Freelance creatives: how many days do you typically work in a year? And how much are you making per year?

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2025 I worked nearly every weekday. Earned $449K.

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I'm working about 261-275 days a year. Making about $52k before taxes.

Market has been rough and I've been working at Panda Express as an Assistant Manager until an agency calls me back.

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I work about 180-220 days per year. Annual income generally lands between $90k-$150k. I will say last year was a struggle, and I’m hoping it turns around soon. Did anyone else have a few tough recent years? Sometimes I do some supplemental work too, Freelance 1.

I probably didn’t work for 3 months last year but made $180-200k.

It was definitely spottier last yr though.

I worked about 2/3rds of the year and finished at 467. When I was booked I was very busy. When I wasn’t booked it was total crickets.

On longer assignments you can usually take a week off mid-contract as long as you're smart about timing/coverage, and know you have open projects to return to.

Just don't leave them in a spot that they need to bring on another freelancer to cover you. That's when your time ends.

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