Transcription platforms quote pay per audio minute or per audio hour – the length of the recording, not the time you spend on it. To know what a rate is worth, divide it by your real work time. A beginner who needs five hours to finish one audio hour earns one fifth of the per-audio-hour rate per hour worked; an experienced transcriber on clean audio might need three. The worked examples below show how to calculate it for any rate you are offered.
Part of our trail on transcription jobs from home.
How do you turn a per-minute rate into an hourly rate?
The formula
- Rate per audio hour = rate per audio minute × 60
- Effective hourly rate = rate per audio hour ÷ hours of work per audio hour
- Hours of work per audio hour = your measured time to finish one hour of audio, including research and proofreading
The only number you have to measure yourself is the last one. Time yourself on your first few tasks – including the time you spend looking up names and re-listening – and divide by the audio length.
What do the numbers look like in practice?
The rates below are examples for the calculation, not offers from a specific platform. Platforms publish their own current rates; use those in the same formula.
| Rate per audio minute | Per audio hour | At 6 h work per audio h | At 4 h | At 3 h |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.30 | $18 | $3.00/h | $4.50/h | $6.00/h |
| $0.50 | $30 | $5.00/h | $7.50/h | $10.00/h |
| $0.75 | $45 | $7.50/h | $11.25/h | $15.00/h |
| $1.00 | $60 | $10.00/h | $15.00/h | $20.00/h |
| $1.50 | $90 | $15.00/h | $22.50/h | $30.00/h |
Two things stand out. First, at beginner speed even mid-range rates can fall below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 – which contractors are not guaranteed. Second, getting faster raises your income as much as finding a better-paying platform.
Example: you finish a 10-minute file at $0.60 per audio minute in 40 minutes. You earned $6.00 for 40 minutes, which is $9.00 per hour worked (4 hours of work per audio hour).
What changes how much you earn per hour?
- Audio quality: background noise, phone recordings and crosstalk can double the work time.
- Speakers and accents: more speakers mean more speaker labels and more re-listening.
- Style: full verbatim takes longer than clean verbatim.
- Specialist terms: medical, legal and technical audio needs research but often pays more per minute.
- Machine draft: editing a good automatic draft is faster, but rates for editing tasks are usually lower.
- Your tools: a foot pedal, hotkeys and text expanders save minutes on every file.
- Bonuses and levels: many platforms pay more as your quality score and level rise.
Which unpaid time and costs should you count?
As an independent contractor you are only paid for submitted work. Count the time and costs that don’t show up in the rate:
- Waiting for work when the queue is empty, and tasks you start and abandon.
- Reviewer corrections that lower your score or require rework.
- Learning the style guide and doing unpaid tests.
- Equipment: headphones, foot pedal, software licenses.
- Payout fees charged by the payment service, if any.
- Self-employment tax and income tax – see the tax basics in our part-time remote jobs guide.
Which numbers should you check before you start?
- The published rate. What your level pays, and how you move up.
- Work availability. How much work new members get – rates mean little if the queue is empty.
- Payout schedule and minimum. Also check which payout methods work in the US.
- Your measured speed. Time yourself on three sample files of different audio quality.
- Your effective hourly rate. Use the formula above, then compare it with an hourly job such as those in our data entry guide.
Warning: a “transcription client” who sends a check for more than the agreed amount and asks you to send back the difference is running a fake check scam. Read our scam guide.
More on this trail: which platforms hire beginners, how to pass the entrance test and which tools help are in our guide to transcription jobs from home.
