If you are thinking about becoming a personal trainer, the first question is usually what you could earn. There is no single answer, and anyone who gives you one number is guessing. This guide sets out what the official statistics show, what they leave out, and how to work out your own figure.
What the official figures say
The Office for National Statistics publishes pay by occupation every year in its Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).1 The closest group to personal training is “fitness and wellbeing instructors”. It is the group that includes personal trainers, alongside other instructors such as group fitness, Pilates and yoga teachers. The latest figures are the 2026 provisional release, published on 22 October 2026. Hourly and weekly pay are for the pay period that included a date in April 2026. Annual pay is for the tax year that ended on 5 April 2026.1
| Median pay, before tax | All employees | Full-time | Part-time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per hour | £14.85 | £15.55 | £14.27 |
| Per week | £191.30 | £572.20 | £152.90 |
| Per year | £11,624 | £29,053 | £8,312 |
The median is the middle value: half of employees earn more and half earn less. ONS prefers it to the mean because a few very high earners do not distort it.1
For comparison, the National Living Wage for people aged 21 and over has been £12.71 an hour since 1 April 2026.2 The median hourly figure for all fitness and wellbeing instructors, £14.85, is about 17% above it. The ONS estimate of hourly pay for these instructors rose by 7.4% on the year.1
How reliable are these figures?
ONS publishes a quality measure for every estimate. The hourly figures above are the most reliable ones: their coefficient of variation is under 4% for all three groups. The full-time annual figure is less precise, at 7.1%, and the all-employee annual figure is the weakest, at 17%. That is why this guide leads with the hourly and full-time numbers, and why the annual figure for all employees is low: part-time work is common in this group.1
What the figures do not cover
ASHE covers employees. It does not cover the self-employed.1 Personal trainers can work for a gym or health club, or work for themselves, so these statistics describe only part of the picture. There is no official statistic for what self-employed personal trainers earn, and we do not quote one. What you earn working for yourself depends on the price you set, how many sessions you deliver and what your business costs you.
Employed or self-employed: how pay works
| Employed by a gym or club | Self-employed | |
|---|---|---|
| How you are paid | An hourly rate or salary set by your employer | The price you charge clients for each session or package |
| Where clients come from | Usually the gym or club | You find them yourself, or through a venue you rent space from |
| Costs | Mostly covered by your employer | Insurance, venue or equipment costs, membership fees, marketing and tax are yours |
| Tax | Deducted through payroll | You register with HMRC and file a Self Assessment return |
If you work for yourself, you must register as a sole trader with HMRC if you earn more than £1,000 in a tax year.3 The National Careers Service describes typical hours of 32 to 34 a week, varying, with evening, weekend and bank holiday work as customers demand.5
Work out your own earnings
Because no official figure exists for self-employed trainers, the most useful thing you can do is work out your own. The arithmetic is simple:
Earnings before tax = sessions per week x price per session x weeks worked per year, minus your costs.
Here is that sum with example numbers. These are illustrations of the calculation, not typical rates or a forecast.
| Sessions a week | Price a session | Weeks a year | Income before costs and tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | £30 | 46 | £20,700 |
| 20 | £40 | 46 | £36,800 |
| 25 | £50 | 46 | £57,500 |
Subtract your costs and tax to see what you keep. One cost is the optional professional membership: CIMSPA’s Personal Trainer Practitioner membership is £38.94 a year including VAT, and it asks for 10 points of continuing professional development each year.4 Add your insurance, any venue hire, equipment, marketing and time off.
What affects what you earn
- Your qualification. A Level 2 gym instructing qualification is the entry point. Level 3 personal training is what lets you work as a personal trainer.
- Whether you are employed or self-employed, as above.
- The hours you can work. Clients book evenings and weekends, so your availability matters.
- Where you work. Pay and demand differ by area. Our location pages show local figures for your town.
- Specialisms. Level 4 courses such as strength and conditioning, lower back pain and nutrition give you more to offer. We do not have official data that splits pay by specialism, so we make no claim about how much extra they earn.
Getting qualified
Most routes start with a Level 2 gym instructing qualification, then Level 3 personal training. The National Careers Service lists college courses, apprenticeships, applying directly and specialist courses from private training providers as ways in.5 Our Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications are regulated by Ofqual, and you can check each one on the register using the links below. After you qualify you can apply to join the Register of Exercise Professionals.6 See how to become a PT for the full route, and funding and payment plans for how to pay for it.
