A pilates instructor, much as the name suggests, is tasked with teaching groups of people or single individuals in the art of pilates for the purposes of maintaining health, muscles, and other bodily benefits.
Pilates has been around for about a century now and has evolved quite a bit. It's a rather popular form of exercise nowadays, and is most often learned and practiced with the oversight and advice of an instructor, who knows hundreds of different pilates exercises, techniques, and moves, all with different benefits and purposes. Some instructors work with small groups or individuals and adjust the programs as necessary, based on their clients' needs and wants.
More often than not, the pilates instructor can be found at fitness and community centres, health clubs, gyms, and through online platforms centred on health and exercise. A person hoping to work as an instructor must earn certain certifications first which may take upwards of a few hundred hours over several months.
Pilates Instructor Overview
Pilates Instructor Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a pilates instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.28 an hour? That's $54,671 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 13% and produce 45,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Pilates Instructor Do
There are certain skills that many pilates instructors 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.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a pilates instructor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 34.1% of pilates instructors included customer service, while 12.0% of resumes included new clients, and 12.0% of resumes included yoga. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the pilates instructor job title. But what industry to start with? Most pilates instructors actually find jobs in the health care and hospitality industries.
How To Become a Pilates Instructor
If you're interested in becoming a pilates instructor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 62.2% of pilates instructors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 10.7% of pilates instructors have master's degrees. Even though most pilates instructors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a pilates instructor. When we researched the most common majors for a pilates instructor, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on pilates instructor resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a pilates instructor. In fact, many pilates instructor jobs require experience in a role such as yoga instructor. Meanwhile, many pilates instructors also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or personal trainer.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Pilates Instructor Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of instructor you might progress to a role such as consultant eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title general manager.
Pilates Instructor Jobs You Might Like
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Pilates Instructor
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Life Time Fitness Pilates Instructor Pilates Instructor | Life Time Fitness Life Time Fitness | 06/27/2021 06/27/2021 | $29,57306/27/2021 $29,573 |
Foothills Park and Recreation District Pilates Instructor Pilates Instructor | Foothills Park and Recreation District Foothills Park and Recreation District | 06/05/2021 06/05/2021 | $27,31906/05/2021 $27,319 |
XXX Pilates Reformer Instructors-Villasport Pilates Reformer Instructors-Villasport | XXX XXX | 05/28/2021 05/28/2021 | $25,71205/28/2021 $25,712 |
Life Time Fitness Pilates Instructor Pilates Instructor | Life Time Fitness Life Time Fitness | 05/23/2021 05/23/2021 | $29,57305/23/2021 $29,573 |
Life Time Fitness Pilates Instructor Pilates Instructor | Life Time Fitness Life Time Fitness | 05/23/2021 05/23/2021 | $29,57305/23/2021 $29,573 |
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Top Colleges for Pilates Instructors
1. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
5. Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX • Private
6. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
7. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
8. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Private
9. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
10. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
Online Courses For Pilates Instructor That You May Like
AFAA Group Fitness Instructor (Voucher Included)...
Pilates will transform your body, improve your posture, health & wellbeing, core strength, mobility and flexibility...
NASM Certified Personal Trainer + AFAA Group Fitness Instructor (Vouchers Included)...
Top Skills For a Pilates Instructor
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, 34.1% of pilates instructors listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and communication skills are important as well.
- Customer Service, 34.1%
- New Clients, 12.0%
- Yoga, 12.0%
- Training Programs, 8.2%
- Fitness Programs, 6.4%
- Other Skills, 27.3% See All Pilates Instructor Skills
Best States For a Pilates Instructor
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a pilates instructor. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, and California. Pilates instructors make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $68,546. Whereas in Washington and New Jersey, they would average $63,908 and $63,804, respectively. While pilates instructors would only make an average of $62,939 in California, 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. Montana
$60,011
Avg. Salary
2. Nevada
$58,980
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
$63,804
Avg. Salary
How Do Pilates Instructor Rate Their Jobs?
Top Pilates Instructor Employers
Pilates Instructor Videos
