How to read these rates
Employee references are annual US median wages for the cited BLS occupation, which may cover several career paths. Freelance examples add $15,000 for benefits and $20,000 for business costs, then divide by 1,200 billable hours a year. Annual figures are rounded to the nearest $1,000 and hourly figures to the nearest dollar. Figures are before personal taxes, with no percentage fees. Open a guide to see the source or adjust the assumptions in the calculator.
Transport & logistics
- Employee reference
- $82K/yr
- Freelance example
- $98/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Logisticians
Maintains reliable stock records through reconciliations, discrepancy investigations, and clear transaction procedures rather than assuming a system quantity matches physical availability.
View career → Inventory control specialist
Design
- Employee reference
- $63K/yr
- Freelance example
- $82/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Graphic designers
Organize financial and operational updates so stakeholders can distinguish performance facts, management interpretation, and the decisions being discussed.
View career → Investor communications designer
Cross-industry
- Employee reference
- $136K/yr
- Freelance example
- $142/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Build applications that fit the interaction patterns and capabilities of iPhone and iPad. The work connects platform conventions, accessible interfaces, persistent data, and careful testing across supported operating system versions.
View career → iOS Developer
Environment & agriculture
- Employee reference
- $104K/yr
- Freelance example
- $116/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Web and digital interface designers
Develops irrigation designs within applicable technical competence, permissions, water constraints, and professional requirements, coordinating qualified review before installation or operational changes.
View career → Irrigation designer
Cybersecurity & IT
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Organize evidence about technology assets, ownership, licenses, and lifecycle decisions. Reconcile records and exceptions so purchasing, support, and security teams understand what the inventory establishes and where it remains incomplete.
View career → IT Asset Management Analyst
Cybersecurity & IT
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Help teams document and evaluate proposed technology changes before implementation. Connect business impacts, dependencies, test evidence, and recovery plans while reserving approval and live execution for authorized operational owners.
View career → IT Change Management Analyst
Cybersecurity & IT
- Employee reference
- $99K/yr
- Freelance example
- $112/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Network and Computer Systems Administrators
Develop telemetry that helps teams understand the behavior of technology services. Connect metrics, logs, and tracing to operational questions while managing costs, sensitive data, and ownership of investigation or response.
View career → IT Observability Engineer
Cybersecurity & IT
- Employee reference
- $78K/yr
- Freelance example
- $94/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Buyers and purchasing agents
Compare technology purchases through user requirements, service dependencies, and commercial evidence. Make recurring costs and unresolved integration or security questions visible while preserving authorized purchasing, legal, and technical decisions.
View career → IT Procurement Analyst
Cybersecurity & IT
- Employee reference
- $99K/yr
- Freelance example
- $112/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Network and Computer Systems Administrators
Evaluate whether technology services can recover from defined disruptions. Connect business dependencies, recovery evidence, and operational ownership while distinguishing a written plan from a demonstrated and appropriately approved capability.
View career → IT Resilience Consultant
Cybersecurity & IT
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Improve how internal technology services receive requests, handle incidents, and communicate ownership. Connect workflow evidence with practical service measures rather than assuming a new ticketing tool resolves underlying coordination problems.
View career → IT Service Management Consultant
Content writing
- Employee reference
- $90K/yr
- Freelance example
- $105/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Create findable support material that answers real user tasks and separates routine guidance from situations requiring a human or technical escalation.
View career → Knowledge base writer
Software & AI
- Employee reference
- $140K/yr
- Freelance example
- $145/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Database Architects
Model and connect structured knowledge so teams can inspect relationships and provenance. Manage identifiers, schema decisions, and conflicting claims rather than assuming a linked graph makes every source reliable or current.
View career → Knowledge Graph Engineer
Physical sciences
- Employee reference
- $121K/yr
- Freelance example
- $130/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Connect approved laboratory workflows with software and instrument interfaces. Improve traceability and repeatability while preserving human review, sample identity, and safe recovery when automated steps cannot proceed.
View career → Laboratory Automation Engineer
Life sciences & biotech
- Employee reference
- $106K/yr
- Freelance example
- $117/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Computer systems analysts
Help laboratories organize sample identities, workflows, and instrument records through suitable information systems. Translate approved procedures into traceable requirements while preserving validation, access control, and change-management responsibilities.
