Question 1

How much does an athlete make?

Accepted Answer

The average athlete salary in the United States is $51,729. Athlete salaries typically range between $24,000 and $108,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for athletes is $24.87 per hour.

Athlete salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Athletes earn the highest average salary in Alaska.

Question 2

What state pays Athletes the most?

Accepted Answer

Alaska pays Athletes the most in the United States, with an average salary of $89,689 per year, or $43.12 per hour.

Question 3

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as an athlete?

Accepted Answer

You know if you are being paid fairly as an athlete if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in New Jersey you should be paid close to $73,376 per year.

Question 4

How much do Olympians make?

Accepted Answer

Olympians make $37,500 for every gold medal earned, $22,500 for every silver medal earned, and $15,000 for every bronze medal earned.

Olympians do not just get paid for getting accepted into and attending the Olympic games. They must place in either 1st (Gold medal), 2nd (Silver medal), or 3rd (Bronze medal) in order to be given their bonus payment.

Question 5

How much do bodybuilders make?

Accepted Answer

Bodybuilders make anywhere from $19,000 to over $1 million per year. When asking how much a bodybuilder makes, it is important to break it down. A winner at Mr. Olympia and a local bodybuilding show are not comparable. The truth is there are a lot of factors to consider, and it isn't an easy question to answer.

Question 6

How much do gold medalists make?

Accepted Answer

Gold medalists make $37,500 for every gold medal won, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Silver medalists are awarded $22,500 for every medal and $15,000 for every bronze metal. The prize money is non-taxable unless the athlete reports a gross income that exceeds $1 million.

Question 7

How much do professional cornhole players make?

Accepted Answer

Professional cornhole players make between $5,000 and $25,000 per season, while top professional cornhole players can make as much as $60,000 per season.

Professional cornhole players earn money from sponsorships, endorsements, and tournament winnings. The average professional cornholer makes around $5,000 from cornhole sponsorship deals. Sponsors pay professional cornhole players to be featured on their jerseys. The cost of this is determined by where the sponsor will feature on the player's jersey.

Professional cornhole jerseys typically have five areas for sponsorship on their jerseys. This consists of one main area for sponsorship and four mini-areas for sponsorship. The cost to be featured on the main area of a professional cornhole player's jersey is around $2,000, while the mini areas cost around $750 per spot.

The main sponsorship area will display the sponsor's logo largely on the player's jersey. Not all professional cornhole players are able to obtain sponsorship.

Cornhole players participating in professional tournaments may earn a variety of different purses. There are four different kinds of professional cornhole tournaments:

Local Tournaments
Regional Tournaments
Conference Tournaments
National Tournaments

Local tournaments typically cost around $5 to enter, and a winning cornhole team can expect a payout of anywhere from $100 to $500.

Each regional tournament event usually has different events, such as blind draw doubles, bring your own partner (BYOP) doubles, and singles. The typical price per player and winning purses are:

Blind Draw Doubles: $10 per player - 75% payout
BYOP Doubles: $20 per player - 75% payout
Singles: $20 per player - 75% payout

Conference cornhole tournament events happen three times per year. Players are required to attend at least two of the three events per year as a professional.

Each conference tournament event usually has these events: blind draw crew cup, advanced/pro singles, advanced/pro blind draw, and advanced/pro-BYOP doubles. The typical price per player and winning purses are:

Blind Draw Crew Cup: $10 per player - 70% payout
Singles: $25 per player - 70% payout
Blind Draw Doubles: $15 per player - 70% payout
BYOP Doubles: $20 per player - 70% payout

National cornhole tournament events happen four times per year. Each national tournament event consists of four individual tournaments for pro players, and seniors have one additional tournament.

Earnings for national tournaments range from $250 per player to $4,750 per player, and earnings for first-place finishes can fall between $1000 per player to $8000 per player.

Question 8

How much do professional disc golfers make?

Accepted Answer

In the United States, professional disc golfers make $43,069 annually. There are some extremely well-paid professional disc golfers that make over a million dollars a year, including their various sponsorships. This is not normal, and many professional disc golfers will hold positions along with being disc golfers.

Question 9

How much do professional lacrosse players make?

