How much to charge for bookkeeping
Hourly billing punishes bookkeepers for getting good at the job — which is why experienced bookkeepers move to monthly retainers.
Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wages for bookkeepers in the national average:
Covers costs and tax with zero profit. Below this you are paying to work.
Pays you properly, covers overhead and self-employment tax, and leaves a 15% margin.
Specialised, in-demand, or booked out. Achievable once you are turning work away.
- Effective hourly rate
- $71.88/hr
- Billable hours per year
- 960
- Revenue at this rate
- $69,008
- Employee equivalentBLS wage for this work in your state
- $24.07/hr
How bookkeepers actually price their work
There is no single right structure — but there is usually a right one for each kind of job.
Monthly retainer
The professional standard. $200–$1,000+/month by transaction volume and account count. Predictable for both sides.
Hourly
Cleanup and catch-up work where scope is genuinely unknown. $30–$75/hour typical.
Per-transaction or tiered
High-volume ecommerce clients, where transaction count is the real cost driver.
The mistake that costs bookkeepers the most
Staying hourly as you get faster. A cleanup that took you 20 hours in year one takes 6 in year three, and hourly billing converts that hard-won skill into a pay cut. Price the outcome — a reconciled month — not the time.
What bookkeeping overhead actually looks like
These are the defaults behind the calculator. Yours will differ — change the overhead figure above to match.
| Cost | Typical / year |
|---|---|
| Accounting software subscriptions | $900 |
| Certifications and continuing education | $600 |
| Professional liability insurance | $700 |
| Secure document storage and tools | $400 |
| Total | $2,600 |
Where bookkeepers earn the most
Median hourly wage by state, from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
| State | Median |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $30.03 |
| California | $27.63 |
| Connecticut | $27.54 |
| Massachusetts | $27.46 |
| New Jersey | $27.27 |
| Washington | $27.20 |
| New York | $26.87 |
| Alaska | $26.21 |
| Colorado | $26.00 |
| Maryland | $26.00 |
Common questions about bookkeeping pricing
How much should I charge for bookkeeping per month?
Monthly retainers typically run $200–$500 for a small service business and $500–$1,500+ for higher transaction volumes or multiple accounts. Price on transaction count and account complexity rather than hours.
Should I charge hourly or monthly for bookkeeping?
Hourly for cleanup work with unknown scope; monthly retainer for ongoing work. Quoting a retainer before seeing the books is how bookkeepers end up doing twelve months of catch-up at a one-month price.
How much do freelance bookkeepers make?
Hourly rates commonly run $30–$75. A retainer-based bookkeeper with 10–15 steady clients generally earns considerably more than the hourly figure implies, because retainers capture efficiency gains.
How this calculator works
The starting point is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2024), which reports what bookkeepers earn as employees in each state.
An employee wage is not a business rate, and treating it as one is the most common reason home-based operators price below cost. An employer covers half your payroll tax, your benefits, your paid leave, and every non-billable hour of your day. Self-employed, all four come out of the same rate.
So the calculator grosses the wage up for self-employment tax (15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings), adds roughly 28% for benefits you now self-fund, adds your overhead, applies a 15% margin, and then divides by billable hours only — not hours worked.
These are estimates. Your market, specialisation and reputation move the number, and every assumption above is adjustable so you can disagree with ours.
Other pricing calculators
Wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2024 (released 2026). This tool provides estimates only and is not financial advice.