Best Places To Work As A Photographer In The US 2024

Photography transcends the limits of art. People increasingly think of turning their creative hobby into a profitable enterprise. Creating visuals for artistic and commercial purposes can be financially beneficial, but certain paramount factors must be considered before launching your photography business.

The geographic location of your enterprise is one such factor. Nowadays, there is no need to limit your entrepreneurship capabilities with the area where you live, physical location can be changed easily. Choosing the best cities for photographers depends on their potential customers' demands, preferences, and financial capabilities. These factors vary from country to country. However, even within one country, a photographer's average income depends on the region where they work. 

This article observes photographer demographics in the United States. We analyze public demand for photographic services in different US states and provide data on average income of a photographer in different states. Based on our research, you can choose a perfect location to start a thriving photography business in the USA in 2024. 

Niche

Finding a place with a high demand for photography services in general does not guarantee a large client base. You need to match the services you provide with the audience’s needs. For example, there is a high demand for wedding photography and wedding photo retouching in almost every state. But if you specialize in taking and editing landscape photos, this genre is much less popular. Let’s look at the most searched types of photographers in the US:

As we see, Americans tend to be the most interested in real estate, family, newborn and wedding photographers. Meanwhile, food, lifestyle, fitness, and beach photographers are characterized by the lowest demand. 

Demand

The first step to a successful business is market observation to find a reliable customer base. The higher the need for your services in a particular region, the more clients you see, and the more profitable your business will be. Search engines like Google collect user requests, allowing them to analyze their frequency from the perspective of location. Let’s look at the map below to see how often people use the search request “photographer” in different US states: 

Source: Google Trends

According to Ahrefs, the highest demand for photographers across the country is found in Colorado (8,900), Oregon (5,000), Washington (4,500), Florida (4,400), Utah (4,100), and Virginia (4,300), with the peak in New York (12,290). It is important to mention that New York shows so many queries because it is the name of both the state and the city. This duplication of search queries creates the appearance of a much higher demand.

In contrast, West Virginia (80), New Mexico (70), Louisiana (2,744), Nebraska (60), and Nevada (50) have the lowest demand rates when it comes to photography services. Below, we will talk about the numbers in more detail.

Income

Once you understand the needs of your potential clients in a specific area, the next question emerges: what is the average salary of a photographer in the USA? According to ziprecruiter.co.uk, the average hourly wage of photographers in the USA is $19.03. It gives $760.9 per week. And how much do photographers make a month? The monthly salary range varies from $2441 in Florida to $4072 in Oregon. Based on this, how much do photographers make annually? The average annual income of photographers in the US is $39592. The salary reaches a record high in Oregon, Alaska, North Dakota, and Massachusetts (≈$48500), dropping to the lowest in Kansas, Georgia, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Florida ( ≈$32000). 

As we see, the states with the highest demand for photographers do not match those with the highest salaries. Kansas shows a very high level of interest in photography services, but the salary is one of the lowest in the country; meanwhile, North Dakota is in the top five states by salary for photographers, but people are not interested much in this subject here. 

So, the question is, how much does a photographer make in each US state, considering both factors and where are you most likely to maintain a profitable photography business? Let’s calculate it in the section below.

Profitability

The profitability coefficient directly depends on the two values determined above — demand and salary. Calculating this coefficient is mandatory when selecting the best place to start your business. 

We at Skylum Team calculate it according to this formula:

K = Revenue Potential = Demand * Average Monthly Salary

The greater the demand, the higher the revenue; the bigger the salary, the higher the revenue. It means that the revenue potential is directly proportional to both indicators, and that is why their values are multiplied, leading to the following results: 

According to the research, based on the public data, New York, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Virginia are the most potentially profitable business locations for photographers in the USA. 

Conclusion

In this article, we observed the best regions of the USA to run a successful photography business. Understanding the potential impact of multiple factors on every enterprise's success, we modeled an ideal situation with no competition in the market. We considered only two primary parameters—demand and salary—omitting the deviation of their values defined by differences in the services provided (types and genres, skill level, etc.).

The data provided in our research should not be considered an urge to change your location or redefine your working path completely. These are statistical observations that may be helpful in building a successful photography career.