Average Freelance Salary: Industry Statistics

The freelancer market in the world received a strong boost during the pandemic. Technology has made building a career as a consultant or freelancer easier than ever. In recent years, more and more people have been working as freelancers. 

In 2022, there are more than 2.2 million freelancers in the UK. For 1.77 million people, freelance work is their main occupation, while for others, participation in freelance work usually takes a secondary role. Freelancers are highly valued members of the UK workforce. According to recent research, they contribute about £125 billion to the UK economy. 

For many people, becoming a freelancer means earning more money. Consequently, we want to know the answer to the question “How much do freelancers earn?” Although this is a broad question that completely depends on the circumstances, we can find out an average figure.

Freelance vs. Employed: Who Earns More?

Freelancing has many advantages, let's look at some of them:

1. No imposed work schedules. You work when you want and as much as you want. Some freelancers even manage to build their schedule so that they work no more than four hours a day, and at the same time earn a lot.

2. You control your income. Most freelancers tend to earn more than colleagues in similar full-time positions. Why is this so? In freelancing, your salary depends only on you. At first, the more you work, the more you get. But over time you get more, because the main thing is to work efficiently and promptly, and then the prices for your services will grow.

3. You are constantly evolving. To be in demand as a freelancer, you need to become better and more professional every day, because there is high competition in the market. 

In most cases, freelancers are involved to perform tasks in a team where there are not enough specialists, or for a one-time project. For companies, the cost of hiring a freelancer for a certain period of time is significantly lower than hiring an employee. Hiring a specialist instead of a full-time worker with insurance and taxes provides greater flexibility and savings for the business. In turn, to compensate for financial instability, freelancers often charge higher hourly or daily rates, and employers are willing to compromise.

Average UK Freelancer Salary & Factors Affecting Hourly Rates

The UK is the second fastest growing freelance market. It ranks second in the list of the top 10 countries for freelancing with 59% year-on-year revenue growth. The average salary of a freelancer in London, UK, is £31,409. Salary estimates are based on 80 salaries anonymously submitted to Glassdoor by freelance employees in London.The hourly rates of freelancers and consultants vary greatly because many factors affect how much this person takes. These include:

• Industry

Many are afraid of going freelance because of the high competition. There may be an oversaturation in the market in certain areas, which leads to a decrease in wages. For example, there used to be few programmers, they all found their niche, and now everyone aspires to work in IT. According to statistics, the most attractive industries for freelancers are web and graphic design, programming, advertising and targeting, and working with social networks. Accounting is one of the highest-paid positions in various markets, which indicates that traditional jobs like these are still in high demand. The growing number of small startups springing up across Europe add opportunities for freelance accountants: these companies look for resources to meet their immediate needs. However, not only freelance specialists can be useful here. Online services, such as Payrow, offering tools for automating business processes and getting rid of paperwork come to the aid.

• Location

Even though the place of work of freelancers and consultants is not limited to the usual framework for office employees, their place of residence can still affect their level of earnings. Many English-speaking clients prefer to work with specialists who are fluent in English. British copywriters have the highest hourly rates, as they are native speakers, and graphic designers are also at the top, charging an average of $41 per hour. Most other freelancers can expect approximately the same rates.

• Skill Level

We used to think that the market is open to young and enthusiastic specialists. But if this works when applying to a company where a person can be taught within the framework of the enterprise, then the situation with the freelance market is different. 55-year-old freelancers earn twice as much as those aged 18 to 24. To illustrate this, we’ve found an average amount charged by freelance attorneys and accountants per hour depending on their experience:

1. A junior freelance accountant in the UK usually earns $15 an hour.
2. Mid-level accountants and attorneys have several years of work experience but do not have proven leadership qualities. The average salary is $20 for an accountant and $34 for an attorney. 
3. A senior accountant has at least 3-5 years of experience, although attorneys may need more than five years to get a senior-level position. Their average hourly wage is $30 for an accountant and $49 for an attorney. 

An interesting fact is that half of the freelancers in the UK belong to the age groups from 40 to 49 and from 50 to 59 years (24% and 26% respectively).

• Hourly Rates by Education

If we pay attention to the income of freelancers, we will notice that having a higher education does not always lead to higher wages. 

Freelancers with a high school diploma earn more than 57% of respondents who graduated from college or university. (€22 versus €19 per hour). Freelancers with a postgraduate degree earn the most, their average hourly earnings are $24 per hour. However, this figure is only slightly higher. Clients are not interested in the level of education, they usually check ratings, portfolios and work experience.

• Hourly Rates by Gender

According to Payoneer's 2020 report, female freelancers earn less than males in all industries. Women earn approximately 84% of the rate charged by men. But still, male and female workers increase the level of salaries on platforms as they gain more experience.

A report from the Planet website indicates that novice freelancers usually rate their services low. This way they can find an easily accessible job to succeed. However, women tend to charge less than men, even when gaining experience. Both male and female freelancers that participated in a survey had almost the same job success rates. But despite the lower rate, women had a higher success rate by one or two percentage points.

Another interesting point mentioned in the report is that women tend to have a longer history of working on freelance platforms. Overall, the report states that the wage gap on freelance platforms may be a direct consequence of women underestimating their skills and experience. Expecting less, they often get less.

Getting Paid As a Freelancer

Regardless of whether you work as a graphic designer on a freelance platform or prefer one of the many advertised freelance marketing jobs, your time is the most important resource you have. Therefore, you will need to make sure that you will be paid in full and with no delays. We all value time, so any minute spent on completing tasks and realizing that the work will not be paid is time you lose. And why limit your customer base to the UK only? Using freelancer marketplaces like Upwork, Fiverr and People-Per-Hour, you will certainly find attractive work opportunities all across the globe. Freelancing has no boundaries, and with the help of useful services like Payrow, your money can also be borderless. We offer easy-to-use online solutions so that you can easily receive payments from international customers.

Receive payments for free with an international business account from Payrow!