“You can’t support a family teaching English online?” or “Is teaching English online a real job?” Have you heard these questions from others or even thought them yourself? Today I’m going to share with you how much money you can make teaching English online!
When I first started hearing about teaching English online, I thought it sounded fun and that it was different. But honestly, I didn’t think of it as a “real” job. Everyone that I heard of that was teaching English online lived in a developing country and from what I heard were making only $5-$7/hour. I thought well that’s good for them but I can’t live off of that amount.
Teaching English kept coming up as my wife and I prepared to move abroad and I kept doing research. I realized that like other jobs, there are different sectors that you can work in teaching English. I also found companies that paid more than what I thought. After researching many different types of work we could do abroad, teaching English seemed to be the best option for us.
Why Teaching English Online?
Well to start off, let’s talk about who thinks about teaching English online. Usually making money isn’t the first concern on the list of potential online English teachers. Why?
Usually, if you’re thinking of teaching English online it’s probably because you have some other goals in mind. Most people who think of this job want to move abroad, supplement their income to pay off debts or save, or just want to simplify and have more personal time for other pursuits.
For many, teaching English online is a way to take back control of their time, choose their own schedule of when to work and pursue things that are more important to them. By teaching English online you have the flexibility to make time for the things that are important to you.
But to be real: money is important. We need money to care for our basic needs and to accomplish goals that we may have. So how much can you make teaching English online? Let’s go over some figures.
What’s the average pay?
Let me share some figures with you to put everything in perspective by answering the following question: What’s the average pay of workers in the US?
We’ll use this as a basis of comparison since many of my readers are from the US or similar countries.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for workers in the US in the first quarter of 2019 was $905/week or $47,000/year working 40-hours a week. So what does this mean?
The average US worker’s median wage is $22.62/hour
So based on these figures most American workers are living on a salary similar to this amount. Of course, this is an average and some may make more or less depending on location, education, and experience.
What is the average pay for online English teachers?
Ok now that we have a benchmark to compare with let’s talk about the average pay for online English teachers. Just like many other occupations, there are companies that pay more and companies that pay less. But today we’re going to talk about the average pay.
Are you ready for this?
The average pay for an online English teacher in the US is $48,483/year!
If we use the same parameters we did above with the average US wage and say that these teachers are working a 40-hour week that’s $25.25/hour.
Now most teachers are not working 40-hour weeks but this gives you an idea on the viability of working online as an English teacher.
Another thing to keep in mind if you’re considering working online as an English teacher is that depending on your plans you may not be living in the same location that you are now.
For example, my wife and I used to live in the San Francisco Bay area, CA which is one of the most expensive areas in the US but when we moved abroad our expenses drastically reduced. Even when we lived in one of the most expensive cities in Spain our expenses were still less than when we lived at home. So keep in mind your goals, if you’re planning to simplify or move abroad your current expenses may be quite a bit lower than they are now.
That being said what do you think now? Can you make a living teaching English online? Maybe you’re still a bit skeptical. Maybe you’re thinking “Ok yeah but how am I going to find companies that pay that much?” Well, I’m here to help you out!
10 High Paying Online English Companies
I’m going to help get you started! Here are 10 high paying companies hiring English teachers.
- Tutor Supply pays $20-$32 teaching Chinese children
- USTKID pay $20-$33 teaching Chinese children
- Learnship pays $18-26 teaching business professionals
- USKid pays $17-28 teaching children
- SayABC pays $15-28 teaching Chinese children
- LiveLingua pays $20 teaching all ages
- SkyLearn pays up to $35,000/year
- English from A to Z pays $18-72 depending on the number of students
- Fast School pays $30-40 teaching Chinese children (you’ll need to translate website to English)
- VIPKid pays up to $25 teaching children
Please keep in mind that just like any other industry, teachers with more education and experience will have opportunities for higher pay. But if you’re serious about getting started you can improve your resume by getting your TESOL certificate.
This is just a very small list out of hundreds of companies but it’s to give you an idea of the teaching opportunities available.
As you can see teaching English online is a realistic option to consider! You can support yourself teaching and I hope this post gives you more of an idea what to expect going forward.
I really hope you got value out of this blog post as you continue your journey towards teaching English online! If you want to keep learning why not subscribe to this blog by clicking here.
You can also check out and subscribe to my daily podcast called You Can Teach English Online by clicking here, available on iTunes, Spotify and more.
Also, be sure to get your FREE Report Top Online English Teaching Companies where I share the secret top companies that nobody is talking about but that will pay you the most money to teach English online right now!
What do you think? Could teaching English online work for you?
I think it could work for me, I have been an interpreter for about 20 years, with the new laws work has gotten slow & this is why I’m looking into other fields that could work for me, I don’t have a resume ready for an english tutor or teacher but I also have been a tutor for home school kids, I would like to see what my opportunities would be.
Teaching English to children is really becoming more of a need. You could do tutoring or go with a company that teaches English lessons. The requirements are different for each company but it seems that the highest qualifications are being asked from Chinese companies or companies teaching Chinese children.
Wonderfully written, my wife shared this with because she knows I’ve been interested in teaching language and the hope of working from home at some point. We know with the right goals in mind, things always work out.
Thank you. I hope you found some motivation to keep going towards your goals!
Thank you Antoine. This is fab information on here. I was laid off 2 weeks ago and dread going back to corporate working. How long does it take approximately to do the Tesol course please? Would you go straight into applying for the higher paid if your only just starting off? It is a very scary time putting my all into this so I need to be sure it’s for me. Sorry for all the questions and thank you for helping. Please say Hi to your wife too.
Hi Maria, Sorry to hear about your lay off. I would definitely suggest getting a TESOL certificate first as this will give you a good foundation for teaching. Most courses are self-paced so that you could finish sooner or take more time depending on your schedule. For example, my wife did her TESOL in six months but we’ve had students who had more time who finished sooner. As far as applying to jobs, it really depends on you. If you are confident and ready to jump all in, go ahead and apply to the higher-paying ones. If you just want to test the waters, maybe applying to a company that is less demanding might be better, even though the pay is less. My wife did that. She applied to a company that didn’t pay very well but gave her experience to see if she liked teaching online. Since it didn’t pay as well she also didn’t have to lesson plan and so in some ways it was easier starting out. She just worked for them for three months and then was hired to a high paying company. The advantage was now she had teaching experience that she could use to get a higher paying job.
Hi Antoine and Kanicia,
I’m just getting started looking into this program. It seems there is a lot of material to cover and I am wondering where to start. For example, while reading a post, a chat pop-up appears with links to even more info and podcast. As a newbie to this whole process of teaching online, I am wondering if these pop-ups will be constant. This is not meant to be a negative comment. I’m just trying to navigate through and wondering about my best starting strategy. I Welcome more suggestions. Thank you.
Hi Cynthia, thanks for your message. The popup is just to let you know about the podcast and allow you to keep up with the weekly blog posts. You can choose what information is easiest for you to start with- the blog, podcast or both! Don’t get overwhelmed, we have a lot of information here but we’re here to help if you have questions!