The 2-Minute
RATE CALCULATOR
for Music Teachers
How the heck do you choose a rate for music lessons? Don't make the mistake of just imitating other music teachers, or going with your gut. Instead, take into consideration what your lessons are really worth.
The quick survey below will give you a more useful, if somewhat ballpark, figure. Some common-sense fudging of the numbers may be necessary if you, for example, teach in a small town or in a place with a high cost of living
Pro Tip: If you read the fine print below each question, you'll learn how you can upgrade your business.
Please note: I don't collect any information in this tool. But I would love to hear your opinion. What do you think of your results?
Teachers Outside the US: Welcome! The tool calculates in US dollars, but you can easily convert to your currency by Googling "USD to [your currency]". I wish I could program this last step into the tool, but I'm just one dude (and not really a programmer). Oh, and sorry our government is being so obnoxious right now. One Family Under Music!
Rob Hampton is a guitar, voice, and performance teacher in Seattle, WA, the author of Rob's Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook, and the owner of Heartwood Guitar Instruction and Greatest Gig.
What do you think of your recommended rate? Is it accurate?
Please leave a comment below!
Changelog
7/27/17
Initial Release
9/13/17
Removed expenses section. While you should definitely be aware of your expenses, they don't add value to your students, so you can't use them to justify higher rates.
Changed the preparation section to a slider judging level of preparedness, instead of asking how many minutes per hour instruction you spend preparing. Like expenses, time spent preparing doesn't necessarily add value to your students.
Great idea Rob! This is something I’m thinking about. I would love to know how this applies to the UK, or smaller cities/towns Could the annotations be made to stay on screen until clicked off? They last 1-2 sec which isn’t long enough to read.
Thanks!
Hey Sam, two great suggestions. I got rid of the tooltips and just put their info in fine print below each question. About UK users–I can’t convert to other currencies easily in the tool, but that should be easy to do on your own. Are there other differences between UK and US that make the tool not as useful? And about small towns–that’s a great point. The size of the population in your teaching area, and the amount of competition with other music teachers, are definitely important factors. I just don’t know how to easily quantify those factors. Maybe I… Read more »
Thanks Rob for sharing your ideas and info – that’s very generous of you. Cheers!
Awesome, sure thing!
Well No one will pay me $80 /hr on this island. I charge $30 and barely get any students. I am a well know guitarist here and people have seen and heard me play around town and at festivals and the hotels. I know I am good. We only have 3300 people on the island and most are on the lower income scale. I have put slot of time in the lessons only to have the parent more interested in the kid learning than the kid wants to or they miss their lesson. I would love to have a concert… Read more »
Marty, you make a great point. I hadn’t considered really small towns (or islands!) in the tool. The lower-income population you serve should be accounted for when you enter the median income, but with a population that small, you’re going to be limited even if you’re the only guitar teacher on the island. As far as your frustrations with unmotivated students, yes, it’s so hard when students don’t want to learn! I hope some of the ideas in my blog posts and my Friday Live Show on my Greatest Gig Facebook page can help. My book also has tons of… Read more »
Holy cow! 91 dollars an hour? I’m good but I don’t think people could afford that. They could barely afford it when I went from 30 to 36 dollars per hour 😬
Yikes! Definitely don’t raise your rates to $91/hour on your current students! (Not that it sounds like you’re about to do that). But your results indicate you might want to start charging new students more. If you have a hard time getting new students to sign up at your new price, put more work into communicating the great value you offer as a teacher (update your website, refine the way you talk to prospective students, etc.)
My live show broadcast has more info on raising rates.
Thanks Rob. This is interesting, and timely information!
Sure thing, Laura!
Most of this comes down to mindset. If you are good and confident, you there are people willing to pay whatever you want to charge.
Great point. I’ve also found this to be true, at least with new clients, and in markets large enough (big towns and cities).
Thanks rob! I got $123/hour. I teach more classes than private lessons. We currently charge $70/hour for private lessons and $30/hour for a class or band. We have plenty of bands that have 4 or 5 members which is a win for the student and the school. I will definitely be raising the private lesson rate in the new school year. Thank you for such an eye opening tool. Your work is very much appreciated at the You Rock School of Music in Cranston, RI!
Great to hear from you Sean! “A win for the student and the school”–finding opportunities to make this happen is so valuable. Have you read “The Savvy Music Teacher”? Lots of great ideas in this area.
So fun to see all the great work you’re doing with You Rock School of Music. Keep me posted!
