How Much Do Virtual Assistants Make?

We’ll cut right into it: according to employment websites like ZipRecruiter, work-from-home virtual assistants in the US earn an average of $24 per hour. 1 This is backed up by other online sources, which suggest that VAs generally command rates in the range of $15–$30 per hour.

We collaborated on this article with Stephanie Barnes, a full-time VA who runs her own business. She confirmed that these figures matched her experience, although she noted that the “upper end of the rate range” may be slightly higher, around $35–$38.

What factors affect your pay as a virtual assistant?

Several factors affect the rates you can charge as a VA. In roughly descending order of importance, they are:

Specialization

Laura Brassie, another VA, told us that your specialization heavily affects how much you’ll get paid.

She said that in her experience, the rate for general VA work (i.e., basic admin tasks) often hovers around $20 per hour, but that if you’re qualified to work in a specialized industry, you may be able to earn up to $50. (As a VA who focuses on assisting mental health workers, she typically earns just under this, at $45 per hour.)

Barnes corroborated this, singling out the legal, medical, and financial fields as being particularly lucrative.

“I’d encourage VAs to always seek out new knowledge and skills and to look for specializations that align with their interests and passions,” she said.

Responsibilities

If you can do high-level work, you’ll earn more than if you just take care of routine administrative tasks, such as answering emails and making appointments.

“From what I’ve heard from my VA community, marketing, website design, and social media management get the most bang for your buck,” Barnes told us.

She recommended familiarizing yourself with social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, as well as AI tools. Both of these landscapes—social media and AI—evolve very quickly, and most businesses owners don’t have the time to stay up to date on them, so learning their ins and outs will make you particularly valuable as a VA.

Experience level

Unsurprisingly, the more experience you have, the more you can get away with charging. Note that if you’re a veteran VA, you’ll be expected to demonstrate your skills with a solid portfolio and references.

Location

If you live in an area with a high cost of living, you can (and probably should) set your rates a little higher. However, there’s a limit to this; the VA market is a global one, meaning that you’ll often be competing with people from lower-income regions or countries who are willing to accept lower rates.

If you’re a US-based virtual assistant, you do have advantages that you can leverage to counteract this. For instance, Barnes pointed out that some business owners need VAs who are available during traditional business hours (rather than those who require flexible or nontraditional schedules, which is common with VAs who are based overseas).

If you happen to live in an area with a higher cost of living, you can look for clients like this in your time zone and emphasize your availability when you negotiate with them.

Type of employment

Some VAs are self-employed freelancers, whereas others work for VA agencies.

As a freelancer, you have more freedom to set your own rates, and if you’re particularly skilled or experienced, you may be able to negotiate higher pay than an agency can get you. Moreover, you won’t have to share your profits, whereas if you work for an agency, they’ll take a cut of everything you earn.

However, working for an agency can be convenient, since the company will help you find clients. Barnes said that she prefers to work independently, but that “for folks who are not able or are not interested in networking or finding clients, the agency model can be a wonderful option.”

“In my experience, finding clients is one of the biggest hurdles of a VA business,” she added.

Your relationship with your clients

Barnes told us that how long you’re planning on working for each client will often affect your rates, as well as how close your professional relationship with them is.

If you’re open to building long-term partnerships with your clients and are willing to put the work in to “find ways to increase their revenue” (i.e., by really thinking about how you can go the extra mile and offer the best value possible), you can command higher rates.

Of course, if you’re looking for a lower-key side hustle, that’s fine, too. Barnes noted that some VAs may be “OK with meeting the minimum job requirements” and have no intention of building an ongoing relationship with most of their clients. Just realize that this may lock you into earning rates on the lower end of the range we listed above.

How and when you’ll be paid as a VA depends on the tasks you’re performing.

If you’re doing any creative work, it’s standard practice to ask for a retainer before submitting assets to clients. This means you’ll be paid for at least some of the work before turning anything in—50% upfront and 50% at completion, for example.

For most other tasks, you’ll submit regular invoices to your client after finishing your work for them. You may receive your money via direct deposit, but many clients prefer using online payment platforms, such as:

• PayPal
• Wise
• Payoneer

Of these, PayPal is by far the most popular choice. According to Barnes, its dominance in the industry has both pros and cons; on one hand, it’s very convenient, but on the other, it charges a service fee (like all payment platforms). To avoid this, you can ask for a direct deposit instead, but some clients may insist on using PayPal.

How freelancing websites will pay you

If you land work through a freelance marketplace, such as Upwork or Fiverr, they’ll have their own payment process that you’ll be expected to use (for example, your clients might place your money in escrow while you’re working, and the website will disburse it once you’re done).

Some sites like this may offer to pay via direct deposit to your bank account or a linked debit card. However, other sites will require you to use a platform like PayPal.

No one wants to be taken advantage of by an employer or client. It’s important to ensure you’re being compensated fairly for your work as a VA.

