How Much Do Personal Trainers Make?

According to the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA), personal trainers typically charge somewhere in the range of $30–$125 per hour. 1 However, this differs from average salary data from sources across the web, which suggest that the average personal trainer salary is around $30–$35 per hour or $50,000–$65,000 per year.

Average Personal Trainer Income

Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand for annual income and to the nearest $5 mark for hourly income.

The discrepancies in the salary data above are likely due to differences in earnings between employed vs. self-employed personal trainers. Additionally, it’s worth noting that your earnings may be completely different from these averages. There are many factors that play into how much personal trainers earn.

The steps you take when becoming a personal trainer will play a major role—specifically what kind of training and certification you get and where you choose to work. The process also takes a lot of time and costs money, which are key monetary factors you should consider.

How much do certified personal trainers make?

According to self-reported income data available online, there really isn’t much of a distinction between the typical certified personal trainer salary and the salary of an uncertified personal trainer. This is likely due to the fact that most professional personal trainers do have some kind of certification.

The truth is that personal trainer certification doesn’t always guarantee a higher income. Although there are some gyms that pay different rates for certified and uncertified personal trainers, many commercial gyms require certification. In these cases, whether you’re certified will determine your eligibility, but it won’t have any bearing on your pay rates.

With that said, you can leverage your certification as an independent personal trainer to attract private clients who are willing to pay you more. Specialty certifications can also ramp up your earning potential.

Location is a major factor when it comes to personal training income. There tends to be a much greater demand for fitness trainers in big cities, especially on the east and west coasts of the US. Suburbs and remote areas tend to have lower rates.

Highest Paying States for Personal Trainers

Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In the states with the highest average personal trainer salaries, instructors make up to $66,970 per year on average. For comparison, in the lowest-paying states, such as New Mexico, West Virginia, and Alabama, personal trainers only make $25,530–$40,690 per year.

However, these data only reflect the earnings of trainers who are employed by a company, such as a gym. If you’re running your own gym, you may earn much more. Additionally, if you’re an online personal trainer, then your location probably won’t have much effect at all on your earning potential.

What are the best gyms to work at as a personal trainer?

If you’re working as a personal trainer, fitness trainer, or fitness instructor at a gym, your earning potential will depend on that gym’s pay rates. Not all gyms offer the same salaries for personal trainers. Knowing which gyms pay the most will help you ensure you reach your full earning potential.

How Much Gym Trainers Make at Different Gyms

Note: Rates were obtained in August 2024 from job postings in or very near Los Angeles, CA.

The best gyms to work for as a personal trainer won’t necessarily be the highest-paying gyms. You’ll want to also consider factors like qualifications required, proximity to where you live, and your working hours.

It’s worth noting that if you’re not yet certified, you won’t qualify for all these positions. Even if you do, you won’t start off on the higher end of the salary range. In this case, you should look into gyms that pay for personal training certification or those that don’t necessarily require certification.

Another factor that can impact your personal trainer rates is employment. There are generally four types of employment you can pursue as a personal trainer.

Employee gym trainer

This type of personal trainer is a part-time or full-time employee of a commercial gym. The gym pays you to work the floor, providing assistance to customers who need help. Once you’ve gained experience, they’ll supply you with clients who sign up for personal training services.

You can expect to get paid a fixed rate based on how much you work and what additional services you provide (if any), such as working as a group fitness instructor. You can also earn commission for things like recruiting people for personal training and selling gym memberships or packages.

Because these personal trainers don’t need to deal with the business, admin, or marketing work involved in getting new clients or managing customer accounts, they tend to be the lowest paid. Nevertheless, it’s a popular first job option for newly qualified personal trainers to gain experience.

How you’re paid: Fixed hourly wage by the gym.

Typical earnings: Minimum wage or slightly higher.

Self-employed gym trainer

This type of personal trainer is considered an independent contractor for tax purposes. However, unlike fully independent personal trainers, self-employed gym personal trainers work with clients at a standard gym. With this option, you typically have to pay the gym a fee.

If it’s a larger commercial gym, you may have to share a portion of your earnings with the gym, such as a 50/50 cut. If it’s a smaller, independently run gym, you may only have to pay a small fee per training session, such as a $15 per-session fee. It’s similar to how hair stylists “rent” booths at salons.

There are benefits to this type of personal training for both parties. For the gym, it’s one less person to put on the payroll, they earn a small stipend per session, and their gym is being exposed to new potential clients.

