This tool was developed by Create PT's education team to help new and aspiring personal trainers estimate their potential earnings. Based on real industry data, it shows how session pricing, weekly hours, and extra revenue streams such as online coaching and class instructing shape your income. Enter what you plan to deliver and what you will charge, then see your gross earnings a year, a month and a week, and what you owe in tax and National Insurance to reveal your net.
Add the work you plan to deliver across sessions, online coaching and classes. See your gross and, after income tax and National Insurance, what you actually keep.
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ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025, HMRC rates for 2026/27, and published rates and prices collected August 2026. Reviewed 20260809.
All you need to do is:
The national average for personal training outside London is around £35 an hour. In London it rises to over £50 an hour, depending on the gym and the client. Online coaching runs from £30 to £50 for a generic programme, and £100 to £250 a month for bespoke coaching with accountability, nutrition and lifestyle support. Classes vary widely, from £15 for a gym floor HIIT class to over £60 for reformer Pilates at an exclusive studio.
This uses standard self-employed rates for one tax year on your gross earnings. Business expenses, other income, allowances or a limited company set up would change the result, so treat it as a guide, not a tax return.
Few trainers deliver a full week from day one. Most take six to eighteen months to get there, so early years sit below this.
Admin, travel and no shows are real hours that do not bill. A full diary of paid sessions is the target, not the starting point.
An employed role comes with holiday and a pension. Self-employed, you fund both yourself, so build them into what you charge.
According to sources including Indeed, the National Careers Service and Prospects, the average personal trainer earns between £30,000 and £40,000, or up to £75 an hour in expensive locations and for high end clients.
What you can charge is limited, to a point, by where you are. There is a ceiling for what local trainers charge in your area, and trainers in central London can charge far more than those in small suburbs. Specialise and raise the perceived value of your service, and you can charge a premium.
What you charge should reflect the value you offer, not just your competitors' prices, but that is hard to hold in a crowded market when you are starting out. Fit in with the competition at first, build a base, then raise your prices as your experience and reputation grow.
The facility shapes what you can charge. We work with clubs where trainers charge £60 to £120 an hour, and budget gyms where they charge £20 to £40. Both are good opportunities, they are just different set-ups between the trainer and the club.
Macroeconomic factors are out of your control, so you adjust to them. When money is tight, adapt what you offer with packages for price-conscious clients, lenient payment terms and other ways to make it more affordable, rather than simply dropping your rate.
Work back from the net you want to keep, not the gross. Set your rate so that after tax, National Insurance and the hours you cannot bill, the number that lands in your account is the one you need.
If the figure is lower than you hoped, the fastest levers are your rate and your extra income streams, not simply doing more one to one hours. A handful of online clients or a couple of classes a week move the total more than you would expect.
No. It charges income tax and National Insurance on your gross earnings. Business expenses, other income or a limited company would change the result, so treat it as a guide, not a tax return.
The current year's self-employed rates, held on the Create settings and updated each April.
Work back from the net you need to keep. It is the only way to set a rate that makes the work worthwhile.
The Create PT Level 3 Diploma covers coaching, business and how to price and fill a diary, so the numbers above become real.
From £1,799, or £116.58 a month
Income tax and Class 4 National Insurance are calculated on gross earnings using current UK self-employed rates. Rate guidance is Create's own, from working with gyms across the country. A general estimate, not tax advice. Last updated 24 August 2026.
