How Much Do YouTubers Make in 2025?

It's a question that people ask a lot, "How much do YouTubers make?"

It's likely because those who are creative and want to share knowledge, skills, their lives, or even just to entertain others want to know if they can make a living on the platform before dedicating hours to learning how to create and edit YouTube videos and making content full-time.

To help you with YouTube monetization, we pulled together some research to answer this question. 

Using the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) earnings calculator from Views4You, which calculates channel monthly earnings (estimated) based on subscriber count, total number of views, channel location, and cost-per-mille (CPM), which is also based on an analysis by Is This Channel Monetized.

What is the average salary for a YouTuber?

Recent data from ZipRecruiter suggests the average "YouTube Content Creator" salary in the United States is $57.80 per hour or $120,226 per year.

This data matches the Median Average monthly salary from the data we gathered — which sat at $10,041.50 per month.

However, how much YouTubers make varies based on the location of their audience and other factors we'll cover later.

This means the same number of subscribers and video views for one channel may earn that average. In contrast, another channel, based in South Africa or India, for example, would earn significantly less.

What YouTubers make based on channel size

Here's the trickier part of the question surrounding average YouTuber earnings — the accuracy of data and sample size. The reality is that we would need YouTubers to share their earnings in a large-scale survey to answer this question with decent accuracy.

However, we do have our own research — which, again, is based on estimates (particularly the CPM). So, bear in mind that while this information can be interesting, it's not 100% accurate. On another note, these figures also don't take YouTube's cut of the revenue into consideration (which is between 45–55%).

1,000+ subscribers

From YouTube Partner Program earnings alone (ad revenue), channels in this category earn an average of $1,067 per month, with a median of $674. It's not too shabby for creators in the early stages of creating and building a YouTube channel.

At this stage, YouTubers can often monetize their channels beyond the YouTube Partner Program, such as sponsorships, memberships, or affiliate marketing.

If your goal is to earn $2,000 per month through the YouTube Partner Program, you’ll be happy to know some channels in this category have managed to reach that amount, including:

• A baseball training channel based in the US with 40,700 subscribers ($2,300).

• A music-focused reaction channel based in the US with 45,200 subscribers ($2,772).

• Another baseball-focused channel emphasising gaming (MLB The Show) is based in the US with 89,200 subscribers ($2,769).

This data tells us that to make a minimum of $2,000 per month, your channel should be between 40–90k subscribers with reasonable engagement rates and be based in the US (you'll probably need more if your audience is based elsewhere in the world).

100K+ subscribers

Going back to our data, based on the YouTube Partner Program alone, YouTube creators in this category earn a mean average of $5,862.20 per month (median is $4,822.50). It's worth noting that the range of this group starts at 188k subscribers and ends at 654k subscribers.

At this point, your channel can start to demand higher rates for sponsorship deals as macro influencers and can also make money through affiliate marketing. From this point on, you'll also likely want to look at hiring expert help for YouTube channel management.

1 million + subscribers

For the mega influencer category here, our data suggests that YouTubers with a million plus subscribers earn a mean average of $88,539 per month ($38,891.50 median average).

Again, this data is based on the estimated YouTube Partner Program earnings. YouTubers in this category also have income opportunities from selling merchandise and using the channel to promote their own business.

50 million + subscribers

There's a pretty exclusive club of YouTubers with over 50 million followers. Even so, we can take a good guess at their average YouTube Partner Program earnings. Our data suggests a mean monthly average of $5,746,151.80 (and a median average of $1,950,888.50).

Despite the amount of money being huge and maybe not believable, it's worth pointing out that in 2023, Forbes profiled Mr Beast (the highest subscribed-to channel on YouTube at 320 million subs) as having earned $82 million in a year.

How to start making money on YouTube

Here, we're going to discuss how to make money, specifically using the YouTube Partner Program. There are quite a few requirements you need to be aware of before you start building up your YouTube channel. To qualify, you must:

• Be following the YouTube monetization policies, which include the following:

  • The community guidelines

  • Terms of service

  • Copyright rules

  • Rights Clearance Adjustment Policies

  • Program Policies

• Live in a country where the YPP is available (at the time of writing, Google has suspended the creation and use of advertising systems for accounts based in Russia).

• Not have any active community strikes on your channel.

• Have 2-step verification turned on for your Google account.

• Have access to advanced features on YouTube.

• Have an active Google AdSense account for YouTube account that you have linked to your channel, or be ready to set one up for YouTube advertising.

Beyond those policy-based requirements, you'll also need to be eligible for the program based on a few factors:

• Have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers

• Have 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months or 10 million valid public Shorts views in the previous 90 days.

You can have YouTube notify you when you're eligible by clicking the "Notify me when I'm eligible" button in the Earn section of YouTube Studio:

YouTube Studio

Once you're eligible, you can apply to join the program. At the time of writing, YouTube takes about a month to respond to your application.

Factors influencing YouTube monetization

We mentioned earlier that multiple factors influence YouTube income. Here, we'll discuss some of those factors.

Video length

The shorter your video (when it isn't a YouTube Short), the less opportunity you have to insert advertisements. The longer your video, the more advertisements (or longer advertisements) you can include in your video. At the basic level, the more advertising you can get in your video, the more money you'll make through video ad views and YouTube premium watch time revenue.

However, it's a good idea to keep to a reasonable number or length of advertisements in your video. Too many disruptions, and you'll risk losing viewers.