Accepted Answer

In the United States, the average professional lacrosse player makes $51,770 per year. Top lacrosse players with experience can make over $100,000. The lowest-paid lacrosse players, who are often just starting their careers, start at around $25,000.

Question 10

How much do professional paintballers make?

Accepted Answer

Professional paintballers make $39,063 per year, on average. They earn money by winning contests and tournaments and teaching paintball techniques in classes. Some well-known professional paintballers may also earn money through sponsorships, events, and other contracts.

Question 11

How much do professional rugby players make?

Accepted Answer

Professional rugby players make an average of $70,000 per year. However, this salary is mostly confined to foreign players in rugby.

There is not a pro rugby team in the United States, so USA team members play in amateur status which earns significantly less money than pro-status athletes, sometimes it doesn't even pay at all.

Question 12

How much do professional soccer players make?

Accepted Answer

Professional soccer players make an average of $472,008 per year. While the median guaranteed compensation for a player in the MLS is $248,333 annually. MLS's minimum salary for players is $84,000 per year.

Top-tier MLS players are paid a lot more than their colleagues, of course. For example, Xherdan Shaqiri makes an annual salary of $8.15 million, similarly, Javier Hernandez makes an annual salary of $6 million.

Players in the MLS can also make large amounts of money outside of their team contracts. This mostly comes in the form of sponsorship deals for soccer and athletic gear, as well as non-athletic related products and services.

Question 13

How much do professional surfers make?

Accepted Answer

The base salary for the top pro surfers ranges from $200,000 per year to up to $2 million. These salaries are based solely on sponsorships. Most professional surfers earn somewhere in the low hundreds of thousands per year. However, depending on the type of sponsorships and endorsements they have, they can earn much more.

Question 14

How much do professional tag players make?

Accepted Answer

A professional tag player can make anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per month, depending on skill level and availability to perform in tournaments. This comes out to $12,000 to $60,000 annually. Top tag professionals earn around $160,000 annually.

Question 15

How much do professional tennis players make?

Accepted Answer

Professional tennis players make, on average, $254,394 for women and $185,106 for men. The discrepancy between the average salaries exists because of the smaller number of professional tennis-playing women. Therefore, there are fewer different women winning tournaments compared to men.

Question 16

How much do professional women's soccer players make?

Accepted Answer

Professional women's soccer players make $40,000 annually, on average. The range for professional women's soccer players can be from $25,000 to 85,000 per season. This depends on popularity, experience, and team.

Question 17

How much do rugby players make?

Accepted Answer

A professional rugby player makes up to $45,000 per year in the United States. Major League Rugby in the United States imposes a salary cap on all franchises. For each roster, the salary cap is a maximum of $500,000 across all players. MLR clubs provide very little information on individual salaries; however, inferences can be made.

Question 18

How much does a professional rugby player make?

Accepted Answer

In the United States, the average professional rugby player makes $54,308 per year. Rugby is not especially popular in the United States, so that figure is much higher in other locations. In the United Kingdom, the average salary is over $200,000.

Question 19

How much does a professional volleyball player make?

Accepted Answer

The average professional volleyball player in the US makes $64,168. Top professional volleyball players can make over one million dollars a year with their clubs. Most professional volley players will make much less than that.

Question 20

How much money does a professional volleyball player make?

Accepted Answer

In the United States, the average salary of a professional volleyball player is $64,168. There is a huge range to this, and the salary range for a professional volleyball player is $19,910 to $187,200. Top players with experience and other revenue streams, such as sponsorships, earn those high salaries.

Question 21

What is the highest-paid athlete?

Accepted Answer

The highest-paid athlete is a soccer player who plays as a forward. Professional soccer players can get paid tens of millions of dollars every year.

While the average salary depends greatly on the player's level in the professional pyramid, the league they play in, and the team they play for, professional soccer players are very well paid when compared to athletes from other major sports. In general, players in Europe's biggest leagues are paid the most.

Question 22

What is the highest-paying sport in America?

Accepted Answer

Basketball is the highest-paying sport in America. The NBA boasts the highest-paid athletes in the United States.

