Top Personal Trainer Salary by Sector, Gym, and State

You became a personal trainer because you have a passion for fitness. You love to help clients achieve weight loss and build muscle. Their successes are your successes, so you go to great lengths to help them meet their fitness goals. But you also want to earn a decent income along the way.

Personal trainer salary can vary not only from gym to gym, but also by sector and state. We'll look at all of these and share which ones pay the most. First, let's talk about what the typical pay is in a personal training role.

Average Personal Trainer Salary

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median annual salary of a fitness instructor is $46,480 per year. Broken down, this is around $22.35 an hour. (1) Which positions fall into this category? Group fitness instructor, specialized fitness instructor, and personal fitness trainer are options to consider.

Keep in mind that this salary is an average. According to the BLS, 10 percent of fitness trainers and instructors earn less than $26,840 per year. On a more positive note, the top 10 percent had earnings of $80,740 or higher. (2)

Are you interested in obtaining a higher-paying personal trainer job? Then it's helpful to know which sectors, gyms, and states to consider. We'll go into each of these now.

Top Paying Fitness Industry Sectors

There are many different sectors in the fitness industry. You can work for a fitness or sports center. You can provide fitness education on a state, local, or private level. You can work for the government. Even civic and social organizations hire fitness trainers.

Of these four, you will likely earn the most working in government with a mean annual salary of $47,730 per year. (2) For example, the U.S. military hires fitness trainers. There are military-based athletic trainer roles open as well. If you like the idea of providing a personal training session to men and women in uniform, this is an option to consider.

The second-highest paying sector is working for a fitness facility. This includes working for a gym, athletic club, or other facility providing fitness instruction. The average median salary in these types of settings is $47,670 per year. (2)

Educational services is third in line at $39,940 per year. (2) In this role, you may lead workshops or seminars designed to educate groups about diet and exercise. Or maybe you teach college courses related to exercise science or sports medicine. All of these fall under educational services.

Civic and social organizations tend to pay the least. The average annual salary in these agencies is $36,250 per year. (2) YMCA trainers fall into this category. It also includes roles such as aerobics instructor or personal trainer at a non-profit. This is not to say that you should never accept a position at one of these agencies. You may find them more rewarding. It is only to let you know that, overall, they do tend to pay less.

Top Personal Trainer Salary by Gym

Maybe you've decided that a gym or fitness center is the best setting for you. Personal trainer salaries can vary depending on which one you choose.

Most of their websites don't come out and say what they pay employees in a personal trainer role. For this, we must rely on internet sites that offer personal trainer salary information.

For example, here is a list of some gyms and fitness facilities in Los Angeles, CA. They are ranked from highest paying to lowest paying according to salary information reported to Glassdoor.com (3):

• 24 Hour Fitness - $64,262 per year

• Crunch Fitness - $61,555 per year

• LA Fitness - $57,781 per year

• Equinox - $54,221 per year

Planet Fitness is another well-known name. It isn't on the list because it doesn't offer one-on-one personal training sessions. Instead, this gym hires instructors to lead group classes. You must be a certified personal trainer to qualify. According to Salary.com, the average pay for a group fitness instructor is $46,701 per year. (4)

Again, keep in mind that these are averages for a personal trainer job at gyms in the Los Angeles area. Actual personal trainer salaries will vary based on location, whether you are hired to work full or part-time, and other factors.

5 States Offering the Top Personal Trainer Salary

Where you live in the U.S. can impact how much you earn as a fitness trainer. Some states pay more and others pay less. In which state might personal trainers make the most? Consider these five states.

According to the BLS (5), the state that pays the highest personal trainer salary is New York. The annual mean wage for an instructor in this state is $65,370 per year or $31.43 an hour. New York also has one of the highest employment levels for fitness professionals. Only California and Texas employ more fitness trainers, 39,470 and 19,030, respectively. California is the second highest-paying state at $61,340 per year.

The next highest-paying is Illinois. The average wage for providing fitness classes or training sessions in this state is $54,830 per year. This is roughly $26.36 an hour. There are around 14,460 personal trainers in Illinois.

Florida is a bit farther behind with a median annual salary of $44,710 per year. This equates to somewhere around $21.50 an hour. However, personal trainer jobs are slightly more plentiful.

The state that holds the number five slot for personal trainer pay is Texas. This state's average salary is $42,880 annually, which is around $20.61 per hour.

Salary varies within states too. If you're hired to work as a personal trainer in a big city, your pay may be different than if you work in a small town. It can also change based on the type of personal training services you provide. For example, according to Indeed, the average pay for a yoga instructor in the U.S. is $37.81 per hour (6). So, offering more specialized trainings can elevate your pay. What else determines how much you can make in the fitness industry?

Additional Factors that Affect Your Personal Training Income

One factor that impacts your salary is your level of experience. If you're new to personal training, you'll likely make less than an experienced trainer. If you continue rising in the ranks, you might consider working as a fitness manager or gym operations manager.

Another is whether you work for yourself or are employed by a gym. You can also serve as an independent trainer, which is somewhere in between.

Your salary can also be affected by whether you have your certification. People with a personal training certification are often more qualified for higher-paying jobs than those without.

Some gyms won't even hire a personal trainer who isn't certified. This requires finding a certifying organization such as the ISSA, taking a course, and passing an exam. Only then can you apply.

Your certification tells employers that you have the education needed to create a safe and effective fitness program. Because you must take continuing education courses to keep this certification, it also says that you are current in the field.

Get Certified and Earn More as a Personal Trainer

If you still need your certification, ISSA offers an online Personal Trainer Certification course. Enroll today and take your fitness career—and pay—to the next level!

Resources

1. Fitness Trainers and Instructors: Occupational Outlook Handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024, April 17). Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/fitness-trainers-and-instructors.htm#tab-1

2. Fitness Trainers and Instructors: Occupational Outlook Handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024, April 17). Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/fitness-trainers-and-instructors.htm#tab-5

3. Salary: Personal trainer in Los Angeles, CA 2024. (2024, June 6). Glassdoor. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/los-angeles-personal-trainer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,11_IM508_KO12,28.htm

4. Group fitness instructor salary. (2024, May 24). Salary.com. https://www.salary.com/research/salary/alternate/group-fitness-instructor-salary

5. Exercise trainers and group fitness instructors. (2023, April 25). Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes399031.htm#st

6. Yoga instructor salary in United States. (2024, June 16). Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/career/yoga-instructor/salaries?from=top_sb