Study Hall’s 2020 State of Freelance Report Part 2: Is Freelancing a Lifestyle or an Economic Condition?

In preparation for this dispatch, I spoke with a number of freelance media workers who made less than $55,000 in 2020 as well as freelancers who reported regularly earning less than $55,000, seeking examples that lend context to the figures elaborated in the data.

As Study Hall prepares to publish the findings of our 2020 State of Freelance survey, we wanted to give our subscribers an exclusive peek into the forthcoming report. Over the next several weeks, we’ll publish snippets and musings from our ongoing research, and even pose some larger questions that the survey project is meant to illuminate. For this week’s dispatch, Development Director Evan Kleekamp looks at the respondents who reported less than $100,000 in individual income and speaks with freelancers in this bracket about their decision to go freelance. You can read the previous report, on freelancers who made over $100,000, here.

Please note that all income data reported below is anecdotal and based on pre-tax income. Out of the 888 Study Hall subscribers who took the survey, 551 provided complete answers to our individual income question set. Of these 551, another 275 provided us with additional information about their total household income, which includes their partner, spouse, or family’s additional income streams.

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In the wake of last week’s dispatch about freelance media workers who reported making $100,000 or more in 2020, this week’s dispatch focuses on a more representative group: media workers, especially freelancers, who made less than $100,000.

Media workers who reported earning less than $100,000 in 2020 comprise almost 90 percent (493 out of 551) of the participating respondents who provided individual income information. Those individuals contributed $20,601,128.50 to the total $28,676,450.50 of reported income, meaning that those earning less than $100,000 produced just over 70 percent of the sum reported individual income. Said differently, more than half of the respondents’ total earning power is held by those making less than $100,000, but their individual earning power can hover close to 20 percent (or less) of their top-earning peers.

While excluding the highest earners from our dataset reduces the income variation I discussed last week, it also introduces a host of other variables and experiences that are less likely to affect media workers with six-figure incomes. In this dispatch, I explore how media workers making close to the average reported income ($52,329.29) perceive the economic conditions that affect their labor and decision-making. In preparation for this dispatch, I spoke with a number of freelance media workers who made less than $55,000 in 2020 as well as freelancers who reported regularly earning less than $55,000, seeking examples that lend context to the figures elaborated in the data.

GEN Z ENTERS THE WORKFORCE

Kelly Garcia is one of many Gen Z media workers who entered the workforce during the pandemic. She had just graduated from journalism school at DePaul, and turned to Twitter to find freelance assignments when she couldn’t land stable work.

“I was always looking for a job,” says Garcia, now a staff writer at the Chicago Reader. “It took me over a year to find one. I capitalized on my Twitter network to get the job I have now and the fellowships and residencies I’ve gotten. But I was truly just surviving on freelance income during the first half of the pandemic.”

Garcia says that now that she has a full-time job that pays her just over $40,000, a majority of her income goes to living expenses like rent and groceries. But during her tenure as a full-time freelancer, she could only survive with roommates and had no savings. “I relied a lot on social media, especially Twitter. Journalism school taught me to do the exact opposite of what I’m doing now, using my personal Twitter to find work.”

Of the 84 respondents whose age indicated they were Gen Z, 82 provided income information. These respondents reported $2,875,132 in combined individual income, representing 10.03 percent of respondents’ total income. $986,720 of that contribution came from freelance income, representing 34.32 percent of Gen Z respondents’ total reported individual income. Of the 82 Gen Z respondents who provided income information, 35 identified as full-time media freelancers.

Gen Z respondents reported making on average $35,062.59 (±$21,351.95) a year — $17,266.70 less than reported survey-wide average, but also with less variation. However, the median individual income remains $30,000, as I previously reported. Looking exclusively at Gen Z respondents who reported freelance income, that income average drops to $12,814.55 (±$15,275.81), which is $39 514.74 less than the survey-wide reported individual income and $37,938.96 less than the average survey-wide exclusively-freelance income.

Of the 35 Gen Z respondents who identified full-time media freelancers, 14 Gen Z respondents reported making income exclusively from freelance work. While this number isn’t enough to make credible claims about Gen Z freelancers, it does follow from the fact that Gen Z respondents would just be entering the workforce and therefore represent fewer numbers of freelance workers. That said, consolidated to these 14 individuals, the average income drops to $26,340.79 (±$16,895.86) while the mode yet again remains $30,000.

Interestingly enough, the only Gen Z respondent who reported making more than $100,000 derived most of their income from a full-time job and identified their freelance labor as supplementary income. Meanwhile, less than 10 percent of Gen Z respondents said they lived alone as opposed to with roommates, a partner, roommate and a partner, or their family.

