Utilization Rate Calculator
Enter your numbers. See your utilization rate, how much revenue you’re leaving on the table, and where you fall against the 65–75% benchmark most profitable boutique agencies hit.
Your team
Your utilization rate
Good range. The question now is how long it took you to get that number. If it involved a spreadsheet, that’s the problem.
What if you hit…
75%Move it up a few points and see what it means in dollars.
Revenue today
$84,000
560 hrs × $150/hr
Revenue at 75%
$90,000
600 hrs × $150/hr
Hidden revenue potential
+$6,000
unlocked if you reach 75% this period
This number matters. The question is whether you want to dig it out once a month or just have it.
Email me these results
We’ll email your numbers and the benchmark data. Useful for sharing with ops or a co-founder.
What your number actually means
A utilization rate on its own doesn’t tell you what to do. Here’s how to read it — and what each zone means for a 10–50 person agency.
Under-utilized
You’re paying for capacity that isn’t generating revenue. Non-billable overhead has likely crept up — internal meetings, admin, unbilled pitch work. Or the team is distributed unevenly, with some people buried and others with empty schedules nobody can see clearly enough to rebalance.
The sweet spot
This is where well-run boutique agencies operate. The team is meaningfully billable, with enough buffer for internal work, sales, and the project that inevitably runs long. Profitable and sustainable — don’t push to squeeze more out of it.
Over-utilized
Looks good in a spreadsheet. In practice, it means no buffer for unexpected client requests, no time for team development, and elevated burnout risk. Quality starts dropping before the number does. This is a warning sign, not a target.
The hiring trigger: If your team has been above 75% for three consecutive months, that’s the signal to start the hiring process — not when something breaks. Use the trend over time, not a single snapshot.
Capacity planning guide →How the utilization rate is calculated
Utilization rate = (Billable hours ÷ Available hours) × 100
Run this per person, per team, and for the whole agency. Each level tells a different story.
Billable hours are the hours your team spent on client work that generates revenue. Available hours are the total contracted hours for the same period — usually 40 hours per week per person, before accounting for time off. The gap between the two is everything else: internal meetings, admin, training, unbilled pitch work.
Example — healthy
A designer has 40 available hours. She bills 30 hours to clients.
(30 ÷ 40) × 100 = 75%
That’s in the sweet spot. Profitable and sustainable.
Example — underutilized
A developer has 40 available hours. He bills 22 hours to clients.
(22 ÷ 40) × 100 = 55%
Below 65%. Worth finding out where the other 18 hours are going.
When individual numbers vary widely — one person at 50%, another at 95% — the agency average can look fine while two people have the opposite problem. Track per person, not just totals.
Workload management guide →What to do if your utilization rate is off
A single data point doesn’t tell you what to fix. Here’s where to look first, depending on where you fall.
If you’re below 65%
Audit non-billable time before assuming it’s a pipeline problem. Internal meetings, admin overhead, and unbilled pitch work are usually the biggest drains. Then look at how work is distributed — some people may be under-scheduled while others are close to capacity.
Resource planning →If you’re above 80%
Check whether time off is being properly excluded from available hours. If the number is genuinely sustainable, start the hiring conversation now. Consider whether any work is being underscoped or written off — utilization can look high while margin is quietly eroding.
Frequently asked questions
What is a healthy utilization rate for an agency?
- 65–75% is the range where profitable agencies tend to operate. Below 65%, you’re paying for capacity that isn’t generating revenue. Above 80%, teams start burning out and projects slip. The sweet spot isn’t just about revenue — it leaves room for sales, internal work, and the inevitable project that runs long.See the full capacity guide →
How do you calculate agency utilization rate?
- Utilization rate = (billable hours ÷ available hours) × 100. If someone has 40 hours available and bills 28, they’re at 70%. For a whole team, add up all billable hours and divide by total available hours across everyone.
What is the difference between billable hours and available hours?
- Available hours are what’s on the clock — usually 40 per week. Billable hours are the slice actually charged to a client. The gap in between is everything else: internal meetings, sales calls, admin, training. Closing that gap is how you improve utilization. Eliminating it entirely is how you burn out your team.
Why is my agency’s utilization rate so low?
- Usually it comes down to a few things. Scheduling is off — some people are buried while others have empty slots and nobody sees it clearly. Non-billable time has crept up, with meetings and admin eating more hours than you’d expect. Or scope creep and write-offs are pulling the number down even when the team is technically busy. Before assuming it’s a pipeline problem, track where the hours are actually going.Workload guide →
How can I improve my team’s utilization rate?
- Start with visibility. If you can’t see who has capacity and when, work gets distributed by whoever shouts loudest. Audit your non-billable hours — find the biggest drains and decide which ones are worth it. Tighten project scoping to cut write-offs. Once you’re in the 65–75% band, the next lever is rate, not hours. Supervisible tracks this across your whole team automatically, so you’re not finding out a month late.
Do I need timesheets to track utilization rate?
- Traditional tracking does require timesheets — your team logs billable hours, you add them up, you calculate the rate. The problem is that timesheet compliance in most small agencies is inconsistent. People log time at the end of the week from memory, miss entries, or round up. The result is a utilization number that’s always a few days stale and probably a few points off. Supervisible calculates utilization from how work is staffed and allocated — not from logged time — so the number is always current without anyone filling in a timesheet.
When should I hire based on utilization rate?
- When your team has been above 75% for three consecutive months, that’s the signal to begin the hiring process — not when you hit 90% or when the first missed deadline happens. Hiring takes time. If you wait until the team is already fully loaded, you’ll be onboarding someone while the existing team is already stretched. Use the utilization trend over time to make the call, not a single snapshot.Resource planning guide →
Track utilization automatically — without asking your team to fill in timesheets
The number this calculator gives you is a snapshot. Supervisible gives you the live view — utilization updated in real time as work is assigned, across every team member, without requiring anyone to log a single hour.