The average salary of an NBA player is $8 million per year. This is the average and some players are paid far less than this, while star players are paid much more than this.

Question 23

What is the highest-paying sport?

Accepted Answer

The highest-paying sport is basketball. Basketball ranks as the number one sport in terms of player compensation. The NBA, or National Basketball Association, is the world's most popular basketball league and the one that pays its players the most.

The NBA attracts players from around the world due to the high compensation of the league's players. During the 1970s, the NBA saw a very considerable rise in player compensation.

Michael Jordan is arguably the most famous and possibly the greatest basketball player of all time. His pay per season was absolutely astronomical and, at its height, was as much as $343 million per year. He is also estimated to be the richest athlete in the world, with a net worth of more than $2 billion.

Currently, some of the highest players in the NBA include LeBron James and Steph Curry. Along with the substantial salaries, certain NBA players also make a ton of money on advertising and endorsement deals.

Question 24

Why can't college athletes get paid?

Accepted Answer

College athletes cannot get paid because the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) has ruled that no college athletics can receive money to preserve the amateurism of student participants.

Question 25

Why do female athletes get paid less?

Accepted Answer

Female athletes get paid less because, in general, the professional sports leagues that female athletes are involved with have smaller audiences and generate a lot less revenue than male professional sports leagues.

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	New Jersey	$73,376	$35.28
2	Delaware	$66,076	$31.77
3	Connecticut	$67,580	$32.49
4	Alaska	$89,689	$43.12
5	New Hampshire	$63,437	$30.50
6	Arizona	$56,616	$27.22
7	Michigan	$59,065	$28.40
8	Rhode Island	$66,875	$32.15
9	Massachusetts	$65,516	$31.50
10	California	$67,129	$32.27
11	Pennsylvania	$66,109	$31.78
12	District of Columbia	$63,357	$30.46
13	New York	$63,493	$30.53
14	Iowa	$50,968	$24.50
15	Louisiana	$49,736	$23.91
16	Maryland	$64,135	$30.83
17	Texas	$53,692	$25.81
18	Utah	$50,936	$24.49
19	North Dakota	$56,193	$27.02
20	Nevada	$56,390	$27.11
21	Kansas	$47,648	$22.91
22	Vermont	$59,767	$28.73
23	Virginia	$60,160	$28.92
24	New Mexico	$51,811	$24.91
25	North Carolina	$51,729	$24.87
26	Hawaii	$49,469	$23.78
27	South Carolina	$47,408	$22.79
28	South Dakota	$44,334	$21.31
29	Illinois	$50,535	$24.30
30	Wyoming	$40,593	$19.52
31	Oregon	$44,540	$21.41
32	West Virginia	$48,169	$23.16
33	Montana	$41,464	$19.93
34	Ohio	$48,357	$23.25
35	Oklahoma	$44,648	$21.47
36	Kentucky	$41,726	$20.06
37	Florida	$47,150	$22.67
38	Minnesota	$37,752	$18.15
39	Mississippi	$39,237	$18.86
40	Arkansas	$44,632	$21.46
41	Tennessee	$42,501	$20.43
42	Wisconsin	$43,863	$21.09
43	Georgia	$42,347	$20.36
44	Colorado	$35,761	$17.19
45	Missouri	$38,063	$18.30
46	Nebraska	$36,950	$17.76
47	Indiana	$35,077	$16.86
48	Alabama	$34,243	$16.46
49	Maine	$39,461	$18.97
50	Idaho	$28,081	$13.50
51	Washington	$29,144	$14.01

Rank	City	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	Oakland, CA	$68,794	$33.07
2	New Haven, CT	$67,631	$32.51
3	Boston, MA	$65,152	$31.32
4	New York, NY	$63,400	$30.48
5	Washington, DC	$63,110	$30.34
6	Virginia Beach, VA	$59,843	$28.77
7	Mount Pleasant, MI	$58,584	$28.17
8	Fargo, ND	$57,633	$27.71
9	Las Vegas, NV	$57,002	$27.40
10	Surprise, AZ	$56,525	$27.18
11	Austin, TX	$55,440	$26.65
12	Greensboro, NC	$52,245	$25.12
13	Salt Lake City, UT	$50,082	$24.08
14	Ankeny, IA	$49,731	$23.91
15	Urban Honolulu, HI	$49,548	$23.82
16	Decatur, IL	$46,540	$22.38
17	Norman, OK	$44,852	$21.56
18	Murfreesboro, TN	$42,565	$20.46
19	Alpharetta, GA	$42,334	$20.35
20	Jackson, MS	$39,038	$18.77

