Employees in these occupations earn between $17.33 an hour at the 25th percentile (photographers) and $82.68 an hour at the 75th percentile (software developers), per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 release. Those are employee wages, not freelance rates — a freelance rate must also cover self-employment tax, self-funded benefits, and unbillable time, which is why this page pairs the table with the Freelancer Hourly Rate Calculator instead of publishing a converted rate.
Employee hourly wages by occupation — BLS OEWS, May 2025
Each column is a wage percentile for the occupation, exactly as BLS labels it: at the 25th percentile, a quarter of employees in the occupation earn that amount per hour or less; the median (50th percentile) is the midpoint; at the 75th percentile, three quarters earn that amount or less. Read as rough experience proxies — this page's reading aid, not a BLS category — the 25th percentile sits near earlier-career pay, the median near established mid-career pay, and the 75th percentile near experienced, senior pay. The last column is the occupation's median annual wage as published by BLS.
| Occupation (OEWS title and code) | 25th percentile (hourly) | Median — 50th percentile (hourly) | 75th percentile (hourly) | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accountants and Auditors (13-2011) | $32.22 | $40.23 | $52.80 | $83,680 |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (43-3031) | $20.92 | $24.36 | $29.55 | $50,670 |
| Commercial and Industrial Designers (27-1021) | $31.95 | $40.34 | $52.43 | $83,910 |
| Editors (27-3041) | $27.55 | $37.46 | $51.01 | $77,920 |
| Film and Video Editors (27-4032) | $25.35 | $36.26 | $50.63 | $75,420 |
| Graphic Designers (27-1024) | $23.58 | $30.27 | $39.34 | $62,960 |
| Interpreters and Translators (27-3091) | $22.37 | $28.93 | $38.86 | $60,170 |
| Management Analysts (13-1111) | $37.48 | $48.97 | $64.12 | $101,860 |
| Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists (13-1161) | $28.05 | $37.87 | $52.07 | $78,760 |
| Photographers (27-4021) | $17.33 | $21.47 | $30.16 | $44,660 |
| Public Relations Specialists (27-3031) | $27.05 | $35.94 | $48.25 | $74,750 |
| Software Developers (15-1252) | $50.58 | $65.38 | $82.68 | $135,980 |
| Web and Digital Interface Designers (15-1255) | $35.24 | $50.00 | $76.36 | $104,000 |
| Web Developers (15-1254) | $30.88 | $44.54 | $60.69 | $92,650 |
| Writers and Authors (27-3043) | $28.00 | $36.98 | $49.01 | $76,910 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 release (USDL-26-0725, released May 15, 2026) — national, cross-industry estimates for each occupation named, retrieved from the BLS Public Data API and checked October 27, 2026.
Methodology — and the one caveat that matters
Source. Every figure in the table is a national estimate from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), May 2025 release (news release USDL-26-0725, released May 15, 2026), checked October 27, 2026. Each row is the cross-industry national estimate for the OEWS occupation named in the row, identified by its OEWS occupation code. The occupations were chosen because they are jobs people commonly do freelance and because OEWS publishes clean hourly percentile estimates for them. Figures are presented in TallyUp's own table and words; no figure in the table comes from a secondary roundup.
Percentiles as experience proxies. The table's columns are BLS wage percentiles, labelled as percentiles. This page reads the 25th percentile as an earlier-career proxy, the median (50th percentile) as an established mid-career proxy, and the 75th percentile as an experienced, senior proxy — because pay rises with experience inside an occupation, the lower quartile, midpoint, and upper quartile are a reasonable stand-in for those levels. That mapping is this page's reading aid only: BLS does not publish “junior,” “mid-level,” or “senior” wages, and no BLS category is being renamed here.
These are employee wages — not freelance rates. OEWS surveys employers about their employees; it does not survey freelancers. An employee's hourly wage is only part of what an employer spends and only part of what the employee receives: the employer also pays half of Social Security and Medicare tax and usually part of health insurance and retirement, and the employee is paid for every scheduled hour, including slow ones and time off. A freelancer funds all of that out of the rate — self-employment tax, self-funded benefits, business expenses, and every unbillable hour spent on admin, proposals, and gaps between projects. Copying a figure from this table as your freelance rate would systematically undercharge. Use the table for market context — where pay for this work actually lands — and set the rate itself from your own numbers.
Where the conversion happens. This page deliberately publishes no converted “freelance rate” table, because there is no honest universal multiplier: the markup a freelancer needs over an employee wage depends on their tax situation, expenses, and billable share of hours. The Freelancer Hourly Rate Calculator performs that conversion from your target take-home income, expenses, tax estimate, and billable hours, and the guide How to Set Your Freelance Hourly Rate walks through the math. To translate between an annual figure and an hourly one on a plain hours basis, the Salary to Hourly Calculator converts in both directions.
Reference only — not pay advice. This table reproduces figures published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in TallyUp's own words and layout for planning and reference. It is not published by, affiliated with, or endorsed by the BLS. Employee wage percentiles are market context, not a recommended freelance rate; verify any figure you rely on at bls.gov/oes.