View career → Laboratory Information Systems Specialist
Real estate & property
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Helps organizations organize land-use evidence, stakeholder questions, and planning submissions within applicable professional competence and qualified review of local requirements.
View career → Land use planning consultant
Software & AI
- Employee reference
- $120K/yr
- Freelance example
- $129/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Data Scientists
Develop software that analyzes or processes language for defined tasks and audiences. Evaluate language variation, data permissions, and failure cases while avoiding assumptions that aggregate performance transfers equally across every user group.
View career → Language Technology Engineer
Optical & photonics
- Employee reference
- $172K/yr
- Freelance example
- $173/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Physicists
Help organizations document and review laser-related exposure controls under applicable requirements. Coordinate qualified assessments, training records, and operating procedures without treating a checklist as evidence that all hazards are controlled.
View career → Laser Safety Specialist
Optical & photonics
- Employee reference
- $121K/yr
- Freelance example
- $130/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Develop specifications and integration plans for laser-based instruments. Coordinate optical, electrical, mechanical, and safety requirements so the instrument can be tested against a clear purpose.
View career → Laser Systems Engineer
Transport & logistics
- Employee reference
- $89K/yr
- Freelance example
- $103/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Operations Research Analysts
Investigates the final delivery stage through route, service, access, and exception data, identifying patterns without attributing operational failures to workers from incomplete records.
View career → Last-mile delivery analyst
Business & leadership coaching
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Supports leaders in translating development goals into observable workplace behavior through reflection, practice, and feedback grounded in the team's actual context.
View career → Leadership coach
Business & leadership coaching
- Employee reference
- $69K/yr
- Freelance example
- $87/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Training and development specialists
Designs leadership learning linked to organizational needs, combining practice, manager support, and evaluation rather than relying solely on workshops or personality labels.
View career → Leadership development consultant
Manufacturing & robotics
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Help manufacturing teams examine flow, rework, and resource use through evidence and structured improvement. Separate genuine process learning from assumed savings and preserve required safety, quality, and workforce consultation boundaries.
View career → Lean Manufacturing Consultant
Education & learning
- Employee reference
- $140K/yr
- Freelance example
- $145/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Database Architects
Build dependable learning-data transformations and shared metrics so reporting about participation, completion, and activity can be traced to consistent definitions.
View career → Learning analytics engineer
Cross-industry
- Employee reference
- $69K/yr
- Freelance example
- $87/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Training and development specialists
A learning and development specialist identifies capability gaps and designs ways to close them. They connect learning needs, practice, manager support, and evaluation so development activity addresses a workplace problem rather than merely filling a course catalog.
View career → Learning and development specialist
Education & learning
- Employee reference
- $75K/yr
- Freelance example
- $91/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Public relations specialists
Organize discussion, peer practice, and participation norms so learners can contribute meaningfully and connect shared activities to the purpose of the learning community.
View career → Learning community facilitator
Education & learning
- Employee reference
- $89K/yr
- Freelance example
- $103/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Operations Research Analysts
Examine evidence about a learning program's delivery and application while distinguishing participant satisfaction from changes in knowledge, behavior, or organizational outcomes.
View career → Learning evaluation analyst
Education & learning
- Employee reference
- $69K/yr
- Freelance example
- $87/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Training and development specialists
Connect a learner's needs, motivation, practice context, and support resources into a coherent experience that extends beyond a single presentation or module.
View career → Learning experience designer
Education & learning
- Employee reference
- $99K/yr
- Freelance example
- $112/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Network and Computer Systems Administrators
Maintain course access, enrollment structures, reporting settings, and routine platform operations so learning teams can deliver and troubleshoot their programs consistently.
View career → Learning platform administrator
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $103K/yr
- Freelance example
- $115/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Financial and investment analysts
Examines legal invoices, matter budgets, and billing information against approved guidelines, documenting exceptions and patterns for authorized finance and legal reviewers.
View career → Legal billing analyst
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $106K/yr
- Freelance example
- $117/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Computer Systems Analysts
Builds document-generation workflows from approved templates and rules, preserving traceability and review so automation does not silently replace professional legal judgment.
View career → Legal document automation developer
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $78K/yr
- Freelance example
- $94/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Editors
Builds systems for legal teams to find reusable knowledge, approved templates, and relevant expertise while managing versioning, permissions, and professional review ownership.