Percentile	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate
90th Percentile	$108,000	$9,000	$52
75th Percentile	$76,000	$6,333	$37
Average	$51,729	$4,311	$25
25th Percentile	$34,000	$2,833	$16
10th Percentile	$24,000	$2,000	$12

Job title	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
Head Baseball Coach	$44,502	$3,708	$21.39	21,993
Performance Coach	$48,571	$4,048	$23.35	18,116
Baseball Coach	$44,764	$3,730	$21.52	14,485
Tennis Coach	$43,321	$3,610	$20.83	14,629
Soccer Coach	$43,616	$3,635	$20.97	14,483
Strength And Conditioning Coach	$49,382	$4,115	$23.74	14,934

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate
1	Erlanger Health System	$195,745	$94.11
2	Excelsior Orthopaedics	$141,601	$68.08
3	SSM Health	$108,529	$52.18
4	Park Nicollet Medical Center Inc	$100,567	$48.35
5	Boston College	$95,692	$46.01
6	Hospital Sisters Health System	$95,631	$45.98
7	Sanford Health	$87,666	$42.15
8	Emory Healthcare	$86,280	$41.48
9	PSEA	$84,350	$40.55
10	Dean Health Plan	$76,099	$36.59
11	Eastern Washington University	$71,320	$34.29
12	University of Hawaii Foundation	$66,891	$32.16
13	Dartmouth-Hitchcock	$65,316	$31.40
14	Beacon Health Options	$63,455	$30.51
15	Spectrum Health	$55,931	$26.89
16	University of Oklahoma	$53,392	$25.67
17	University of Wisconsin-River Falls	$49,494	$23.80
18	City of Austin	$46,111	$22.17
19	Americorps	$45,335	$21.80
20	Regent University College Of Science And Technology	$43,891	$21.10

Year	Avg. salary	Hourly rate	% Change
2026	$51,700	$24.87	-1.0%
2025	$52,300	$25.12	+1.4%
2024	$51,500	$24.77	-1.4%
2023	$52,300	$25.12	+7.1%
2022	$48,500	$23.33	+6.4%

Company	Job	Location	Date added	Salary
Connecticut Reap	Activities/Athletics	Southington, CT	06/27/2025	$55,392
Los Angeles Football Club	Athletic	Los Angeles, CA	06/24/2025	$60,210
Oakton Community College	Athletic Game Day Staff-Oakton College	Des Plaines, IL	06/21/2025	$31,305
Amer Sports Company	Athlete Advisor (Sales Associate	Dallas, TX	06/20/2025	$37,566
University of North Florida	Athletics Academic Coord	Jacksonville, FL	06/20/2025	$43,888
City of South Bend, In	Athletics Maintenance	South Bend, IN	06/18/2025	$33,392
Wilson Sporting Goods	Athlete Advisor (Sales Associate	Dallas, TX	06/18/2025	$37,566
The Graham Companies	Tennis PRO, Miami Lakes Athletic Club	Miami Lakes, FL	06/17/2025	$31,305
Wilson	Athlete Advisor (Sales Associate	Dallas, TX	06/17/2025	$37,566
Aramark Corp	Beer Portable-University of Nebraska Athletics	Lincoln, NE	06/14/2025	$29,218

Athlete salary

Average athlete salary

$51,729

Understanding Athlete Salaries

Salary by State

Career Opportunities

Conclusion

Where can an Athlete earn more?

Athlete salary estimates from across the web

Average athlete salary by state

Highest paying states for athletes

Highest paying cities for athletes

Athlete salary details

What is an athlete's salary?

Highest paying athlete jobs

Which companies pay athletes the most?

Wage gap by gender, race and education

Athlete salary trends

Average athlete salary over time

Athlete salary by year

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