Pay · 41-9012
Models earn $48,470 a year at the midpoint
A small field — roughly 3,780 people nationwide — with a midpoint of $48,470. Pay runs from about $34,190 at the low end to $131,470 at the top, per the 2025 federal survey.
National figures for models, 41-9012, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
Model earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
Resumes for models
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Posed for artists and photographers.
- Recorded rates of pay and durations of jobs on vouchers.
- Gathered information from agents concerning the pay, dates, times, provisions, and lengths of jobs.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Model pay rate, hourly to yearly
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Model wages, state by state
The 14 states where the most people do this work, of 16 with a published figure: their medians range by 7.29 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $109,910 | $35,050 | $35,050 — $109,920 | — |
| New York | $107,280 | $44,720 | $44,720 — $213,740 | — |
| New Jersey | $60,520 | $50,290 | $50,290 — $117,070 | — |
| California | $57,400 | $35,400 | $35,400 — $131,470 | 990 |
| Illinois | $53,280 | $36,450 | $36,450 — $156,000 | 60 |
| Maryland | $47,170 | $40,980 | $40,980 — $47,170 | 40 |
| Texas | $46,840 | $29,010 | $29,010 — $72,850 | — |
| Florida | $45,900 | $34,190 | $34,190 — $99,320 | 620 |
| Virginia | $45,720 | $31,910 | $31,910 — $48,820 | 40 |
| Rhode Island | $45,060 | $45,060 | $45,060 — $45,070 | — |
| Oregon | $42,880 | $33,450 | $33,450 — $45,720 | 40 |
| Ohio | $42,550 | $31,990 | $31,990 — $67,790 | 120 |
| Nebraska | $41,600 | $40,730 | $40,730 — $42,790 | — |
| Georgia | $15,080 | $15,080 | $15,080 — $55,790 | 130 |
Examples
Resumes written for this line of work.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
- Model Resume Template Sales
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No. 557 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 29% of the occupations in the survey.
- 555 First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers $48,520
- 556 Billing and Posting Clerks $48,500
- 557 Models $48,470
- 558 Healthcare Support Workers, All Other $48,430
- 559 Electronic Equipment Installers and Repairers, Motor Vehicles $48,420
Questions people often ask
What is a model’s yearly income?
A model makes a median of $48,470 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $35,710 and $99,320.
What is a model’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $23.30 an hour; the average is $72,800 a year.
What is the starting pay for a model?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $35,710 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $34,190.
Which state pays models the most?
Arizona, with a median of $109,910 a year.
How many people work as models?
About 3,780 in the United States — number 557 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Jobs that pay about the same
Median pay within $70 of what models earn — $48,470 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $30 more Billing and Posting Clerks $48,500median a year 10th percentile: $37,290 90th percentile: $67,710
- $50 more First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers $48,520median a year 10th percentile: $33,120 90th percentile: $77,080
- $70 more Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $48,540median a year 10th percentile: $36,520 90th percentile: $69,240