Type of content

Beyond the format of your content (for example, Shorts vs regular video), the type of content you publish also matters. Different types of content attract different types of advertisers (and Ad CPMs). Some of the most popular types of video content include:

• Video game walkthroughs

• How-to or tutorial content

• Product reviews and unboxing

• Comedy sketch videos

• Educational content (like lectures and documentaries)

• Q&A videos

• Testimonial videos

• Vlogs

• Video podcasts

There are plenty more YouTube video ideas that work well across the platform, but these are at the top.

Your niche

Some niches are just more profitable than others. Advertisers will pay more ad dollars for YouTube videos that target their audience with high-value products or services to increase their revenue stream. This demand creates higher-value CPMs.

While there is no hard data on this topic, some Reddit users report high CPMs with the following niches:

• Finance and marketing

• Website design tutorials

• Reviews

• AI for education

• Automotive

These are based on opinion and (unverified) experience. However, the finance niche (such as "making money online", "personal finance", and more) has long been reported as the highest-earning niche.

Your country/language

Finally, CPMs also vary widely based on audience demographics, especially location. Again, this is due to advertisers favoring content that fits their target market. It's not surprising that English-speaking countries make up most of the top 10 spots of high-CPM audiences, including:

• United States of America: $11.04

• Australia: $9.05

• New Zealand: $6.81

• Canada: $6.55

• United Kingdom: $6.31

But some other countries on the list are also high CPM earners:

• Switzerland: $8.85

• Norway: $7.49

• Denmark: $6.54

• Germany: $6.04

• Netherlands: $5.83

If your content targets users in these countries, you have a higher chance of making more money from the partner program.

Other ways to earn money on YouTube

Diversifying your YouTube earning methods is a good strategy. In fact, it’s what most successful YouTubers do. While it's unlikely that YouTube can change the terms of the partner program any time they want, some changes could hurt your chances of earning through the program. Plus, it’s nice to increase your channel's earning potential.

So, let's say you want to add more income streams to your YPP earnings. Here are some of those methods.

Affiliate marketing

You'll hear phrases like, "Use my code for (x)% off your first order," or "Use my code to get a free trial," a lot from YouTubers with less than 1 million followers. These YouTubers are using affiliate marketing to supplement their earnings.

Affiliate marketing works by applying to join a brand's affiliate program. They then give you a unique code to share with your audience on YouTube or other social media. Whenever a member of your audience uses your code, you earn a commission (like 15% of the revenue from the sale).

Sponsorships

Brand sponsorships are similar to affiliate marketing, but you will most likely hear "sponsorships" relating to YouTube influencers and influencer marketing. In this case, a brand will pay you to promote its product or services in your videos using advertising slots such as pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll, and more.

While brands will usually only approach micro to macro influencers for brand deals, Nano influencers (less than 10,000 subscribers) can still get sponsorship deals if their channels address specific niches.

Merchandise

If your channel is large enough (for example, more than 100,000 subscribers), there's a chance you can make good money from selling merchandise related to your content.

For example, YouTuber Sara Dietschy (929k subs) has a merchandise store on her website selling a T-shirt and mug. You can also use this method to sell digital products related to your niche (for example, selling Notion templates).

Sometimes, you don't need to create a website to sell merchandise. You can use marketplace platforms like Etsy (though your own store would be better).

Memberships

Another source of earnings for YouTubers earlier on in their channel growth is memberships. For example, plenty of YouTubers use Patreon subscriptions or Ko-fi to build a community of supporters who donate regularly in return for exclusive content. YouTube also offers creators the ability to create YouTube channel memberships too.

This method is a great way to engage with your audience and build an emotional connection with them — which will help keep your YouTube career sustainable.

Business services

The final method of earning money through YouTube is using your channel to promote business services you offer outside of the platform.

For example, you may be a professional videographer making YouTube videos for yourself. But your channel also serves as a portfolio of your work, which can attract potential clients.

One of the key factors to keep in mind if you're looking to promote business services is YouTube SEO. Make sure you're attracting the right audience using appropriate SEO best practices.

Join the Fiverr Creator Network today

If you're already a YouTuber (or looking to become one), another way to earn money with your YouTube channel is by joining the Fiverr Creator Network.

It's a creator program that offers opportunities to collaborate with freelancers and get paid for sharing your experiences with your followers. The Fiverr Creator Network can provide you with one-off or long-term partnerships with personalized agreements for each creator.

There are also other exclusive perks and opportunities through the program, such as participating in brand campaigns, speaking at events, and more. Check out the Fiverr Creator Network today to expand your earning opportunities.

YouTuber earnings FAQs

1. Who is the highest-paid YouTuber?

The highest-paid YouTuber as of 2023 is Mr Beast (Jimmy Donaldson), who earned $82 million, according to Forbes.

2. How much does a YouTuber with 1 million subscribers make?

YouTubers with 1 million + subscribers earn a mean average of $88,539 per month ($38,891.50 median).

3. How much does a 100k YouTuber make?

YouTubers with 100k subscribers earn a mean average of $5,862.20 per month (median average is $4,822.50).

4. How many YouTube views do I need to make $2,000 a month?

Using our data, the average total views you need to make around $2,000 monthly is 190k.

5. Who is the most famous YouTuber in the world?

The most famous YouTuber in the world, at the time of writing, is Jimmy Donaldson (AKA @mrbeast). Who has catapulted a business empire from his YouTube channel.