HI Rob, I bought your first book, and have really enjoyed watching you grow your business……
I have taught in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand where I have been for the last 35 years.
From playing full time to teaching full time I love my job…..
No web site, but I use a blog to direct students to some items but not on a regular basis.
I really like your student concert work, but haven’t really developed that yet.
I’d love to have a good long yak with ya one day.
Keep up the good work….
So great to get this message, Jerry. Wonderful to hear teaching’s treating you well. I’d love to chat sometime!
What’s keeping you from giving student concerts? I’m still developing content for my Totally Awesome Recitals course, and I’m curious to see what obstacles teachers are facing.
Thanks for writing.
What a great tool….and a solid reminder of what adds value to our studios as well as to value ourselves and what we do. I’m from Canada. I did get $125/hr and I am currently at $55/hr but I also know it is time for a rate increase…a little at a time. 🙂
Wow Michelle, it does sound like it’s time! Yeah, be careful with your current students–they’ve gotten used to your lower prices. But you might want to raise your rates significantly higher for incoming students.
There’s no way my current students would stay if I charged $70/hr!! I would have an empty studio and no income. I charge $30/hr and I know it’s a sacrifice for my families. I’m in a small town (just under 20,000 population) and median income of $42k. That income was accounted for but, hmmm. I just don’t see it happening.
Great point, Monica–no matter what you’re worth, you can’t suddenly start charging a lot more and expect your current students to stick around (or be very happy with you). If you do want to start charging closer to what you’re worth, I recommend raising rates gradually on current students, and working on attracting new students who can pay a higher rate. I have lots of info on how to do this in these livestreams…Part 1: https://www.facebook.com/greatestgig/videos/268740396946252/ and Part 2: https://www.facebook.com/greatestgig/videos/271445286675763/
What you didn’t include was what other music teachers charge. I’m already at the high end for teachers in my city. I’d lose all my students if I went to the $160 an hour your calculator is recommending. What I could really use is someone who knows SEO and won’t charge me a fortune. It’s the teachers who have great SEO who get the greatest numbers of students. We’d like to think it’s how good we are at teaching and playing and while it has some impact, most people will just google guitar lessons and go from there. I hope… Read more »
Hi Jamie, So sorry it’s taken me so long to respond. I got engrossed in your article and forgot to come back. You make a great point that jacking up your rate on current students would be a death sentence for your business. I advocate for raising rates gently on current students, but higher on new incoming students. And it needs to be paired with efforts to market to higher-paying students, mostly by showing the value you have to offer. I didn’t include what other music teachers charge because that should not factor into a calculation of what you’re worth.… Read more »
This is a great idea, but the resulting outcome figure is way unrealistic= $113.00
I’m glad you like the calculator. Why do you think it’s unrealistic? I currently charge new students $165/hr and will probably be increasing that next year.
I am in Canada- your rate calculation is pretty close to what I am charging for Drums and Percussion lessons- I am charging 25.00 per half hour or $45.00 Cdn per hour- your recommendation was $33.00 which I am assuming is in US dollars. Thanks for the rate calculator, sure opened my eyes up, to all the things, to consider before setting a rate.
You’re welcome! So glad you found it helpful. Yes, it’s in US dollars. Greetings from Seattle!
I can’t charge $172 per hour, though I’d love to. I currently charge $75 per hour and I often get students saying it’s too much.
Hi Jeanette, wow, if you filled out the rate calculator accurately, you could definitely be charging more. Two things to consider: You may not be attracting the kinds of students who can/will pay more than $75/hour, and/or you need to more effectively communicate the value you’re offering your students. Also, your current students are used to your current price. So this all argues for raising rates on incoming students, while stepping up your marketing. Does that make sense?
Thank you! I don’t know though. $83 per hour seems very high. I think the max anyone in my area charges is $60 per hour.
I would lose all my students if I charged that much for lessons.
I’d love to make that, but I wouldn’t pay that. If I am trying to give my kids opportunities, I can’t go give $75 per lesson per thing they ate doing. No middle class person can afford that. But it certainly makes me feel more comfortable charging $40.
Yeah, no. Even though it’s the Bay Area no one is going to pay $177/hr
I know that seems ridiculously high–and I’d never be able to afford it–but, just for perspective, my most recent student is paying $330 for an hour’s lesson (plus an hour of me driving to and from his house). He saw his stepson perform in my student concerts, and it looked like fun, and he got a preview of how I work with my students and liked what he saw. There are TONS of people in the Bay Area (I’m from there) who can pay much more than $177 if that’s what it takes to have a great experience.