How many photographers are men? What are the most common types of professional photography? How old are photographers in the biz? The State of the Photo Industry Survey 2024 considers all these questions and many more.
The comprehensive state of the photography industry survey was conducted by Professor Heather Morton, who works in the Photography program at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada, with support from Rob Haggart of PhotoFolio.com and thephotographersunion.com. The survey, conducted over six weeks in May and June 2025, includes responses from 1,294 photographers from 43 different countries, with the majority located in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The complete 12-page report is available for free on Morton’s new Substack, where Morton also provides a closer look at key survey results. It is well worth checking out, but here are a few interesting highlights to consider.
Credit: Professor Heather Morton
71.4% of respondents identify as male, and just 27.3% as female. Across all respondents, the most common age range is 40-49 years old, representing one-third of all working photographers who participated in the study. The next largest age groups are 50-59 years old (23%) and 30-39 years old (22%). Only 30 photographers aged 29 years old and younger responded, which is less than 3%.
Unsurprisingly, given the older age skew of the respondents, many of them have extensive experience in the photo industry. 32% of respondents say they have 25 years or more of professional experience. Although the least common response, still 15% of the respondents say they have less than a decade of industry experience.
Credit: Professor Heather Morton 
Credit: Professor Heather Morton
Worldwide, most respondents report earning under $50,000 in net income from photography each year, although 27.2% and 21.5% earn between $50,000 and $99,000 or between $100,000 and $199,000 annually, respectively. 4.2% of respondents report earning over $300,000 per year from photography. In the U.S. specifically, 6% of respondents claim they make this amount of money. In fact, across 714 American photographers who participated in the survey, 14% of them make at least $200,000 a year in photography.
Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between a photographer’s level of experience and their income. Interestingly, those with the most experience — 25 years or more — do not report the highest overall income.
Credit: Professor Heather Morton
There is also a gender disparity, like in many industries. A higher proportion of women report income under $50,000 than men, and many more men report incomes higher than $100,000. However, the income rift may be explained by demographic differences, as Morton notes that the female respondents are, generally speaking, younger than the male ones. Photography has long been a male-dominated field, and it will take time for more diverse generations to work their way through the field and gain the experience levels that typically lead to higher fees.
For the nearly 68% of respondents who report having a base creative fee, the average daily rates are pretty high, especially in the United States. There, photographers with a base daily fee charge an average of $3,034, though the median is $2,500.
Another interesting question concerned how different photographers charge for usage. 27.3% of respondents charge an additional fee for usage, while 29.4% say the social media and web usage is included with their base fee. There is no clear consensus on licensing arrangements, and different photographers employ very different approaches to handling image licensing.
What about video? 47.3% of responding photographers say they do mostly stills, but some video, which is by far the most popular response. However, 39% of photographers say they exclusively do stills, even in an increasingly hybrid photography industry. 12% say they do about half of each, while 1.7% of respondents do mostly video and some still photography.
Credit: Professor Heather Morton
The most popular photography genres for respondents to do professionally are portrait and lifestyle work. Each of these categories had more than 400 respondents, although respondents can — and many do — work in multiple genres. Corporate headshots and branding were the next-most common answers, followed by food, event, product, and architecture. Very few of the respondents work professionally in sports, landscapes, automotive, and real estate.
Credit: Professor Heather Morton
The complete “State of the Photo Industry Survey 2024” report is available on Morton’s new Substack. There, Morton breaks down many more topics, including optimism about the industry, the most successful professional photo marketing techniques, and much more.
Image credits: Heather Morton