Fortunately, there are several resources you can use to compare what you’re netting against what VAs in similar situations earn. Try looking on:

• Glassdoor: This is a popular employment website that collects salary information. They maintain a page dedicated to virtual assistants, where you can find user-sourced salary data, as well as anonymous reviews for companies offering VA roles.
• Reddit: VAs congregate on the subreddits /r/VirtualAssistant and /r/WorkOnline. These are great places to get in touch with your colleagues and compare notes. Notably, /r/VirtualAssistant also features job opportunities.
• Freelance marketplaces: You can conduct market research by scoping out the prices that other gig workers are charging on major online job markets. For instance, check Upwork’s list of top VAs for hire—as you can see, most of their rates cluster in the $15–$30 range, but with a significant number of outliers that are as low as $10 per hour or as high as $65 per hour.
• VA coaching websites: Barnes suggested joining a website that offers VA coaching (she singled out Fully Booked VA, which she used when getting her start). These sites feature how-to courses, some of which may include tips on setting your rates. (These courses do generally cost money, although many coaching sites also occasionally post tips for free.)

To make sure you’re earning what you’re worth as a virtual assistant, it’s important to:

1. Always be on the lookout for highly paid gigs
2. Take steps to maximize your earnings when you do land work
3. Pursue additional income opportunities

We’ll talk about all three in detail below.

Where to find highly paid VA gigs

When you become a virtual assistant, your first step will usually be to look for work on job boards like Indeed, as well as freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.

Those are good places to start (and on most of them, you can filter jobs by the rates they’re offering so that you don’t waste your time with poorly paid ones). However, you should also expand your search.

As mentioned earlier, VA jobs regularly show up on /r/VirtualAssistant, and per the subreddit’s rules, all posts need to state a pay rate.

It’s also worth exploring virtual assistant agencies, which can provide a good way to get your foot in the door and find high-quality clients. Check out these agencies:

• BELAY
• Boldly
• Wing
• Fancy Hands

If you have expertise in a particular niche (e.g., you’re a financial analyst looking to provide VA services for other finance professionals), check out job boards that cater to your field.

You can even contact businesses and entrepreneurs directly to pitch yourself. This requires more work, but it’s also often the way to find the best clients (i.e., the ones whose needs you’re best able to meet and who are willing to pay you what you’re worth).

Of course, you don’t have to pick just one method. Barnes noted that VA workloads “can ebb and flow,” and that it’s worth considering having more than one source of income and work (e.g., freelancing via direct outreach and also taking on agency work, etc.).

How to boost your earnings on your VA jobs

As you’ve seen, how much you can make as a VA is affected by several factors. Not all of them are in your control, but some of them are. Below, we’ve listed several tips for increasing your earnings as a VA:

• Keep learning and developing your skills: The importance of this can’t be overstated. Building your skills and staying up to date with industry trends will make you a more attractive candidate for VA gigs and empower you to charge higher rates.
• Build a strong client base and a good reputation: It’s not enough to do solid work; you also need to be able to prove it. Demonstrating your hard work through solid references will give you a great advantage when seeking new clients. Set up a personal website to showcase your past jobs and testimonials.
• Don’t be afraid to negotiate your pay: Many people dread this, but it’s important. Stay informed on current market rates for VAs and factor in your overhead costs and non-billable activities when deciding how much to charge. Also, don’t neglect to revisit your rates regularly (on a yearly basis); Barnes commented that as a new VA, you should consider setting “conservative rates,” but that once you gain some experience and niche down, you should gradually raise them.
• Sell your services as package deals: Instead of opting for an hourly rate, you can sell different “packages” and charge clients based on the value of the work you’re doing. This is particularly useful if you have highly sought-after skills, such as project management; it not only gives you more freedom with pricing, but also shows clients what they’re getting for the price they’re paying.

If you do have additional services you can offer beyond just doing admin work, make sure your clients are aware of it. Don’t worry that they’ll see this as upselling—some of them might not realize what they want until you pitch it to them.

Additional income opportunities for VAs

Once you start working as a virtual assistant, you’ll find there are plenty of ways for you to earn extra cash aside from your base pay. These include:

• Overtime and bonus opportunities: As a VA, you’ll typically work a part-time schedule (e.g., 14 hours per week). However, some clients will be interested in retaining your services for longer, and many clients will offer overtime pay for the extra hours you’re working.
• Referral programs: Some VA agencies have referral programs. BELAY, for example, will pay you $1,000 if your referral becomes a client of theirs, and Wing will give you $200.
• Start a virtual assistant coaching business: There are tons of other people looking to get into virtual assistance, and if you have a solid reputation in the industry, some of them will probably be willing to pay for your advice and insights. Becoming a career coach for VAs isn’t easy, but if you get it off the ground, it can be a lucrative source of income—essentially, it can become a side hustle for your side hustle.