How Much Do Tutors Make?
BLS counts only tutors who are employees, and puts their median at $20.84 an hour. Tutors who set their own price publish hourly rates well above that, and platforms take a share of each hour they sell.
No tutor we could find who published their own income in the last three years did so without selling courses or affiliate links. So this page leans on official figures, tutors' own price lists and the platforms' own fee pages. Below: three figures side by side, a ZIP code tool and a calculator.
Which of these applies to you depends on whether you draw a wage, set your own hourly rate, or sell your hours through a platform.
Employed tutors in Seattle earn a median of $46,550, against $43,350 nationally
Every US ZIP code is matched to its BLS area. 371 of the 528 BLS areas a US ZIP code can fall in publish a tutor median; the other 157 show the state figure. The tool tells you which of the two it is showing.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 25-3041 Tutors, by area, employees only; the Census ZIP-to-county file; USDA rural-urban codes. Census does not publish tutoring businesses on their own, so no county figure is shown. No agency publishes self-employed pay by area, so the calculator's price follows the employee pay level of the area you enter. The lookup runs in your browser. It loads a small file for the first three digits of your ZIP code from this site and sends nothing else.
Wyoming pays employed tutors a median of $82,290; Nevada pays $30,420
The table shows the national figure, the five highest-paying and five lowest-paying states for employed tutors, and the six states that employ the most. The second column is a broader Census figure: the average gross for a one-person educational services business, tutors included alongside arts, driving and test-prep teachers.
| State | Employed tutors, median a year (BLS May 2025) | One-person educational services business, average gross (Census 2024) |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $43,350 | $18,746 |
| Highest five | ||
| Wyoming | $82,290 | $31,887 |
| Rhode Island | $77,850 | $14,998 |
| Massachusetts | $60,900 | $19,913 |
| Vermont | $53,920 | $19,382 |
| New Hampshire | $53,790 | $22,851 |
| Lowest five | ||
| Nevada | $30,420 | $23,332 |
| Arkansas | $30,830 | $13,828 |
| Missouri | $32,270 | $15,603 |
| South Carolina | $33,220 | $16,989 |
| Delaware | $33,240 | $33,640 |
| Most people employed in this job | ||
| California | $45,100 | $22,969 |
| New York | $47,100 | $21,935 |
| Florida | $37,310 | $20,272 |
| Texas | $33,620 | $18,575 |
| Michigan | $37,380 | $16,126 |
| Illinois | $37,400 | $16,147 |
First column: BLS OEWS May 2025 state medians for SOC 25-3041 Tutors, employees only. Wyoming, Rhode Island and Vermont rest on a few hundred employed tutors or fewer, so one employer can move the figure. Second column: Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, average gross receipts of one-person educational services businesses, before expenses. Census does not publish tutoring on its own, so this column covers tutors together with arts, driving and test-prep teachers. The District of Columbia publishes no state-level tutor median.
Employed tutors earn a median of $20.84 an hour; the four price lists we read charge $45 to $97
An employee is paid a wage for each hour. A tutor who sets their own rate publishes a price for it, and a platform keeps part of that price.
One-person educational services businesses, the Census code tutors share with arts and driving teachers, average $18,746 in gross receipts before costs, which points to many of them being part-time. We found no tutor pay survey that states its sample. A tutor's year depends on billable hours, and those follow the school calendar.
Work out what a year of tutoring hours brings in before tax
Choose a price per hour, the paid hours you teach a week and the weeks you work a year. Pick a preset to compare tutoring on your own with selling your hours through a platform.
- Hours you teach in a year$36,000
- Your share$36,000
- Card fees− $1,080
Checked November 2026. Travel, materials, insurance and tax are not deducted; subtract your own costs. The hours and weeks are examples. With a ZIP code, the price follows that area's pay level.
The IRS lists tutors as a tipped job, entry 507
This section gives the IRS facts only. It is not tax advice, and it does not say whether anyone should tip a tutor.
Entry 507 reads "Tutors. Instruct students in academic subjects in person or remotely. Reading tutor, math tutor, language tutor 25-3041".
Employees and the self-employed can both claim it. The deduction phases out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $300,000 filing jointly. For the self-employed it cannot exceed the net income of the business, and the tips must be voluntary.
