What does a Certified Personal Trainer Make?

The Average Salary of a Personal Trainer Depends on Many Factors

If you haven't already, read becoming a personal trainer where you will find information about the job and whether it is for you or not.
For most personal trainers, the area you work in is going to be one of the largest determinants of the maximum salary you can achieve. If you want to determine the average salary of a personal trainer in your current location you're going to have to do a little research which you can read about later on this page.
If you are looking for general figures you can read the tables below which are provided by two of the largest companies providing personal training certifications, ACE (American Council of Exercise) and the NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine.)



Perform local Market Research to find the Average Salary of a Personal Trainer in your Area
You don't have to be a business or marketing genius to be able to estimate personal trainer's salaries in your area. What you do have to do, which is the main aspect of your future job description is to talk to people.
It is probably a good idea to first check online where you can check the local classifieds such as craigslist.org and your local publications to see how many gyms and/or personal trainers are offering services in your area.
Then in order to get a good idea of the average salary of a personal trainer in your are you should talk to as many trainers who will give you 5 minutes of their time. Ask how much they charge, how many sessions they train per week, and most importantly, how much they make per session.
How much training sessions cost and how much the personal trainer takes home per session is a whole other story upon itself. Ask every gym and trainer you visit how much "rent" the trainer's have to pay for independent trainers and what the commissions and hourly pay are for personal trainers that are employees for a gym.

Do the Math !
No trainer is going to start out their training career with a full schedule but you can get a general feel of the income possibilities in the following table. Again, the information in the table is very general assuming you will train the same amount of training sessions for 52 weeks a year.
It allows you to see the income possibility and how the average salary of a personal trainer can fluctuate by controlling variables including how much per hour you charge/take home and how many sessions you train per week.