View career → Legal knowledge manager
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Improves how legal teams organize work, vendors, technology, budgets, and reporting while keeping legal judgments and privileged decisions with authorized practitioners.
View career → Legal operations manager
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Plans and coordinates legal matters or improvement projects around scope, budget, dependencies, and communication while leaving legal strategy and professional obligations with qualified practitioners.
View career → Legal project manager
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $77K/yr
- Freelance example
- $93/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Writers and authors
Organizes legal-source research and evidence summaries for qualified reviewers, preserving jurisdiction, source date, uncertainty, and the distinction between research assistance and legal conclusions.
View career → Legal research analyst
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $77K/yr
- Freelance example
- $93/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants
Coordinates legal-team administration, correspondence, scheduling, and document handling with attention to confidentiality, procedural deadlines, and the supervising practitioner's instructions.
View career → Legal secretary
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $106K/yr
- Freelance example
- $117/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Computer systems analysts
Implements and supports legal-team software, translating workflow needs into configuration, training, and reliable access without assuming technology can decide professional or privileged questions.
View career → Legal technology specialist
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $114/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Coordinates legal-document translation through qualified language providers, version control, confidentiality, and review responsibilities while separating project administration from certified translation or legal interpretation.
View career → Legal translation project manager
Fintech & financial services
- Employee reference
- $104K/yr
- Freelance example
- $116/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Tests lending software for reliable workflows, accurate statuses, access boundaries, and consistent implementation of approved rules without treating passing tests as lending-policy approval.
View career → Lending platform QA analyst
Optical & photonics
- Employee reference
- $102K/yr
- Freelance example
- $115/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Improve the repeatability of lens production while maintaining required optical performance. Examine process variation, inspection feedback, yield, and documentation rather than treating every rejected part as an isolated event.
View career → Lens Manufacturing Process Engineer
Game development
- Employee reference
- $136K/yr
- Freelance example
- $142/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Software Developers
Structure playable spaces around movement, pacing, objectives, and player understanding while testing whether intended routes and challenges remain legible.
View career → Level designer
Retail & ecommerce
- Employee reference
- $79K/yr
- Freelance example
- $95/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Market research analysts
Build customer messages around commerce events such as first purchase, replenishment, or delayed delivery while coordinating relevant data, suppression, and operational accuracy.
View career → Lifecycle commerce email specialist
Life sciences & biotech
- Employee reference
- $73K/yr
- Freelance example
- $90/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Fundraisers
Help life-science teams turn a credible research plan into a coherent funding proposal. Align scientific questions, resources, milestones, and evidence while preserving the uncertainty inherent in research outcomes.
View career → Life Science Grant Strategist
Content creation
- Employee reference
- $45K/yr
- Freelance example
- $66/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Photographers
Plan and capture authentic-looking editorial image sets that illustrate an everyday activity while meeting a defined publication brief.
View career → Lifestyle content photographer
Negotiation & communication coaching
- Employee reference
- $69K/yr
- Freelance example
- $87/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Training and development specialists
Helps clients practice attentive listening, useful clarification, and accurate reflection in work or everyday conversations without presenting coaching as psychotherapy or relationship treatment.
View career → Listening skills coach
Legal & compliance
- Employee reference
- $90K/yr
- Freelance example
- $105/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Supports legal proceedings through document organization, hearing preparation, technology coordination, and reliable retrieval of authorized evidence under qualified legal-team supervision.
View career → Litigation support specialist
Music & audio
- Employee reference
- $73K/yr
- Freelance example
- $90/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Sound engineering technicians
Prepare and operate live audio systems so performers and audiences receive clear, dependable sound.
View career → Live sound technician
Content creation
- Employee reference
- $75K/yr
- Freelance example
- $92/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Camera operators, television, video, and film
Coordinate live video sources, run-of-show cues, and fallback plans so a broadcast remains understandable when circumstances change.
View career → Livestream producer
Transport & logistics
- Employee reference
- $82K/yr
- Freelance example
- $98/hr
BLS · May 2025 · Logisticians
Coordinates shipment capacity and load information under approved operational procedures, ensuring qualified personnel own safety-critical loading decisions and equipment limits.
View career → Load planning coordinator