The IRS says the report goes to the employer.
This page gives no tips figure and does not estimate one.
The lowest-paid tenth of employed tutors earn under $29,430
BLS does not report pay for new tutors separately.
BLS May 2025, employees only: the 10th percentile is $29,430 and the 25th is $35,000. These are the lowest-paid employees, which is not the same as the newest ones.
Tutors have no profile in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and its table of occupations not covered in detail has no row for tutors either. We checked in November 2026. This page does not borrow another job's outlook.
Preply also keeps 100% of every trial lesson with a new student. Its own example: a new tutor charging $10 receives $6.70 a lesson, and a tutor past 400 hours receives $8.20.
Its standard rate has been $45 an hour since August 2024, its own page says. A package is one way a tutoring business discounts for regular students. Tutor Zone also charges a $20 late-cancellation fee and $45 for a no-show.
We found no state that licenses private tutoring as a trade. Tutors who teach in public schools hold a teaching license; a private tutor needs a general business registration where their city or county asks for one.
Measured by us in November 2026. Questions about tutoring courses were measured too and are left off the chart.
Tutor pay questions
If you tutor on your own, let students book sessions and pay online at the rate you set.
Put your sessions and prices on one booking page and share the link with students and parents.
- A booking page that works as the link in your bio.
- Each service with its own length and price, like a one-hour session, a test-prep package or an online session.
- A deposit at booking, or a card on file for later.
- Tap to Pay on iPhone, to take a card in person.
Sources
Where every number on this page comes from.
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Tutors (25-3041), national, state and area, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-05-15 Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed. Counts tutors employed by tutoring centers, schools, colleges and tutoring companies. 371 of 528 areas publish a tutor median; the other 157 show the state figure.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Data for occupations not covered in detail, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-11-10 No row for tutors (SOC 25-3041); checked November 2026
- Nonemployer Statistics 2024: Educational Services (NAICS 611), national and state, U.S. Census Bureau, 2026-09-29 Gross receipts of businesses with no paid employees, before costs and tax. Census does not publish exam preparation and tutoring (NAICS 611691) or its parent codes 61169 and 6116, so this is the catch-all educational services code: tutors together with test prep, driving schools and arts teachers. Not a count of tutors.
- Occupations that customarily and regularly received tips on or before Dec. 31, 2024, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-10 Entry 507: Tutors, SOC 25-3041, the same code as the BLS pay figures.
- One Big Beautiful Bill Act: tax deductions for working Americans and seniors (no tax on tips), Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-10 Up to $25,000 of qualified tips, tax years 2025 through 2028, with the phase-out and conditions quoted in the tips section.
- Topic no. 761, Tips: withholding and reporting, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-10 Employees report cash tips of $20 or more in a month to the employer by the 10th of the next month.
- Stripe pricing, standard US card rate, Stripe, 2026-10-25 the card processor kiwilaunch uses; quoted for the 3% card fee in the calculator
- What is the fee structure for tutors listed on Wyzant?, Wyzant, 2022-06-22 Help page dated June 2022, read through a September 2023 web.archive.org capture. The live page refused automated reads in November 2026, so the current rate was not readable.
- Preply commission model, Preply, 2024-09-19 Help page dated September 2024, read through an October 2026 web.archive.org capture.
- Math tutor prices, MrsTutor, Katy, Texas, 2026-11-10 A solo math tutor's own price page: $80 per hour, one-on-one, face to face.
- Policies, Write Seattle, Seattle, Washington, 2026-11-10 A writing and reading practice with several tutors. Its price pays the practice, not what one tutor takes home.
- FAQ, Tutor Zone, Whittier, California, 2026-11-10 A tutoring center: $45 an hour from August 2024, prepaid packages at $40, $38 and $35 an hour.
- One-on-one language tutor, Bend Language Institute, Bend, Oregon, 2026-11-10 A small language school: $58 an hour, $53 prepaid.
Not tax, legal or financial advice. Prices, pay and what you keep vary by state and city, licensing rules differ by state, and the tax rules on tips have conditions. A tax professional who knows your situation can answer for you.