Get a Bill Rate Quote for Your Contract Req
See the index range for your role and city now, then have a KORE1 recruiter confirm it.
To get a bill rate quote, pick the role, level and metro. KORE1 shows the index range instantly. A Level 2 help desk technician in Dallas-Fort Worth bills $43 to $54 an hour, about $25,000 for three months.
By the KORE1 editorial team Last updated: October 23, 2026
This is the quote page every KORE1 rate page points to. Our contract staffing desk prices from the same index, so the number in the window is where a recruiter starts. Same desk, same math. It isn’t a teaser.
It covers the IT, ERP, data, engineering, HR and finance roles our IT staffing and contract recruiters fill. Bill rates only. You won’t find a pay column anywhere on this page, because what you pay us per hour is the number you actually budget, defend to finance and see on every weekly invoice.
Request a bill rate quote
Every field feeds the chart. Change one and the reading in the windows moves with it, before you’ve typed a name or an email.
Your quote request is with a recruiter
A KORE1 recruiter will read the req and email you a confirmed bill rate range and a read on who’s available. The reading you sent with it is below.
While you wait, the contract staffing cost calculator prices a whole engagement week by week.
What do we need from you to quote a bill rate?
Seven things. Each one moves the number. Some move it a lot.
- Role
- Titles mislead. The work matters more than the title. A help desk req that also covers Intune and a little PowerShell is a different search, so put that in the notes.
- Level
- Nationally, a Level 1 help desk technician bills a median $38 an hour. Level 3? $61. The whole ladder, metro by metro, is in help desk contract bill rates by level.
- Metro
- Same role, different city. A mid-level software engineer runs a median $98 in Milwaukee and $143 in the San Francisco Bay Area, the top of the Bay Area contractor rate table.
- Start date
- Next Monday narrows the pool to people who are free right now, usually someone between contracts or just finishing one, and those people know exactly how much they’re in demand that week. Four weeks out, they don’t.
- Length
- Is it three months or a year? It matters. Longer work draws people who’d pass on a short gig.
- Hours
- The rate is hourly, so 20 hours a week roughly halves the total, but it doesn’t halve the work of finding a good person who actually wants 20 hours, and that search can run as long as a full-time one. Plan for it.
- Onsite or remote
- Five days in one building shrinks the pool. A remote req reads the national cell.
What you see instantly, and where it comes from
The chart reads one cell of the KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4. There are 1,365 of them, covering 22 roles in 22 metros plus a national figure, and each one carries a low, median and high bill rate and what three and six months cost at 40 hours a week.
Cells come in two kinds. The chart always says which one you’re reading. KORE1 observed cells come from our own W2 contract placements that started 2023 to 2026, published only when a cell has at least five, and there are 15 of them. Everything else is modeled from BLS May 2025 wage data for that metro, a 24% employer burden and the bill bands we see on our own placements, as the rate index methodology sets out.
| Role, level and metro | Low | Median | High | 3 months | 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 2 help desk technician, Dallas-Fort Worth | $43 | $48 | $54 | $25,000 | $50,100 |
| Level 2 help desk technician, national | $44 | $49 | $56 | $25,400 | $50,700 |
| Mid-level software engineer, national | $96 | $108 | $122 | $56,100 | $112,200 |
| Mid-level IT project manager, national | $72 | $81 | $93 | $42,200 | $84,400 |
Prefer the whole index offline? The 2026 contract rate card download has every cell as a PDF and a spreadsheet, and IT contractor rates by metro lays the same numbers out city by city.
What happens after you submit
A recruiter reads the req
The person who’d run the search reads it. Not an autoresponder. Role, level, metro, dates and your notes.
They price it against who’s out there
They check who is free in your metro at that level right now, what those people are asking this month, and whether anyone we placed on a similar req recently would take the call.
You get a range and an availability read
A confirmed bill rate range for your req, plus a straight answer on how many qualified people could start when you need them, counting the ones who’d need a week or two to wrap up a current contract.
“If I need a help desk level 2 person in Plano, Texas, what am I paying? It’s going to be for a three-month contract.”
