Private tutoring in the US pays $25 to $80 an hour, and the spread inside that band is almost entirely explainable. Subject sets the base: math averages about $46 an hour in Wyzant's tutor-set prices and SAT prep about $62. Credentials move it 35% in either direction, major metros pay about 20% more than suburbs, and every year of experience is worth roughly 2%. This guide assembles the published benchmarks into a rate you can defend to a parent, then prices the packages and platform fees around it.
Wyzant, the largest US tutor marketplace, reports typical tutor-set rates of $35 to $60 an hour. The broader independent market runs $25-$80, with three observable tiers: college students and new tutors at $20-$35, experienced tutors and certified teachers at $40-$65, and test-prep or subject specialists at $75-$150+. Elite firms selling brand-name tutors (the PrepMaven class) charge $79 to $349 an hour, which mostly tells you what anxiety prices at.
International platforms sit lower. Preply tutors commonly list $10-$40 because they compete globally; that's the right lane for many subjects and the wrong lane for someone whose students need in-person accountability. Match the platform to where your buyers actually shop.
| Subject | Typical hourly rate | Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary reading & math | $20 – $40 | High volume, low specialization |
| Middle school subjects | $25 – $45 | The volume tier |
| High school math | $35 – $60 | Wyzant average ≈ $46/hr |
| High school sciences | $35 – $65 | Chemistry and physics premium |
| Foreign language | $25 – $50 | The benchmark SAT prep beats by 63% |
| SAT / ACT prep | $50 – $150 | Wyzant average ≈ $62/hr |
| GRE / MCAT / LSAT | $60 – $150+ | Specialist firms $79-$349 |
The pattern: price tracks stakes and scarcity, not difficulty. Anybody competent can teach long division, so elementary rates sit low. The pool of tutors who can genuinely move an SAT score or untangle organic chemistry is small, and families shopping at those stakes know it.
A certified teacher prices about 15% above a general experienced tutor, and a subject specialist or professor about 30% above. A college student, conversely, prices at about 65% of the experienced-tutor rate. Those multipliers compound with everything else, which is why the same suburban high-school-math student can face a $28 college junior or a $72 physics teacher for the same weekly hour.
The credential that matters is the one the buyer can verify: a teaching license, a degree in the subject, or score reports for test prep. Your rate should be defensible in one sentence. "I charge $62 because I'm a licensed math teacher who's taught this exact course for six years" closes. "I charge $62 because that's what I need" does not.
Subject, credentials, market, format, and experience in one number, with package and platform-fee math attached.
Open the Tutoring Rates Calculator →Packages trade a discount for commitment, and the standard structure is 5% off 8 sessions and 10% off 12 or more. On a $55.89 rate, that makes a 12-session package $604 against $671 à la carte. You lock the calendar, the family locks the price, and both sides stop renegotiating every week.
Two rules keep packages honest. Set an expiry, six months is typical, so a family can't buy at this year's rate and redeem at next year's. And make sessions transferable to a sibling but not refundable after a cutoff; you're selling reserved time, and your time doesn't re-sell on 24 hours' notice.
The list rate and the take-home rate are different numbers, and tutors who ignore this underprice themselves by a quarter.
The standard correction is to add 15-25% to your list rate on platforms so the net lands where your direct rate would. And since tutoring is self-employment income, none of these figures is take-home in the tax sense: run the self-employment tax calculator before you spend the first check.
Annually, in writing, with a reason attached. The tutors who get stuck at $35 for a decade are the ones who never said anything. The clean triggers: a new credential, a full calendar with a waitlist (demand says you're underpriced), and the start of a school year, when families re-shop anyway. Grandfather current students for one term if the relationship is good; loyalty pricing for people who already vouch for you is cheap marketing.
A full calendar is the strongest signal in tutoring. If you're turning students away at $40, the market will clear at $50, and the families who stay are better fits than the ones who leave over $10.
Worked example, the same math the calculator runs: certified teacher, high school math, in person, suburban market, four years of tutoring. Base $45 × 1.15 teacher multiplier × 1.08 experience = $55.89 an hour, defensible between $47.51 and $64.27. At six hours a week that's about $1,452 a month gross, or $1,089 net of Wyzant's cut if booked through the platform. The 12-session package prices at $604.
Change two inputs and watch the model work: the same person switching to SAT prep as a subject specialist, online, in a major metro, with seven years in, prices at $101 an hour, which sounds aggressive until you check the firms charging $150-plus for the same profile.
Once the rate is set, the operational questions start: what scores to promise (nothing, promise a process), how to track progress (the SAT score calculator and ACT score calculator turn practice tests into trend lines parents understand), and what the tutoring market pays on the other side of the desk, which the teacher salary by state table answers state by state.
Between $25 and $80 an hour covers most of the US market. A college student tutoring elementary subjects online can start near $20, a certified teacher in a major metro teaching high school math can sustain $60, and test-prep specialists clear $100. The anchors worth memorizing: Wyzant reports most tutor-set rates between $35 and $60, math averages about $46 an hour, and SAT prep about $62.
Start from the subject's base rate, apply your honest credential discount, and raise annually. A new college-student tutor teaching middle school math in a suburb prices around $20-$25 an hour: the $35 base times a 0.65 student multiplier times a 0.9 middle-school factor. Add roughly 2% per year of experience, and jump the rate when you add a credential, not on a whim.
Yes, modestly: 5% off an 8-session package and 10% off 12 or more is the common structure. On a $55.89 rate, twelve sessions cost $604 instead of $671. The discount buys a locked calendar and fewer no-shows, which is usually worth more than the 10% you give up. Put a six-month expiry on packages so old pricing doesn't outlive your raises.
Wyzant takes a flat 25%. Preply starts new tutors at 33%, falling to 18% at the top volume tier, and keeps 100% of the first lesson with each new student. On a $60 rate that's $45 net on Wyzant, $40.20 on Preply as a new tutor, and $60 direct. Most experienced tutors price 15-25% higher on platforms than their direct rate for exactly this reason.
Online usually runs about 5% lower when you compete nationally, because families can hire from anywhere and you save the commute. If your online students are local, skip the discount. The bigger pricing question is market tier: major-metro rates run about 20% above suburban ones, and small towns about 15% below, whichever format you teach in.