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Financial research concept

Professional Staffing Average Bill Rate

tracks the average hourly amount billed to staffing clients, a pricing and mix measure that must be read separately from hours worked.

By Lee BaileyPublished Sep 28, 2026
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Research date
Sep 28, 2026Use the dated article and cited sources for the definition, examples, and stated limitations.
Operating-model context
10 connected conceptsPart of the reviewed Professional Staffing & Talent Solutions Economics; issuer definitions remain distinct where disclosed.
Company examples
2 reviewed companiesRelationships reflect supported examples, not a normalized cross-company KPI ranking.
  1. A higher rate can be mix, not pure price
  2. Revenue growth still depends on volume
  3. Part of the Professional Staffing & Talent Solutions Economics
  4. See It in Company Research
  5. Continue Research

Professional staffing average bill rate is the average hourly amount a staffing provider bills customers for contract talent services.

Robert Half's contract talent bill rates increased 1.2% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 even as hours worked fell 2.8%. Kforce's 2025 average Technology bill rate was about $90 per hour, while Finance and Accounting averaged about $53 per hour.

A higher rate can be mix, not pure price

Bill rates change with skill level, geography, client mix, assignment type, and contract structure. A provider shifting toward senior technology assignments can report a higher average rate even if like-for-like pricing barely moves.

That is why bill rate belongs beside billable hours and the revenue volume-rate bridge, not in isolation.

Revenue growth still depends on volume

A 5% increase in bill rate does not offset a 10% decline in hours. The arithmetic is multiplicative: roughly, contract staffing revenue is driven by billable hours times the effective bill rate, with smaller adjustments for expenses and other items.

For profitability, compare the customer bill rate with the worker pay rate through the pay-bill spread.

Primary sources: Robert Half second-quarter 2026 Form 10-Q, Kforce 2025 Form 10-K, and Kforce second-quarter 2026 Form 10-Q.

Part of the Professional Staffing & Talent Solutions Economics

Connect contract staffing volume, billing rates, calendar normalization, worker-pay spreads, gross margin, and permanent-placement count and fee economics.

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Compare staffing bill rates

Compare hourly billing economics while preserving skill, geography, client, assignment, and service-mix differences.

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