That question is why this page exists. The index answers $43 to $54 an hour, about $25,000 for the three months. The recruiter’s job is telling you whether your Plano req sits near the low end or the high end, the same call our help desk staffing recruiters make on any help desk req.
What moves a staffing agency quote up or down
Junior to senior
A senior software engineer bills a median $131 nationally, against $83 for a junior one.
The Bay Area premium
A mid-level software engineer runs $143 at the median in the Bay Area and $108 nationally.
A rare stack
When few people have the exact tools, there are fewer to compare, and winning one costs more.
Where and how long
Long onsite days in California pay daily overtime, so a ten-hour shift there gets quoted differently.
California’s daily overtime rule is the one that catches out-of-state buyers. It surprises people. Non-exempt hours past eight in a workday are paid at one and a half times the regular rate, per the California Labor Commissioner’s overtime FAQ, and that premium bills through to you. We’ll ask about shift length on any California req.
What is inside a bill rate?
A bill rate isn’t pay plus a markup. It’s three things. Devin Hornick, a KORE1 partner, walks buyers through it with round numbers.
An hour of work, in round numbers. Not a KORE1 pay figure.
The burden is the employer side of payroll. Social Security is 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 in 2026 and Medicare is 1.45%, per IRS Publication 15. Federal unemployment is 6.0% of the first $7,000, or 0.6% after the full state credit (IRS Topic 759). Add state unemployment, workers’ comp, liability cover and sick pay, and you’re near the contractor burden rate of 24%.
So when a firm quotes you a markup, ask what it’s a markup on. Every time. If it sits on pay and leaves the burden out, it won’t match the invoice. Here’s how to compare staffing agency quotes line by line.
“A firm who’s willing to show you how they make their money and not hide anything.”
KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, effective October 16, 2026. Observed cells need at least five KORE1 placements started 2023 to 2026.
Contract, contract-to-hire or direct hire?
A quote from this page is for contract work, billed by the hour. If you might keep the person, say so in the notes. Say it early. It changes who we put in front of you.
KORE1 contractors are on our W2 and get paid every Friday. After 1,040 hours, which is six months at 40 hours a week, you can bring one onto your own payroll with no conversion fee, so a three-month req that keeps getting extended never locks you into a bill rate for good. That’s the contract-to-hire staffing route.
A direct hire placement is different. It’s priced another way entirely. The fee is 20% of first-year base salary, with a 60-day replacement guarantee. On a $90,000 salary, that’s $18,000, paid once.
Common Questions
How much does a contract help desk technician in Plano cost for three months?
About $25,000 at the median for a Level 2 technician on 40 hours a week. Plano sits inside the Dallas-Fort Worth cell, which runs $43 to $54 an hour with a $48 median, and six months comes to about $50,100. That cell is modeled, not observed. Treat it as the opening number and let the recruiter tell you where yours lands.
What does a Level 2 help desk technician bill nationally?
A little more than in Dallas-Fort Worth, at $44 to $56 an hour with a $49 median. Remote reqs read this cell. Three months at full time is about $25,400, roughly $400 more than the same three months in Plano.
How much is a mid-level contract software engineer?
Nationally, $96 to $122 an hour with a $108 median, so about $56,100 for three months and $112,200 for six. Where the engineer sits changes that more than buyers tend to expect. In the San Francisco Bay Area the median is $143. In Milwaukee it’s $98.
How much do staffing agencies charge for a contractor?
One hourly bill rate that covers three things, the contractor’s pay, roughly 24% in employer burden and the firm’s margin. Devin Hornick uses round numbers to show it. $100 an hour in pay is $124 loaded, and that typically bills at $150 to $160. Before you compare two quotes, ask each firm what its number includes. Surprisingly few buyers ask.
Is the range on this page my quote?
No. It’s the index range for the cell you picked. Your quote comes later, from a recruiter who has actually read the req, and it moves with skills, shift, start date and how many qualified people are free that week. If it lands outside the index range, you’ll hear why.
Prefer a call before you send the form?
Call 949-706-6990 and ask for the contract desk, or download the 2026 contract rate card first and come back with the cell you want confirmed.
