1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,987
Enrollment
18,946
Certified Personal Trainers are fitness professionals who have earned certification for creating and implementing health programs. They work closely with their clients to tailor their training regimen to their individual needs. Certified Personal Trainers go beyond diet and exercise plans. Many of them use a more holistic approach to health and wellness, noting their client's professional, mental, and personal goals.
Certified Personal Trainers don't necessarily need a college education. A high school diploma or GED is enough to get you through the door. What's more important is personal training certification. Many programs and institutions offer personal training certification. Be sure to look for accredited ones by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCAA).
The average Certified Personal Trainer in the United States earns a yearly salary of $32,000. That's more or less $15 an hour. However, employers like the Conway Regional Medical Center, Lifetime, Planet Fitness, and Anytime Fitness pay their Certified Personal Trainer a highly competitive salary of $36,000 or more on average.
There are certain skills that many certified personal trainers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, communication skills and listening skills.
If you're interested in becoming a certified personal trainer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.1% of certified personal trainers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.7% of certified personal trainers have master's degrees. Even though most certified personal trainers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a certified personal trainer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as personal trainer, progress to a title such as instructor and then eventually end up with the title business development manager.
What Am I Worth?
There are several types of certified personal trainer, including:
Role:
Role:
Role:
Mouse over a state to see the number of active certified personal trainer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where certified personal trainers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 4,244 | $50,027 |
2 | Texas | 3,429 | $34,461 |
3 | New York | 2,274 | $30,676 |
4 | Illinois | 2,125 | $35,257 |
5 | Georgia | 1,783 | $27,212 |
6 | Virginia | 1,674 | $29,379 |
7 | Indiana | 1,410 | $26,640 |
8 | New Jersey | 1,377 | $35,133 |
9 | Missouri | 1,118 | $26,635 |
10 | Pennsylvania | 1,085 | $31,885 |
11 | Florida | 1,005 | $34,156 |
12 | Arizona | 961 | $34,551 |
13 | Maryland | 883 | $38,580 |
14 | Ohio | 864 | $20,762 |
15 | Oregon | 838 | $39,336 |
16 | Kentucky | 789 | $34,139 |
17 | Louisiana | 693 | $30,273 |
18 | Michigan | 678 | $33,750 |
19 | North Carolina | 673 | $27,824 |
20 | Alabama | 627 | $30,619 |
21 | Oklahoma | 603 | $34,349 |
22 | Massachusetts | 471 | $39,201 |
23 | Mississippi | 465 | $33,996 |
24 | Utah | 464 | $33,331 |
25 | Washington | 444 | $37,397 |
26 | Minnesota | 444 | $34,030 |
27 | Connecticut | 429 | $41,099 |
28 | Wisconsin | 426 | $29,361 |
29 | Colorado | 425 | $37,816 |
30 | Tennessee | 402 | $27,024 |
31 | Arkansas | 380 | $26,212 |
32 | Idaho | 322 | $25,939 |
33 | Iowa | 306 | $22,817 |
34 | South Carolina | 302 | $21,186 |
35 | Kansas | 284 | $30,377 |
36 | Nevada | 270 | $39,876 |
37 | Delaware | 234 | $33,593 |
38 | South Dakota | 210 | $27,864 |
39 | New Hampshire | 194 | $40,885 |
40 | Hawaii | 151 | $48,523 |
41 | Nebraska | 150 | $32,196 |
42 | New Mexico | 110 | $34,296 |
43 | Alaska | 101 | $45,568 |
44 | West Virginia | 96 | $34,603 |
45 | Vermont | 90 | $41,431 |
46 | Rhode Island | 86 | $39,511 |
47 | Wyoming | 82 | $34,095 |
48 | North Dakota | 68 | $37,056 |
49 | Maine | 57 | $38,000 |
50 | Montana | 56 | $29,227 |
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,987
Enrollment
18,946
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,309
Enrollment
9,142
San Diego, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,488
Enrollment
30,018
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
Minneapolis, MN • Private
In-State Tuition
$14,760
Enrollment
31,451
Champaign, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,094
Enrollment
32,974
Washington, DC • Private
In-State Tuition
$26,756
Enrollment
6,166
Buffalo, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$10,099
Enrollment
21,404
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 20.8% of certified personal trainers listed cpr on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and communication skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Certified Personal Trainer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Certified Personal Trainer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
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See More on UdemySome places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a certified personal trainer. The best states for people in this position are California, Hawaii, Alaska, and Vermont. Certified personal trainers make the most in California with an average salary of $50,027. Whereas in Hawaii and Alaska, they would average $48,523 and $45,568, respectively. While certified personal trainers would only make an average of $41,431 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$50,027
Avg. Salary
2. Oregon
$39,336
Avg. Salary
3. Hawaii
$48,523
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | AEA Investors | $121,024 | $58.18 | 369 |
2 | Retail | $44,230 | $21.26 | 42 |
3 | National Academy of Medicine | $43,179 | $20.76 | 51 |
4 | VASA Fitness | $39,823 | $19.15 | 32 |
5 | Lifestyle Family Fitness, Inc. | $39,388 | $18.94 | 24 |
6 | American Family Fitness | $38,886 | $18.70 | 16 |
7 | Life Fitness | $38,216 | $18.37 | 28 |
8 | Town Sports International Holdings | $38,161 | $18.35 | 13 |
9 | Independent Contractor | $36,819 | $17.70 | 12 |
10 | ISSA | $36,034 | $17.32 | 33 |