TAKING A STRATEGIC PAY CUT

Yolanda Evans, an American freelancer based in Berlin, says she made about $20,000 USD last year because she took time off while moving and preparing her visa. “I’ve been a bit lazy and chose to do really good stories versus hustling for money. Those stellar articles lead to more work.” Evans says she strategically leverages niche topics to give herself maximum control of her freelance work. “Editors started to reach out to me to do articles on booze and Ireland because I know it well. I’m not rich but I got savings and plan on building it up. I know how to budget.”

Evans isn’t the only journalist willing to forgo pay or incur extra expenses to achieve or maintain a desired lifestyle or schedule. Journalist Starre Vartan says that after many years as a freelance writer, she follows her preferences and habits.

“I live steps away from a huge forest-park in a suburban community across Puget Sound from Seattle,” Vartan says. “My partner and I have moved eight times in seven years in four states, so we’ve tried different things. It’s expensive but I’ve found living in wealthy communities to be worth it. For all the advantages they provide in terms of free arts and culture, green spaces, excellent food, and it’s always easy to make money locally.”

Most important, according to Vartan, is that she learned to accept that her personality and temperament were not suited for office environments. “After several failed attempts and a lot of self-recrimination, I took a pay cut to get away from the noise and distraction of working in the same space as other people. I stopped blaming myself for being bad at officing. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done.”

Vartan says that she has made between $63,000 and $68,000 over the last few years, but after accounting for expenses, this amount drops below $55,000. “But I’ve had much, much leaner years where I make $20,000 tops,” she says. “It taught me quite a lot about what I value and what matters.”

Los Angeles journalist Oren Peleg says for most of the nine years he has been freelancing, he would make “anywhere between nothing to maybe $1,500 or $2,000 a month.”

“I lived in a super cheap studio for years. Even though I live in Los Angeles, I don’t have a car. Keeping my overhead cheap has allowed me to live on so little. But income instability has been a major source of anxiety. There have been periods of famine work-wise in which I’d wake up many nights in fits of panic thinking I was nearing homelessness and didn’t know what to do.”

Peleg says he has started taking on additional copywriting work during the pandemic, but does not see himself leaving journalism altogether. “My dream has always been to be a writer. I used to work outside the industry. I hated it. Respect to anyone who does that, truly. But I’ve done that before and I don’t care to go back.”

But Peleg does wonder how other writers manage. “I actually have no idea what others make,” he says. “Some of my friends are in PR, and they’ve told me that some writers make six figures and that blows my mind. I think those writers crank out dozens of stories a month every month, and I just do not even comprehend how that’s either possible or sustainable.”

Before going freelance in 2018, science journalist and editor Mara Grunbaum had a full-time editorial role at a large publishing company in NYC for six years. “I was making about $80,000 when I left, but the average over those years was probably closer to $65,000,” she says. “I decided to go freelance because I wanted to write more, I wanted to move home to Seattle, I wanted more flexibility and control over what projects I worked on, and I was really tired of meetings.”

Grunbaum says she relied on steady assignments from her former employer during her transition into freelance work, which allowed her to gradually diversify her income sources. She says she draws income from a combination of writing, editing, journalism and private client work. “I’ve done some pitching with some success, but I’ve largely been connected with new clients by colleagues and friends.” Grunbaum also notes that her private client typically pays more.

“I did take a huge pay cut my first couple of years freelancing, which I expected” she says. “But I was lucky to have enough savings that I felt comfortable doing that. I made $45,000 before expenses during my first full year freelancing before the pandemic. It’s taken until now, with a lot of ups and downs and adjustments, to get back up to anything near my old salary. Making less in exchange for a lifestyle that suits me better has definitely been worth it for me, though.

“Making $55,000 to $65,000 is sufficient given my expenses now. Assuming my partner maintains or increases his income too, $70,000 to $80,000 would make me feel much more confident about our future plans. $100,000 would obviously be nice, but not if I have to do anything shady for it.”

Of the 180 respondents who made their income solely from freelance income, 159 (88.33 percent) reported that greater creative freedom incentivized their decision to freelance while another 134 (74.44 percent) said increased flexibility and working hours similarly influenced that choice. Though the survey did not ask questions about relocating — let alone moving outside the country for more suitable work conditions — we plan to ask more questions about economic and social mobility as well as monthly and weekly labor practices in subsequent iterations of the survey.

