Freelance Project Manager Hourly Rates
Median hourly rate
$78/hr
Typical range
$56–$98
25th–75th percentile
Submissions
156
Latest record: May 2026
Highest country median
United States
$77/hr · at least 25 records
Hourly rates by country
| Location | Median / hr | Middle 50% | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $77 | $60–$88 | 87 |
| BelgiumSmall sample | $82 | $79–$95 | 14 |
| AustraliaSmall sample | $149 | $148–$150 | 6 |
| United KingdomSmall sample | $63 | $21–$105 | 6 |
Hourly rates by experience
| Experience | Median / hr | Middle 50% | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2 yearsSmall sample | $30 | $25–$50 | 11 |
| 3–5 years | $60 | $56–$75 | 27 |
| 6–10 years | $85 | $65–$89 | 78 |
| 11–15 yearsSmall sample | $85 | $70–$150 | 21 |
| 16+ yearsSmall sample | $97 | $80–$150 | 19 |
USD per hour. Groups below 5 records are omitted; groups below 25 are marked as small samples. These are separate comparisons: country and experience figures must not be combined to infer a rate. The rate planner can look up the actual matching group.
What should you quote?
The median of $78/hr equals $624 for 8 billable hours. That conversion is not a separately observed day rate. Account for your non-billable time and costs before choosing a price.
Records added 2022–2026. Dates reflect when records entered the database, including imports; they do not establish when the work was performed. Methodology & limitations
Pricing independent project management work
Project management can be sold as scheduled delivery time, a defined implementation engagement or reserved monthly capacity. The number of teams, meetings and reporting obligations changes the workload even when the job title stays the same.
- Specify the teams, workstreams and decisions you are responsible for.
- Include preparation, stakeholder meetings, follow-ups, reporting and escalation time.
- For a retainer, state included hours, availability, response expectations and the price of extra work.
A worked pricing example
Illustrative retainer: 20 reserved hours per month at an example $90/hour gives $1,800 per month. Specify whether unused hours expire or carry over; do not promise unlimited availability for that fee. This arithmetic is an example, not an observed retainer benchmark.
The hourly samples do not tell us a contractor's weekly utilization or retainer terms. Compare rates first, then calculate the cost of the capacity your client wants to reserve.
Recent rate records
| Role / location | USD / hour |
|---|---|
| Project Manager · Cincinnati, OH, USA | $97 |
| Project Manager · Chicago, IL, USA | $60 |
| Project Manager · San Francisco, CA, USA | $125 |
| Project Manager · Liège, Belgium | $123 |
| Project Manager · New York, NY, USA | $70 |
| Project Manager · Cape Town, South Africa | $50 |
| Project Manager · New York, NY, USA | $77 |
| Project Manager · Boston, MA, USA | $56 |
| Project Manager · Seattle, WA, USA | $110 |
| Project Manager · Seattle, WA, USA | $110 |
| Project Manager · Boston, MA, USA | $56 |
| Project Manager · Boston, MA, USA | $56 |
| Project Manager · Hanoi, Vietnam | $15 |
| Project Manager · Liège, Belgium | $79 |
| Project Manager · Toronto, ON, Canada | $80 |
| Project Manager · Seattle, WA, USA | $70 |
| Project Manager · Munich | $150 |
| Project Manager · Austin, TX, USA | $60 |
| Project Manager · Riyadh Saudi Arabia | $50 |
| Project Manager · New York, NY, USA | $75 |
Similar roles
Freelance Project Manager rate distribution
Rate distribution
Rate by experience level
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Frequently asked questions
- How much do freelance Project Managers charge per hour?
- Based on 156 crowdsourced submissions, freelance Project Managers charge an average of $81 per hour, with the middle 50% of rates between $56 and $98. Latest record added May 2026.
- What do top-earning freelance Project Managers make?
- The top 10% of Project Manager submissions report $148 per hour or more. These are self-reported hourly charges, not take-home pay or guaranteed earnings.
- Which skills are most commonly reported with Project Manager rates?
- The most common skills in Project Manager submissions are Program and Project Management, Jira, and Planning. Submission frequency does not measure hiring demand or prove a skill causes a higher rate.
- Where does this Project Manager rate data come from?
- These are public, self-reported rate records. We do not independently verify earnings or count unique people. The dataset includes historical records; see our methodology for currency assumptions, sample thresholds, and date limitations.
Charged by the project instead? Browse project-based rates.