Guides
Voiceover Rates by City: Typical Ranges and Rate Cards
Voiceover rates by city vary by buyer and quoting unit. See non-union ranges, rate-card examples, union scale context, and costs that affect take-home pay.
What to take away
- Voiceover rates by city are not one number. Markets quote per finished minute, per line, per session, or per finished hour.
- The buyer type sets the rate more than the city does. Corporate e-learning buyers pay on finished runtime, game studios pay per line.
- Union scale is the only US narrator figure published on a schedule. Most non-union rate cards stay private and undated.
- Take-home pay shrinks after the home studio deduction, the 15.3 percent self-employment tax, and sales tax on Canadian clients.
Why the city matters less than the quoting unit
Ask ten narrators in ten cities what they charge and you get ten numbers in four different units. That mismatch is why national rate guides are hard to check against real invoices.
Atlanta corporate buyers usually price e-learning and explainer work per finished minute. Edits, pauses, and re-records change the raw runtime, so the finished minute absorbs that risk.
Game studios price per line instead. A four hour session can deliver a very short script, so a finished minute number would misprice the work in either direction.
Broadcast and promo add a third unit: union scale plus a usage fee tied to how long and where the spot runs. The practical detail is set out in SAG-AFTRA Narrator Demo Reel Rules.
A Dallas narrator and a Boston narrator quoting per finished minute can land near each other even when their session rates differ, because the client is buying runtime, not studio time.
Rate comparison by market and quoting unit
| Market | Main buyer type | Quoting unit | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Union promo, trailers, animation | Union scale plus usage | SAG-AFTRA published scale |
| New York | Advertising, corporate, audiobooks | Union scale or per finished hour | SAG-AFTRA and publisher terms |
| Chicago | Industrial, on-hold, corporate | Per finished minute or per session | Private buyer rate cards |
| Atlanta | E-learning, explainer, corporate | Per finished minute | Private buyer rate cards |
| Austin | Game studios, indie and mid-size | Per line, per word, or per session | Private studio rate cards |
| Seattle | Games, tech, corporate | Per line or per finished minute | Private buyer rate cards |
| Toronto, Canada | Animation, dubbing, e-learning | Per session plus HST where it applies | CRA guidance on GST and HST |
Public dollar figures are rare in this market. Most US buyer rate cards are private, so a number without a source and a date is a guess with a decimal point.
One public band for non-union work is the GVAA Rate Guide. It lists e-learning at $250 to $500 per finished minute, audiobooks at $200 to $400 per finished hour, and video games at $2 to $5 per line or $300 to $600 per session.
Typical city quotes sit inside those bands. Los Angeles and New York sit at the high end. Atlanta and Austin sit at the low end. Chicago and Seattle sit in the middle.
Typical non-union ranges, not published scale:
- $1,000 to $5,000per national promo sessionLos Angeles
- $250 to $500per finished minuteNew York
- $250Chicago
- $250Atlanta
- $2Austin
- $2 to $5per lineSeattle
The dated benchmarks are narrow: union scale sheets, which reset each contract cycle, and tax rates that governments publish with an effective date.
Comparing quotes from two cities
To compare quotes across cities, normalize the scope before comparing totals:
- Match the deliverable and quoting unit; compare the same type of work.
- Confirm whether session time, revisions, and delivery formats are included.
- Match the usage term, media, territory, and whether the buyout is full or limited.
- Compare totals only after those terms align; a city label alone does not show which quote costs less.
Normalize two city quotes
- Convert both quotes to one unit
- Add revision rounds at session rate
- Add usage term and buyout length
- Subtract file prep and upload time
What a quoted rate usually excludes
- Usage term, media, and territory
- Number of revision rounds
- Session length and delivery formats
- Whether the buyout is full or limited
If a buyer will not name the usage term, treat the quote as a one time license and price it that way.
What a quote usually excludes
- Usage term, media, territory
- Number of revision rounds
- Session length and delivery formats
- Full or limited buyout
Example: Atlanta e-learning and Austin gaming rate cards
An Atlanta e-learning buyer might budget a per finished minute rate for a 20 minute module, then request a narration-only revision pass at no extra charge.
An Austin studio might budget per line for 400 lines and add a session fee on top. The Atlanta e-learning example prices finished runtime instead; compare the two rate cards by matching the deliverable, usage, and included services before weighing totals.
A rate without a usage term is a number you cannot compare with anything.
What comes off the top before take-home pay
A home studio is a business asset. The IRS explains the exclusive-use test for deducting a room used only for voiceover work, and that deduction can outweigh a small rate increase.
Equipment costs count too when they are ordinary and necessary for the business, which is a lower bar than most new narrators expect.
Self-employment tax runs 15.3 percent on net earnings. Narrators who quote a rate without checking that number often find the take-home pay is smaller than the invoice.
Publication 535 covers the rest of the studio: microphones, interfaces, acoustic treatment, software, and supplies.
Union scale and tax on out-of-country clients
SAG-AFTRA publishes scale for covered voiceover work, and those sheets set the floor for union jobs. Non-union buyers may match the floor and then ask for a full buyout instead of paying usage.
If the client sits in Canada, the sale may carry GST or HST. The CRA sets out which rate applies and where the supply is treated as taking place.
Canadian work also runs through ACTRA rules, which affect how union sessions can be reused in a demo reel.