Recognizing that a majority of exclusively-freelance respondents reported that they chose freelancing for its creative and scheduling freedoms, 23 (13.07 percent) of the 176 exclusively-freelance respondents who provided self-assessment information reported their living conditions as “affluent”; 55 (31.25 percent) reported their living conditions as “comfortable”; and other another 64 (36.36%) reported their living conditions as “secure but modest,” indicating that an overwhelming majority of exclusively-freelance respondents felt their living standards were secure or better. Among the remaining 30 respondents, 18 (10.23 percent) reported their living conditions as “financially strained but getting by”; another 12 (6.82 percent) reported “precarious (constantly struggling to produce income and pay bills)”; and only 3 (1.70 percent) reported “significant hardship or poverty.” However, it should be noted that we would need a larger sample size to declare that this pattern would hold across freelance media workers as a population.

COHABITATION AND EXTERNAL SUPPORT

Chicago music journalist Micco Caporale was full-time freelance for most of 2020 and 2021. Caporale came from a food service and retail background, which she says led to a lot of interpersonal stress and scheduling nightmares. “I’ve never made much money,” she says. “Freelancing, I did about $25,000. I’m at my first salary job, which is $40,000. I did crack about $33,000 one year in retail, but I worked two jobs with no benefits.”

Like many of the media workers who took the survey, Caporale also disclosed that she is “deeply in medical debt” and was for a time dependent on her former partner, whose union job provided health insurance and extra income during tight months. “My life got a big upgrade and that made it hard to leave my partner when we both realized it wasn’t working. It was also hard for him. He didn’t want me to go back to struggling.”

Of the 180 respondents who reported exclusively freelance income, 83 reported some kind of debt. In sum, that debt totaled to $2,970,950, or 32.52 percent of their total earnings. Out of the total 888 respondents, 178 (20.04 percent) said their partner’s income contributed to their livelihood. However, 547 (61.60 percent) reported an income stream aside from their own contributing to their household income, which may indicate that we need to produce clearer language for defining what qualifies as financial support from a partner, spouse, or family member. On the other hand, it may also indicate that some respondents did not consider their spouse’s income as a contribution to their livelihood.

Another journalist based in the Pacific Northwest who asked to remain anonymous because of the confidential nature of their disclosures said while the pandemic hadn’t lost them assignments, “isolation, stress, and unmedicated ADHD” affected their mental health and ability to focus. The anonymous journalist said they inherited about $200,000 from their grandparents in early 2019, which made it easier to take risks and turn down unsatisfactory work. “I feel lucky that I had enough of a financial cushion, flexible and understanding enough editors, and enough access to mental health care that I could do less work that year and spend more time caring for myself and my family,” they said.

In 2020, they moved in with their partner, and began sharing household expenses and tasks. “My partner provides a lot of emotional support and stability,” the anonymous journalist said. “They listen to me ramble about my latest story idea and get me out of the house sometimes.”

In 2021, the anonymous journalist finally sought diagnosis and treatment for ADHD, which they said had been affecting them in ways they previously could not understand. Looking back, they say they had “no idea how it would have gone if I had needed to work full-time to survive month to month.” But knowing that they weren’t going to do as much work during this time raised their standards and made them more selective about assignments, which helped them be more discerning and make more money when they went back to full-time in 2021. “I hope that having these financial advantages isn’t the only way a stable freelance career is possible,” they said. “I want everyone to have options, and for this career to be sustainable for anyone who’s driven to do it, because, god, we need them.”

127 (14.3 percent) of the total 888 respondents reported that they had a disability or chronic illness that affected their work life. 43 (23.89 percent) of the 180 respondents who reported making their income exclusively from freelance work indicated that they had a disability or chronic illness that affected their work life, suggesting that freelancing may be an attractive alternative to office-based employment, as our anecdotal reports above indicate.

63 (7.09 percent) of the total 888 respondents reported an inheritance, trust fund, or family asset assisting their ability to accrue income. 117 (13.18 percent) said that investments or prior savings similarly helped provide a cushion.

Among the 58 respondents who reported making $100,000 or more, 14 (24.14 percent) said their partner’s income contributed to their ability to earn income; 2 respondents (3.44 percent) reported that an inheritance, trust, or other family assets contributed to their ability to earn income; and 9 (15.51 percent) reported that investments or savings helped them earn an income.

For those making less than $100,000, 239 of 493 (48.48 percent) reported that their partner’s income helped them making a living; 59 (11.97 percent) reported that an inheritance, trust fund, or other family asset helped them make a living; and 103 (20.89 percent) that investments or savings contributed to ability to earn income.

But do media workers earning less than $100,000 really receive more help from their partners and family members? Or even rely more heavily on their savings? These figures, which show six-figure earners reporting fewer instances of external financial support, may indicate that respondents making less than $100,000 might be more honest about how these forms of financial support helped them. It may also be the case that a media worker making, say, $150,000 will consider their spouse’s $30,000 income a negligible supplement. But, as the anecdotal examples above illustrate, these trends are strong reminders that even if a worker has external financial support, it does not necessarily alleviate stressors such as high cost of living, medical debt, or moving expenses, which may impact their financial stability.

