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Average Pay Rates for Academic and Test Prep Tutors

Uncategorized Jul 10, 2024

By Kevin Organisciak, M.Ed.

If you have wondered how much to charge as a tutor or how much to pay a tutor if you are an owner-operator, we analyzed average pay rates for test prep and popular academic subject tutoring.

We used open-source data as well as our own internal recruiting data to get a sense of average pay rates.  Spoiler:  local programs almost always pay their tutors better than big-box tutoring companies or tutor-matching sites.

The data is directionally useful but it may not reflect your local pricing structure.  We drilled down a bit into the larger metro areas to try and get a sense of some of the tutoring pay rate averages in those locales as well. Hope it helps!

 

Nationwide Averages, 2023.

Job Title Average Pay Rate (Indeed) Average Pay Rate (TPAPT) Average Pay Rate (Glassdoor) Average Pay Rate (Wyzant after 25% reduction)
SAT Test Prep Tutor $36.10 per hour $42.50 per hour $24.00 per hour $28.13 per hour
ACT Test Prep Tutor $35.72 per hour $38.18 per hour $25.00 per hour $28.69 per hour
Math Tutor $43.03 per hour $47.44 per hour $25.00 per hour $33.75 per hour
Physics Tutor $27.90 per hour $31.54 per hour $25.00 per hour $21.75 per hour
English Tutor $28.30 per hour $30.74 per hour $24.00 per hour $22.88 per hour
AP Test Prep Tutor $34.20 per hour $37.45 per hour $22.00 per hour $28.88 per hour
College Admissions Essay Tutor $38.60 per hour $55.00 per hour $35.00 per hour $32.31 per hour
In-Person Tutor $28.27 per hour $32.00 per hour $25.00 per hour $22.13 per hour
 

As we can see, on average, SAT and ACT test prep tutors appear to earn the highest hourly rates across all sources. Math tutors also earn high rates, with average pay rates ranging from $33.75 to $47.44 per hour. In English tutors earn relatively lower rates, with averages ranging from $21.75 to $31.54 per hour and $22.88 to $30.74 per hour, respectively. However, if you are an English Tutor, take heart because writing is in high demand in the form of college essay coaching. 

The average pay rates for college admissions essay tutors vary widely between sources, with an average rate of $40.25 per hour on Indeed, $55.00 per hour through TPAPT members, $35.00 per hour on Glassdoor, and $32.31 per hour on Wyzant after a 25% reduction.

This could suggest that there is less consistency or standardization in pay rates for this type of tutoring job, or that there is a greater variation in demand and supply for college admissions essay tutors among different job marketplaces and tutoring companies. At any rate (pun intended,  English teachers are usually well-suited for this type of tutoring. 

 
 Metro Areas - SAT Test Prep Tutoring
 
Metro Area Average Rate of Pay for SAT Test Prep Tutoring
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA $43.30 per hour (according to Indeed)
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA $38.15 per hour (according to Indeed)
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI $36.20 per hour (according to Indeed)
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX $33.39 per hour (according to Indeed)
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX $32.63 per hour (according to Indeed)
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV $45.42 per hour (according to Indeed)
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL $30.20 per hour (according to Indeed)
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD $36.22 per hour (according to Indeed)
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA $36.60 per hour (according to Indeed)
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH $46.59 per hour (according to Indeed)
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ $27.71 per hour (according to Indeed)
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA $54.61 per hour (according to Indeed)
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA $31.51 per hour (according to Indeed)
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI $29.62 per hour (according to Indeed)
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA $44.70 per hour (according to Indeed)
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI $33.13 per hour (according to Indeed)
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA $36.01 per hour (according to Indeed)
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL $27.44 per hour (according to Indeed)
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO $36.21 per hour (according to Indeed)
St. Louis, MO-IL $30.17 per hour (according to Indeed)
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD $34.43 per hour (according to Indeed)
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC $30.87 per hour (according to Indeed)
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL $29.30 per hour (according to Indeed)
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX $29.70 per hour (according to Indeed)
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA $34.25 per hour (according to Indeed)

Sources:

Indeed. (n.d.). Average SAT Tutoring Salaries in the United States.  

Metro Area - ACT Test Prep Tutoring

 
Metro Area Average Rate of Pay for ACT Test Prep Tutoring
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA $35.75 per hour
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA $33.23 per hour
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI $30.96 per hour
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX $28.97 per hour
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX $29.80 per hour
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV $36.91 per hour
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL $28.71 per hour
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD $31.05 per hour
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA $29.75 per hour
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH $38.67 per hour
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ $27.05 per hour
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA $38.09 per hour
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA $27.05 per hour
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI $28.03 per hour
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA $32.77 per hour
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI $29.25 per hour
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA $33.23 per hour
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL $26.14 per hour
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO $30.67 per hour
St. Louis, MO-IL $26.50 per hour
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD $30.11 per hour
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC $27.25 per hour
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL $27.12 per hour
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX $26.30 per hour
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA $31.32 per hour
 
In most metro areas listed, the average rate of pay for SAT test prep tutoring is higher than that of ACT test prep tutoring. This suggests that SAT tutoring may be more in demand or considered more valuable than ACT tutoring.
 
The metro areas with the highest rates of pay for both SAT and ACT test prep tutoring are largely concentrated in the Northeast and West Coast regions of the United States, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
 
The average rate of pay for both SAT and ACT test prep tutoring tends to be higher in larger metro areas. For example, New York and Los Angeles both have higher rates of pay for both SAT and ACT tutoring than smaller metro areas like St. Louis or Charlotte.
 
The average rate of pay for SAT test prep tutoring is more varied than for ACT test prep tutoring. The highest rate of pay for SAT tutoring is nearly twice as high as the lowest rate of pay, while the highest and lowest rates of pay for ACT tutoring are less disparate.
 
Overall, the average rate of pay for SAT test prep tutoring is higher than that of ACT test prep tutoring, but the difference is not as significant as one might expect. The average rate of pay for SAT tutoring ranges from $27.71 per hour in Phoenix to $54.61 per hour in San Francisco, while the average rate of pay for ACT tutoring ranges from $26.14 per hour in Tampa to $38.67 per hour in Boston.

References

Indeed. (n.d.). Average Math Tutoring Salaries in the United States.

https://www.indeed.com/career/math-tutor/salaries.

Indeed. (n.d.). Average SAT Tutoring Salaries in the United States.

 https://www.indeed.com/career/sat-tutor/salaries.

Indeed. (2022). ACT Tutor Salaries in the United States.

https://www.indeed.com/salaries/act-tutor-Salaries.

Kevin Organisciak et, al. (2022), TPAPT Average Tutoring & Test Prep Salaries for Member Posted Positions.  

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