For the personal trainer, they’re able to be their own boss while taking advantage of the convenience and lower costs associated with using an already-established gym. They can work when they want and with whom they want. Plus, they don’t have any pressure or required sales quotas to deal with.

How you’re paid: Direct payment from clients, minus a small fee or commission paid to the gym.

Typical earnings: $25 per hour or more, after gym fees.

Independent personal trainer

This type of personal trainer is 100% self-employed and self-sufficient. So it’s up to them to provide the training environment in addition to the training.

As an independent personal trainer, you can provide services wherever you see fit. For instance, you can set up your own home gym or offer virtual/online personal training. Alternatively, you can meet clients at parks or other public spaces conducive to training, which would be ideal if you’re providing group training sessions.

While you’ll have a lot more professional freedom as an independent trainer than as an employee, it comes with a tradeoff. For starters, you’ll be responsible for every aspect of your business, from marketing and selling your services to bringing in new clients. Because of this, business expenses can quickly grow.

If you’re not bringing in a ton of business yet, this negative cash flow can make the job difficult and stressful. The good news is that private personal trainers can make good money once they’ve established themselves. In fact, they tend to be the highest-earning personal trainers.

One way to maximize your earnings as a self-employed personal trainer is to provide private group sessions. If you charge $50 per person, then even just having three or four clients would allow you to bring your hourly rate to $150–$200 per hour. The trick is marketing your brand well enough to attract that many people.

How you’re paid: Direct payment from clients (keep 100% of your earnings).

Typical earnings: $50 per hour or more, depending on how high you set your rates.

Online personal trainer

Online or virtual personal trainers are self-employed personal trainers who make money by offering virtual live training sessions or selling prerecorded personal training programs to clients online. Because of its flexibility, this is often a side hustle for personal trainers who already have a steady job.

There’s even potential to turn online personal training into a passive income side hustle if you’re selling prerecorded sessions. This way, you can make money while you sleep, work another job, or spend time with your family. No other personal training career path offers that privilege and freedom.

As an online personal trainer, it’s also easier to boost your income through other revenue channels. For example, you can sell other products and services, such as fitness ebooks or branded fitness apparel. Alternatively, you can become a fitness influencer and partner with brands.

The only downside is that you can’t get away with charging as much for online personal training as you’d charge for in-person training. But this isn’t a huge problem since virtual personal training work typically comes with lower business expenses.

How you’re paid: Direct payment from clients, often through an online payment processor or bank transfer.

Typical earnings: $30–$100 per hour.

Personal trainer pay when you’re self-employed is fairly straightforward. You provide a service and get paid directly by the client. Clients may pay you by the hour or pay a flat fee for a package of training sessions.

Employed personal trainer income, on the other hand, is a bit more complex. For the most part, personal trainers earn an hourly wage or annual salary. Gyms often pay separate rates for working the floor, offering private personal training, and running fitness classes.

Some gyms pay a little more for certified personal trainers based on the number of hours they’ve worked to date. Many gyms also offer incentive structures on top of their standard personal trainer and fitness trainer salary.

Incentives come in the following forms:

• Commission for bringing in new clients
• Commission for selling training packages
• Bonuses for teaching group classes
• Bonuses for completing a certain number of sessions each month or year

Although you have lower earning potential as a gym trainer than as a self-employed trainer, you still have the power to earn more as a personal trainer by taking advantage of these types of upsell opportunities.

Your personal trainer earning potential isn’t set in stone. Here are some tips that can help you increase your personal trainer (PT) salary:

1. Find a gym you truly enjoy working at: The longer you work at one gym and build trust with the owner, the better your incentive structure will get over time.
2. Build your own website and use social media for marketing: Even if you’re employed, you’d greatly benefit from building your own personal training brand and selling services and products on the side.
3. Focus on generating recurring business: Long-term, loyal business is where companies and entrepreneurs make the most money as it enables them to spend more time working instead of constantly trying to find new business.
4. Sell digital products: Selling products like prerecorded PT sessions, long-term courses, daily planners, recipe books, and subscriptions on the side can help you generate passive revenue alongside your other personal training income.
5. Get additional certifications: Consider getting certified in nutrition, strength and conditioning, or another area that aligns with your personal training services. Doing so will allow you to upsell existing clients or charge more for your services overall and ultimately boost your earnings without too much additional effort.

Even without any additional steps, you can earn decent money as a personal trainer. However, if you want more professional freedom, a good work-life balance, and the ability to generate a six-figure income, then you’ll need to do more than just put in time at a gym or work with clients.