Here, the data we have from respondents who exclusively derived their income from freelance work can be a useful comparison. 78 (43.33 percent) of 180 respondents said their partner’s income supported their ability to make money; 18 (10 percent) reported that an inheritance, trust, or other family asset supported their ability to earn income; and 34 (19.65 percent) said that investments or savings helped them earn income. These figures indicate that the reporting trends are relatively stable, but that respondents earning more than $100,000 may have different interpretations of what constitutes financial support or independence.

OVERVIEW

These stories paint a broad picture of media workers tenuously balancing their living expenses, medical needs, and lifestyle choices with their income — often opting to sacrifice money to best suit their individual lifestyle needs. But what does the data suggest about media workers making less than $100,000?

Last week I reported that most respondents (63.32 percent) made less than the average income, $52,329.29, but the standard deviation, ±$40,507.14, showed extreme variation in reported income. For that reason, we suggested that median individual income, which describes the absolute middle of the income data, $40,000, would be a more accurate indicator of what the average survey participant earns. Because the standard deviation exceeds the median, we know that high earners, though less common, were skewing the income data upward (as no one reported negative income).

Once we exclude those earning over $100,000, the average reported income drops to $41,787.28, the standard deviation is reduced to nearly half of the previously reported value, ±$23,297.72, and the median drops to $38,000.00. Furthermore, looking toward the mode can help verify that most earners are consistently earning under $55,000: the mode for both the complete income dataset and the set that excludes earners who reported over $100,000 has the same mode, $30,000.

And what if we isolate even further and look only at freelance earnings from this group? In sum, freelance income accounted for $10,282,090.50 (49.91 percent) of the total income of respondents who made less than $100,000 in 2020. By comparison, the 58 top-earning respondents who reported $100,000 or more, contributed 28.17 percent of the total income (14.64 percent if you only include their freelance earnings).

Of those 493 respondents who reported making less than $100,000, 94 (19.07 percent) reported making between $25,000 and $35,000, making that segment the most representative of the groups earning less than $100,000. Those who reported earning between $15,000 and $25,000 follow were the next most representative, with 72 respondents reporting (14.6 percent). However, if we were to look exclusively at individuals who reported making less than $55,000, that percentage would rise to 71.60 percent. Those 353 individuals making less than $55,000 contributed $10,488,575.50 (50.91 percent) to the total $20,601,128.506 in reported income among earners making less than $100,000 and 36.56 percent of the sum survey-wide individual income. Compare that to $8,077,322 (28.17 percent) of the survey-wide income contributed by the 58 respondents who reported over $100,000 in income and it becomes clear that, though top earners are a minority among survey participants, they retain most of the spending power. If the total spending power of the 353 respondents who reported making than $100,000 was split evenly among them, they would each represent 0.001 percent of the total spending power whereas earners who reported making $100,000 or more would represent four times that at 0.004 percent apiece.

Focusing on freelancers making under $100,000, 161 (18.13 percent) out of 888 respondents reported making less than $100,000 exclusively from freelance income. (Or 89.44 percent of the respondents who exclusively reported freelance income.) These individuals contributed $6,258,228.50 (21.82 percent) of the survey-wide reported individual income and reported on average ​​$38,870.98 (±$24,733.07) in individual income. In this group, the median dropped to $34,000.00 while the mode once again remained $30,000.00.

Among the group reporting less than $100,000 of income in 2020, 334 (67.61  percent) identified as female, 109 (22.06 percent) identified as male, 25 (5.06  percent) identified as nonbinary, while the remaining 159 did not disclose their gender. The average age of these respondents is 33 (±8.55), the median age is 31, and the is mode 30, so it’s safe to assume that most respondents in this group are in or approaching their early thirties — compared to those who reported making $100,000 or more, where the average is 39 (±9.41), the median age is 38, and the mode is $100,000 as opposed to $30,000.

CONCLUSION

If the broader goal of the State of Freelance survey is to define who a freelance media worker is and what they do, especially by comparing them to their employed peers, then the distributions discussed above reveal that, while there is much variability in income survey-wide, some of that variation disappears when we group like respondents. If freelancers making less than $100,000 a year are, as the data suggests, more representative of the media workers who took the survey, we can also look at other economic trends they’ve reported to fact-check common myths and theories about freelancing and media work as a whole.

In a subsequent dispatch, I’ll return to the $30,000 mode figure that has consistently reappeared in each data set and look at a group of freelancers who I’ve yet to discuss, freelancers who draw income from employment as well as freelance assignments, and determine if they pose any challenges to the narrative the data has illuminated thus far.

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