How much do models make? Real pay, day rates and what is left (2026)

"How much do models make?" is the question we hear most at open calls, from new faces and from their parents. The honest answer depends less on looks than on how the work is paid: a fee per job, a commission, a stack of expenses and a payment that can arrive three months later. Headlines about supermodels earning millions describe a handful of people with beauty contracts, not the job most models do.

This guide draws on the experience of Supermodels, the Lithuanian agency that has placed models in Milan, Paris, London, New York and Asia for more than 20 years and goes through each model's statement with them after every trip. The figures come from public sources: government statistics, labour law, agency rate guides and interviews with models. Every source is listed at the end, and where a number is only an estimate, we say so.

How models get paid

A model earns a fee per booking: a shoot, a show, a fitting, a commercial. The fee depends on the type of job, the client, the hours, the market and how long and where the client will use the images.

1. The client books through the agency. The agency agrees the date, hours, fee and usage, and should tell the model the rate before the job.
2. The client pays the agency. Usually 30 to 60 days later, and up to 90 days for advertising. Some models wait far longer: WWD reported one model waiting 250 days.
3. The agency takes its commission. The common structure is 20% from the model plus a 20% service fee charged to the client on top. A New York agency head gave WWD this example: a $1,000 fee is billed to the client as $1,200 and the model receives $800.
4. Advanced costs are deducted. Flights, the model apartment, weekly pocket money, comp cards and test shoots the agency paid up front.
5. The balance is paid out. The document that shows it line by line is the statement, explained in our guide how do models get paid.

When you work abroad, a local agency represents you and your mother agency at home receives a share, usually about 10%, paid out of the local agency's commission rather than on top. The exact percentages belong in your contract; see our modeling contract guide for what to check.

Model salary: what the statistics say

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the only official "model salary" figures we know of. For May 2025 they show:

Measure (US, wage-earning models)	Value
Jobs counted	3,780
Median pay	$23.30 an hour, $48,470 a year
Mean (average) pay	$35.00 an hour, $72,800 a year
Bottom 10%	$34,190 a year
Top 10%	$131,470 a year
Highest-paying state	New York, mean $55.98 an hour

Read these numbers with care. They count only models on a payroll, and the largest employers in the series are colleges and universities, which hire models for art classes. Agency-represented fashion and commercial models are self-employed, so the "average model salary" you see quoted online says little about them. The UK and EU publish no comparable series; France is the exception in a different way, because French law treats models as employees and sets minimum rates (see below).

How much models make by type of job

The type of work matters more than the city. Here is how the main jobs pay, using the ranges agencies and reporters have published.

Job	Typical pay	What it does for the model
Editorial (magazines)	£100–300 a day in London; about $150 a day in New York; sometimes unpaid	Pictures for the book, credibility with clients
E-commerce	£150–400 a day in London, often 60–120 outfits a day	The steady income of most working models
Catalogue, lookbook, campaign	$1,250–5,000 a day in New York (Fashionista, 2018)	Repeat clients every season
Commercial and advertising	£400–1,500 a day in London, plus usage	The largest single fees
Beauty and luxury	£500–3,000+ a day in London, plus usage	Long contracts at the top end
Runway	From clothes ("trade") to a few hundred for new faces; $500–2,500 for experienced models; $20,000+ for stars	Visibility during fashion week
Fit and showroom	$95–200 an hour in New York (agency owners)	Steady work between seasons; see fit models

How day rates, overtime and usage fees are worked out is covered in modeling rates: day rates, hourly rates and buyouts. Why runway pays newcomers so little, with one model's full fashion week in numbers, is in how much do runway models make. Parts modeling is a separate niche with its own rates: how much hand models make.

Pay by market: London, New York, Paris, Asia

Market	What the sources show	Source type
London	Editorial £100–300, e-commerce £150–400, commercial £400–1,500, beauty £500–3,000+ a day; top tier £5,000+	London agency, 2026
New York	Editorial about $150 a day; catalogue, e-commerce and campaigns $1,250–5,000 a day; fit $95–200 an hour	Press and agency owners
Paris	Models are employees by law. The collective agreement sets minimums of €551.50–1,078 a day for advertising-type work, €80 an hour for fittings, from €196.50 a day for editorial. The model must receive at least 33% (editorial) or 36% (other work) of what the client pays	French collective agreement
China	Foreign e-commerce models were paid 1,000–3,000 yuan an hour, showing 100+ garments a day	China Daily, 2018
Tokyo, Shanghai	Two-month contracts with a guarantee: $20,000–30,000 or more for in-demand models, over $150,000 at the very top	Agency blogs, estimates only

Asian guarantee contracts work differently from Europe: the agency promises a minimum for the stay, and if bookings do not cover the costs it advanced, the agency takes the loss. The conditions (castings, measurements) are strict. Our guide to modeling in China explains how they work.

From fee to bank account: a worked example

The fairest answer to "how much do models get paid" is a formula:

balance = fees − agency commission − taxes − advanced expenses

Here is an invented but realistic first two-month trip to a European market, so you can see how the arithmetic goes.

Line	Amount
Six e-commerce days at €350	€2,100
One catalogue day	€800
Two editorials	€200
Total fees	€3,100
Local agency commission, 20%	−€620
Tax withheld in that country (for example 20%)	−€620
Flights	−€300
Model apartment, 8 weeks	−€1,200
Pocket money, 8 weeks at €70	−€560
Comp cards, transport to castings	−€200
Balance	−€400

Flights, rent and pocket money cost the same whether you book ten days or two. That is why first trips often end in the red, with the debt carried on your account at that agency and covered by the next trip. Reporters have found worse: in New York, model apartments have been charged at $1,000–1,800 per bed per month. Since June 2025, New York's Fashion Workers Act requires agencies to disclose the apartment rate in writing before the stay and bans website fees and interest on advances.

