An Analysis of Freelancer Earnings and Job Trends Around the World

The primary goal of our dataset is to where freelancers are being hired, how much they make, and what platforms they are using to find work

Freelancer Earnings by Client Region

What we wanted to learn: Where are freelance jobs most lucrative? How does experience level correlate with average earnings in these regions?

While all regions have similar earnings - within $200 million - Australia is the leading region in earnings. However, the United States has the highest average rating. The range of jobs available is between approximately 39,000 - 48,000 per region; Australia boasts the highest end of web development jobs, at 47,572.

The experience level breakdown by region reveals some interesting data. Across the board, there is no correlation between experience level and earnings. To explore this further, we wanted to break down how people are making money in these freelance positions, and whether there is a correlation to be found.

Most Popular Job Category on Each Platform

Next, we wanted to understand what type of jobs people are performing, what platforms they are finding these jobs through, and whether they are receiving fixed or hourly rates. What we've noticed through comparing these variables are some job types tend to utilize hourly rates more than others. For instance, web development positions are typically paid hourly, while SEO positions are typically paid at a fixed rate. Still, there is a lot of variation between fixed vs. hourly rates across the board.

This data can be very useful for indicating to freelancers what platforms are most helpful in finding niche job types, and what type of payment methods buyers are more receptive to. One instance of this is the clear preference for buyers to hire content writers at an hourly rate over a fixed rate on Upwork. Similarly, it appears web developers have the most success finding work on the Fiverr platform than any other.

Experience Level Breakdown

Box Plot: Earnings per Platform and Experience Level

We continue our hunt to learn about earnings and job trends in freelance web development by exploring the median salary across platforms. Again, there is quite a bit of variation in both earnings and freelance platforms. We wanted to review the average earnings as well with these variables to better understand the dataset.

Payment Method per Platform

The heatmap displaying average earnings per platform based on experience level reveals the answer we’ve been seeking: there is a correlation between average job earnings and experience level. As developers reach an intermediate level, average earnings per job increase across all platforms. Then, they drop for more experienced levels. We would like to learn more information on this data trend in the future; we can only hypothesize that there are either less experienced developers taking freelance jobs or perhaps it takes less time for them to complete freelance jobs.