is the number that gets paid.
See billing