How much do models make a year?

Annual income depends on how many days you work, not on your day rate. A London agency's 2026 breakdown:

• Development model, first year: 5–15 booked days, £1,500–8,000 before tax and costs.
• Working mainboard model: 30–80 days, £15,000–60,000.
• In-demand model: £60,000–200,000 or more.
• Median working UK model: roughly £10,000–40,000 a year.

Surveys show how uneven the money is. In a 2020 Model Alliance survey of 212 working models, 55% said clients owed them money, 49% said their agency did, and 30% had waited more than 90 days for payment. One in five could not cover basic needs at the time. At the very top, Forbes put Kendall Jenner at $22.5 million in 2018 and Gisele Bündchen at a record $47 million in 2014, almost all from long-term brand contracts. The full lists are in the highest-paid models.

Men, commercial, plus-size and child models

Male models earn less. The top man on Forbes' last male list, Sean O'Pry, made $1.5 million in 2013, the year Gisele Bündchen made $42 million, and a London agency says men are paid 10–30% less for the same brief. Competition is smaller and careers last longer; see male models.

Commercial and plus-size models often book more days than fashion models, because advertising and catalogues need a wide range of people. Ashley Graham became the first curve model in the Forbes top 10 in 2017, with $5.5 million. The different types of model are explained in how to become a model.

Child models: in New York and California, 15% of a minor's gross earnings must go into a trust account the child can access as an adult. In Lithuania, parents sign for children under 14; from 14 to 18 a teenager signs with a parent's consent and controls their own earnings.

Taxes: what comes off the top

Many countries withhold tax from non-resident models before they are paid: 30% in Italy, 20.42% in Japan, 30% in the US unless a treaty exemption is claimed. In the UK, withholding applies to TV and online adverts and to public catwalk shows with paid entry, but not to stills shoots. The model then declares the income at home, where double tax treaties stop it being taxed twice. Our guide to model taxes covers the details, including how a Lithuanian model is taxed in 2026.

Modeling in Lithuania and the Baltics

The Lithuanian market is small and publishes few figures. One Lithuanian agency quotes €40–90 an hour and €260–430 or more for a full shoot day; usage for advertising is negotiated on top. There are not many such days in a month, so most Lithuanian models combine modeling with study and earn their real income abroad. The ceiling is still high: in a 2024 interview, Lithuania's most successful male model, Simonas Pham, said he had been paid €2,000 a day abroad while a female model on the same job received €7,000. For context, the average Lithuanian gross wage in mid-2026 was €2,628 a month.

Is modeling a good career?

For a few years, it can be, if you go in knowing how the money works. First-year income is low and costs come first. Real earnings usually arrive after several years of steady work with the right clients and the right markets. What it gives besides money is travel, languages and a network.

1. Know the fee and usage before every job, in writing.
2. Ask about every cost before a trip: flights, the apartment (weekly price and how many people share), pocket money, tests, cards.
3. Ask for a statement after every trip and check it against your own notes.
4. Never pay to sign with an agency. A professional agency earns from commission. New York banned signing fees in 2025.
5. Set money aside for tax and keep certificates of tax withheld abroad.
6. Let the agency organise tests. See model test shoots.

Most of the money models lose is lost through not knowing: unread contracts, the wrong market, a guarantee nobody explained. The Supermodels Masterclass, an online course led by Supermodels head Jurgita Kiguolė, covers agencies, contracts and castings in module one and fashion markets, working abroad on stay or on direct booking, Asian contracts, guarantees and planning in module two. The course is in Lithuanian.

Supermodels Masterclass (in Lithuanian): how modeling and the money work

If you want to start with an agency that reviews every statement with you, you can apply to Supermodels at any time with three photos and your measurements; applying is free. See the Supermodels open call, or compare agencies in our directory of Lithuanian agencies.

Frequently asked questions

How much do models make?

Most models are paid per job. In London, e-commerce pays £150–400 a day, commercial work £400–1,500 and beauty £500–3,000 or more, before commission, costs and tax. A working UK model earns roughly £10,000–40,000 a year.

What is the average model salary?

US government data for wage-earning models shows a mean of $72,800 and a median of $48,470 a year (May 2025). Those figures exclude self-employed agency models, so they are a poor guide to fashion modeling.

How much do beginner models make?

Very little in the first year. A London agency puts development models at 5–15 booked days and £1,500–8,000 before costs. A first trip abroad often ends with a negative balance that is paid off on later trips.

How much do models make per shoot?

It depends on the job: editorial often pays £100–300 or nothing, e-commerce £150–400 a day, advertising £400–1,500 a day plus a usage fee that can be two to ten times the day rate.

What percentage does a modeling agency take?

Usually about 20% of the model's fee, plus a separate fee of about 20% charged to the client. Your mother agency usually gets about 10% out of the local agency's share. In New York the commission from the model is capped at 20% since 2025.

Do models pay for their own flights and apartments?

The agency usually pays up front and deducts the cost from your earnings. It should tell you the price before the trip. Paying an agency out of pocket just to sign or "register" is a warning sign.

How much do fashion models make compared to commercial models?

Fashion models can earn more per job at the top, but commercial models often work more days a year in advertising and catalogues, so their income is steadier.

Is modeling a good career?

It can be for a few years if you understand contracts, costs and markets. Income in the first year is low; real earnings usually come after several years of steady work, and only a small share of models earn large sums.