Free tool · photographers
Photography pricing calculator
The income you want, your real costs, taxes and the hours a job actually takes — out comes the minimum you must charge per job and per hour, with a check that the plan fits in your year. Start from the real estate, wedding, portrait or commercial example, then compare your floor with what US clients pay.
The buttons load example numbers. Replace every field with your own; the result updates as you type.
- Revenue needed
- $94,000 / yr (costs + income grossed up for tax)
- Time per job
- 38 h · capacity 42 jobs / yr at 1610 h
- Jobs used
- 24
| If you book | Charge at least | Fits your hours? |
|---|---|---|
| 18 jobs | $5,222 | yes |
| 24 jobs | $3,917 | yes |
| 30 jobs | $3,133 | yes |
Minimum, not a market price: add margin for slow months, and price packages so the average booking lands above this number. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Photographer Pricing Guide turns your packages, add-ons and policies into a designed, branded PDF you can send to every inquiry — five minutes of questions, $29, no subscription.
Market check
What photographers charge in the US
The calculator gives your floor, the price below which the work stops paying your costs, taxes and income. These published numbers show where the market sits, so you can see how much room there is above it.
Wedding photography prices
What US couples married in 2025 paid their photographer (The Knot 2026 Real Weddings Study, 10,474 couples).
| Average | $3,000 |
| Lower cost quartile | $1,500 |
| Median | $2,800 |
| Upper cost quartile | $4,700 |
By region, averages run from $2,600 (Southwest) to $3,800 (Mid-Atlantic). Size matters too: $2,000 for 1–50 guests, $2,700 for 51–100 guests, $3,500 for 101+ guests.
What it means for you: at the $3,000 average, a wedding that takes 38 hours in total (8 shooting + 30 editing and admin, as in the calculator's wedding example) pays about $79 per hour of work, before costs and tax. The Knot's own estimate of about $375 an hour counts only the 8-hour day.
Real estate photography prices
Thumbtack's cost guide says most clients pay $100–$125 per hour. The low end is $55–$65 and the high end $180–$200 per hour.
Published rate cards reviewed by RealEstatePhotography.com show $150–$350 for a standard daytime photo package. Drone photos, video and 3D tours are priced as add-ons. The site notes that these are advertised prices, not a national survey.
What it means for you: in the calculator's real estate example (1.5 hours on site + 2.5 hours of editing, travel and admin), a $250 package pays $62.50 per hour of work, and the floor for that example is about $273 a shoot. Pricing by square footage keeps your hourly rate steady, because bigger homes take longer to shoot and edit.
Shooting a vacant listing? See what virtual staging costs in 2026.
Your floor vs. the market
Floor below the market
Price toward the market, not the floor. The floor only tells you where the work stops making you a living.
Floor above the market
The fix is hours: cut editing time per job, book more jobs in the hours you have, or move to work that pays more, such as full-day weddings or larger homes.
Then write it down
Put packages, add-ons and policies in one document every client reads the same way. Photographer Pricing Guide builds that branded PDF for $29.
Questions
- How much should I charge for real estate photography?
- Start from your floor: with the calculator's real estate example ($55,000 take-home, $14,000 of costs, 320 shoots a year, 4 hours per shoot including editing and travel), the minimum is about $273 a shoot. Then compare with the market: Thumbtack's cost guide says most clients pay $100–$125 per hour, and published rate cards show $150–$350 for a standard daytime photo package, with drone, video and 3D tours priced as add-ons.
- How much do wedding photographers charge?
- US couples married in 2025 paid $3,000 on average for their wedding photographer, according to The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study of 10,474 couples. The median was $2,800; The Knot's lower cost quartile is $1,500 and its upper cost quartile $4,700. Regional averages run from $2,600 (Southwest) to $3,800 (Mid-Atlantic).
- How is the minimum price calculated?
- Revenue you need = business costs + (take-home income ÷ (1 − tax rate)), because tax is paid on profit, not on costs. That revenue is divided by the jobs you can realistically deliver — capped by your available hours divided by the hours one job takes, including editing and admin.
- Why does editing time matter so much?
- An 8-hour wedding is often 40 hours of work once culling, editing, gallery delivery and emails are counted. Pricing on shooting hours alone is how photographers end up earning less than minimum wage.
- Is this the price I should put on my website?
- It is the floor. Packages should average above it, slow months need margin, and the market you serve may allow much more. Use it to stop underpricing, then position packages by value.
- Where does my data go?
- Nowhere. The calculator runs in your browser; we only record that the tool was used.
Also free
Fair housing checker for listing copy
For the real-estate side of your clients: paste a listing description, see risky phrases and the MLS character count.
Open the checkerSources
- The Knot, “Average cost of a wedding photographer” (updated May 8, 2026): 2026 Real Weddings Study, 10,474 US couples married in 2025; average, quartiles, regions, guest counts: theknot.com
- Thumbtack, real estate photography cost guide (checked September 2026): hourly ranges paid by clients: thumbtack.com
- RealEstatePhotography.com, “Real estate photography pricing: what professionals really charge” (rate cards checked September 19, 2026; advertised prices, not a national survey): realestatephotography.com
The calculator's examples are starting points, not market data. Checked September 2026.