You will find many people who want to live a fit and healthy life. These people often want a personal trainer to guide them in knowing the proper techniques while achieving their fitness goals. So there is a huge opportunity to make a career in helping people get fit and live a healthy lifestyle. You can also make enough money for a living by working as a trainer. Moreover, you can also get the satisfaction of positively impacting others’ lives.
Like fitness, where you start setting a goal, you must work towards the right path to becoming a certified personal trainer. Once you decide to be a trainer, you should follow the way to help you get there.
Salaries of Personal Trainers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) states that the median annual salary for personal trainers in 2021 was $40,700. The fitness centers were the sources for half of these jobs, but not all of them were in the gyms. Other employment sources were educational services, self-employed workers, civic and social organizations, and the government.
Newly certified personal trainers usually work at a gym or health club early in their careers. Before considering practicing independently, they build relationships with clients and gain experience. Certified personal trainers from nationally recognized gyms earn a percentage of the client’s fee for a training session. A typical gym session stretches from 30 minutes to an hour, for which these gyms charge about $50-$100. The certified personal trainer earns around $12 to $50 for every session.
Some gyms have a sales staff for signing up and assigning clients, while others ask trainers to search for their clients. When personal trainers find their clients, they often earn a commission for every new person they sign up for. When an agreement ends, the trainers also get bonuses after meeting sales goals and getting clients to extend their training sessions.
Impact of Location on the Earning of Personal Trainers
The state where you live and work also influences your earnings as a personal trainer. New York is the highest paying state for personal trainers, per the BLS. A trainer in this state earns a mean wage of $61,840 per year or $29.73 an hour (presuming a 40 hours work week, 52 weeks per year). There are around 13,220 personal trainers in the state of New York. Irrespective of the fewer personal training jobs, the District of Columbia is the second highest paying list. A fitness instructor earns a mean wage of $61,370 annually or $29.50 an hour.
Vermont is another state with significantly fewer fitness trainer jobs but ranks as the third best-paying state. The trainers earn approximately $58,780 per year or $28.26 per hour. You can consider the state of California if you are looking for more opportunities. This state offers 25,160 jobs for fitness trainers and instructors. With 24,330 jobs for fitness trainers, the state of Texas has the second highest employment. The trainers in Texas earn an annual mean wage of $40,010 or $19.24 per hour.
Maximize Your Income as a Certified Personal Trainer
You can certainly make money by working for a large fitness company. But, working as an independent contractor or owning a business can make you earn much more. Experienced trainers who work for themselves earn between $50 and $100 per session. Independent contractors and business owners charge their hourly rates. Personal trainers who are independent contractors make significantly more than those who work for someone else. Also, being an independent trainer, you don’t owe a percentage of your earnings to the gym.
Benefits of Advanced Education for Personal Trainers
Certified personal trainers can expect to be compensated accordingly when they serve as specialists. They can opt for advanced education to become one of the best in their field. Those who become specialists charge around $75-$100 for each personal training session. It is an opportunity for those who want to learn the practical and scientific methods that lead to proper fitness and good health.
If you're interested in entering the personal training industry, choose your American Sports & Fitness Association certification program. Then, start building your career in this growing field and inspire people to be fit.
