Have you ever wondered what a certified life coach salary looks like? You may find yourself intrigued by the idea of coaching but wanted to know whether or not you would be able to make a comfortable living while in this career.
As you’re probably aware, coaching salaries vary greatly. We’ve heard about all the financial possibilities that come with life coaching, and we got curious too. Today, we’re sharing everything we learned.
If this is your first time here, hey! We’re Cass + Tee, the partners behind this blog and our company, Lovely Impact. As web designers turned coaches, we’ve found our mission in life by blending our 20+ combined years of branding & website skills with our passion for coaching. We created Lovely Impact to help coaches, like you, thrive and impact the world with your business.
In this detailed guide, we’ll be covering what a life coach does, what the demand looks like, hourly rates as a life coach, average salaries, and the qualifications required to become a coach.
Let’s dive right in!
What exactly do life coaches do?
Life coaches are, like other kinds of coaches, there to help their clients develop their skills and improve their confidence. A life coach is usually able to provide assistance with improvement, empowerment, and guidance, and undergoing life coaching can help with any aspect of a person’s life.
Life coaches may help people with relationship advice, rediscovering motivation, finding suitable hobbies, making life decisions, working out a path toward a goal, and a whole lot more.
Like many coaches, they wear multiple hats and their purpose is to help clients get to the heart of issues and find a way forward.
Many life coaches have been trained in one specific style of coaching, although some may use a combination of methods.
Life coaching can have the following benefits for the client:
- Creating a balance of life and work
- Identifying and combating negative or limiting beliefs
- Creating plans for personal and professional growth
- Improving communication
- Fostering more effective and positive relationships
- Identifying and articulating core values
- Achieving goals to do with fitness or weight loss
- Obtaining other life skills
Is there a demand for life coaches?
Yes, there is a massive demand for life coaches, as increasing pressures cause individuals to struggle with various aspects of life.
The inflating life coach salary is indicative of this trend, as is the ongoing rise of social, work, and financial pressure that many individuals across the world are facing.
A life coach provides people with unique services, including a friendly but unbiased take on problems. Many people find that they cannot ask friends or family for advice because the answer they receive is not impartial – and a life coach is a better option.
Many life coaches specialize in niches, rather than coaching across the whole gamut of issues that can be covered by this category of coaching, but it was estimated that there were over 17,000 life coaches by 2013, and this number is still growing.
The demand for life coaches is unlikely to disappear any time soon, especially as this profession becomes more widely recognized and more people realize they have the option of speaking to a trained expert about their issues.
How much does a life coach earn per hour?
Of course, if you’re looking into this opportunity, you’re going to want to know what a life coach salary is like. Unfortunately, pay varies quite a lot for this profession, depending on the service you offer, the demand in your area, your qualification level, and a lot of other issues.
Some average life coach salaries estimate the hourly wage to be around $160 per hour, but in some places, it can be as high as $200 per hour.
You may be able to charge a lot more for your coaching services if you are a certified coach, depending on your training. You could earn as much as $500 per hour in some circumstances, but this is above average and few coaches will achieve this, especially in their early years. In general, figures this high are related to executive life coaches.
It is also worth noting that many coaches earn money by selling materials, as well as by coaching. If you can produce DVDs, worksheets, etc., you may be able to earn more per hour than your standard hourly rate.
What is the average certified life coach salary?
Given the above, it won’t surprise you that it’s difficult to estimate the average life coach salary. Some estimates put it between $26,000 and $140,000 per year, while others suggest it is between $46,000 and $130,000 per year.
It is very location-dependent, of course, so it’s worth finding out what life coaches generally earn in your state or area. Keep in mind that when you are first starting out as a coach, typically you will not earn as much as an established coach, because you will have fewer clients and far less experience to justify high fees.
It’s usually a good idea to estimate your earnings based on the lower end of what you think you can earn as a life coach.
This could be between $20,000 and $60,000 in many states, although there is no minimum since you will be self-employed.
According to ZipRecruiter, Florida currently has the lowest rate of pay for life coaches, with most earning an average life coach salary of $45,000. However, you shouldn’t assume that you will achieve this for at least the first few years of coaching.
How do certified life coaches make money?
Certified life coaches make money in a variety of ways: by teaching clients, by making and selling teaching materials, and by training other coaches.
All of these can be lucrative, although training other coaches often provide particularly good rates of pay.
Most life coaches offer a variety of services to their clients, including motivational speaking, one-on-one coaching, and group coaching programs.
Coaches may also provide workshops, seminars, and webinars, and some coaches make money from writing and selling coaching books.
Creating digital courses to train others is a good option for making money as a life coach, and these can sell for up to $3,000, depending on your brand and the course material.
Some life coaches also make money by offering corporate training courses, and with many companies looking to support their employees’ mental well-being, this trend is likely to grow in the future. Consulting services, mentorship programs, and membership options are all further ways to bring in revenue through coaching.
➡️ Need more help with pricing? Check out our Money Making Offers Guide for Coaches here >>
What qualifications do you need to become a life coach?
You can become a life coach without any qualifications because this industry is currently unregulated and has no stipulations about minimum qualifications. You do not need work experience, a degree, an apprenticeship, or any other evidence that you can do the job.
You will, however, have a much better chance of becoming a life coach if you have some, or even all, of these qualities. If you don’t have any, it can be challenging to give yourself credibility and demonstrate to potential clients that you will have the skills required to help them.
Therefore, you should look into certification programs, but take the time to do this carefully, because there are quite a few low-quality, high-cost products out there.
It’s often best to choose a reputable organization that your clients might also recognize, as this will increase their chances of trusting your company.
Having certification can massively boost your starting salary and get your foot in the door, so it’s important to get some, even though this is not a legal requirement of coaching.
➡️ Need more help? Check out our top picks for the best affordable life coach certifications here >>
What should I charge for life coaching?
In order to estimate an average life coach salary for your area, you may want to do some research and look at what other local coaches are charging and the services they offer.
In general, you should start reasonably low so you can get some clients, reviews, recommendations, and experience. However, you don’t want to price yourself so low that you don’t look professional or confident.
Remember too that you won’t enjoy many of the benefits of being employed by someone else; paid time off, sick leave, vacations, health insurance, bonuses, etc., will no longer be automatic. You’ll have to factor these expenses in for yourself.
Many life coaches start their services off at around $75 per hour, but if you really lack training, you might want to lower this slightly, and if you have lots of experience or training, increase it.
Final Thoughts – Certified Life Coach Salary
We hope that this article has been an insightful part of your certified life coach salary research! Having an accurate idea of what to expect salary-wise is an important part of becoming a life coach, especially if you’re going full-time.
Once you have a solid understanding of the demand, hourly rates, and qualifications for life coaching, and how they vary from state to state, it can help you step into this career with more awareness and confidence of the path ahead.
By not doing your research and approaching your life coaching career strategically, you could set yourself up for high expectations and unrealistic goals, which will only lead to disappointment.
Since you’ve gotten this far in reading this post, you’re already steps ahead, so pat yourself on the back!
We’re all for salary transparency here. Let us know in the comments, what kind of salary do you bring in or aim to bring in as a life coach?
About The Author
Hey! I’m Cass, a Certified Brand Coach and a Co-Founder at Lovely Impact. I help coaches elevate their businesses with beautiful branding and websites. Here on our blog, my content focuses on branding, web design, and storytelling.
Hey! I’m Tee, a Certified Business Coach and a Co-Founder at Lovely Impact. I help coaches grow and scale their coaching businesses. Here on our blog, my content focuses on web design, marketing, business, and social media strategy.