What Freelance Python Developers Actually Earn (Hourly Rates)

When freelancing as a python developer it is good to know your worth. And knowing the hourly rates of other might help you. determine or improve your rate. So what does a python developer actually earn as a freelancer?

Based on research and our own database a python developer worldwide earns an average of around $56 an hour. In the US and western Europe this number is however significally higher with an average of around 85$ for intermediate projects. Keep in mind rates fluctuates widely based on location and experience.

The popularity of python

Steadily growing in popularity, Python is one of the most useful programming languages to exist today. According to a Statista report, it is also the most commonly used language after SQL, JavaScript, and CSS. Common applications of Python are found in developing software, websites, data analysis, task automation, data visualization, and more.

Because of its popularity and widespread use, becoming a freelance Python developer has also become a lucrative career option. But something that you might be wondering at this point is – what is the average freelance python developer salary? In this article, we’ll aim to provide a comprehensive answer to this question. Let’s begin.

What do freelance python developers actually earn? 

The global average salary of a freelance Python developer stands somewhere around $56 per hour. However, this can fluctuate from $51 to $61. This means that if you are earning about $60 or more as a freelance Python developer, your annual income can come up to around $134,400. We’ve arrived at this figure for freelance python developer salary after sourcing the statistics from several reputable online sources like –

• Lancebase, the only database that holds non platform based developers with real verified rates, developers earn between $80 to $95 in the US and Europe.
• Codementor, which states that an average Python freelancer can earn between $61 to $80.
• Python Subreddit, in which several users have provided insights about the hourly salary of Python freelancers. It was found to be more than $30 per hour.
• Ziprecruiter, which states that the average hourly salary of a freelance Python developer was around $52. This translates into a monthly salary of $8,980 and an annual salary of $107,000.
• PayScale, which estimated the hourly rates to be around $30.

While these figures will give you an estimate of the average freelance Python developer salary in the world, a lot depends on your level of experience and skills. It also varies from one region to another, as it would be higher in the USA as opposed to European countries and even the UK. To understand this better, let’s look at the region-based rates in the next section.

Freelance Python Developer Salary – Region-Based Rates

The salary of a freelance Python developer varies from one region to another. Depending on your location in the world, you can either earn more or less from doing the same type of project. To get a better idea about the region-wise distribution of the freelance Python developer salary, we collected relevant data from Glassdoor. We only took the most recent and high volume figures to come up with the following list –

• Canada – Between $70,000 to $80,000
• USA – Around $90,000
• Argentina – $15,000 to $20,000
• Mexico – Around $20,000
• France – Between $40,000 to $50,000
• UK – Around $80,000
• Spain – Between $30,000 to $40,000
• Germany – Around $60,000
• Poland – Between $30,000 to $40,000
• Hungary – Between $10,000 to $20,000
• Romania – Between $10,000 to $20,000
• Russia – Around $40,000
• India – Around $5,000

1. Freelancer Python Developer Salary Comparison: US and the West as compared to the East 

As is evident from the abovementioned list, the freelance python developer salary in western countries like the US and the UK is the highest. Meanwhile, the salary for the same job is comparatively lesser in countries like Argentina, Romania, Ukraine, and India. If we look at the figures globally, the highest average salary for a freelance python developer is in the United States (approximately $90,000). This is followed by Canada and Germany, where the average salaries are $70,000 and $60,000 approx. In fact, the freelance python developer salaries in most of Western Europe are roughly the same.

2. Freelancer Python Developer Salary Comparison: Western Europe as compared to Central and Eastern Europe

If we look at the freelance python developer salary in Europe regionally, the average salary in Western Europe is higher as compared to Eastern, Central, and South-Eastern Europe. You can get a better idea of this trend by looking at the following list, which states the freelancer python developer salaries in various European countries in descending order –

Western Europe:

• Switzerland – $120,000 approx.
• United Kingdom – $90,000 approx.
• Denmark – $77,000 approx.
• Norway – $74,000 approx.
• Netherlands – $71,000 approx.
• Ireland – $70,000 approx.
• Finland – $69,000 approx.
• Belgium – $66,000 approx.
• Germany – $62,000 approx.
• Sweden – $61,000 approx.
• France – $53,000 approx.
• Austria – $47,000 approx.
• Italy – $45,000 approx.
• Spain – $40,000 approx.
• Portugal – $34,000 approx.

Southeast Europe:

• Romania – $39,000 approx.
• Bulgaria – $37,000 approx.
• Serbia – $16,000 approx.

Central Europe:

• Czech Republic – $47,000 approx.
• Poland – $37,000 approx.
• Ukraine – $36,000 approx.
• Belarus – $36,000 approx.
• Hungary – $33,000 approx.
• Russia – $31,000 approx.

This list was made after collating the data from both Glassdoor and Stack Overflow. It clearly shows how freelance Python developers earn more in Western European countries.

Freelance Python Developer Salary – Experience-Based Rates

Besides region, experience also plays an important role in determining the salary of a freelance python developer. To develop a better understanding of this, let’s explore the average freelance python developer salary at each experience level.

1. Senior Developers – Average Salary 1.5 to 2.7 times higher

Python developers with 9 years or more of working experience are counted among the Senior Developers. It has been found that the average salary of Senior Python Developers is around 1.5 to 2.7 times higher than the salaries of general Python developers.

2. Junior vs Senior Python Developer Salaries in the US

According to Glassdoor, the average salary of Junior Python Developers in the United States is around $72,020 per year (as on 2 Sept, 2022). Meanwhile, the average salary for Senior Python Developers in the US can come up to around $1,18,862 per year (as on 2 Sept, 2022). We looked for the same figures on Payscale and found that the average salary for Junior Python Developer came up to around $66,804 per year. As for the average salary of a Senior Python Developer, Payscale stated that they can earn approximately $128,000 per year.

Although greater experience is usually correlated to greater skills, it is not always that simple. Your level of skills and expertise in this programming language also plays a huge role in determining your salary as a freelance python developer. We studied the data obtained from Indeed to better understand the role skills play in freelance python developer salary. What we found was that developers with certain specific skills were able to earn a higher salary.

Let’s assume that the average base salary of a freelance Python developer is $100,000. Now, let’s take a look at some skills that can affect this base salary –

• Counterintelligence: Acquiring this skill can help in increasing your base salary by almost 74%. This means that your salary could be around $174,000, which is almost close to $200,000.
• AI: Acquiring this skill can help in increasing your base salary by almost 20%. This means that your salary could be around $120,000.
• CI/CD: Learning Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) along with Python can increase your salary by almost 12%. This could translate into an increased salary of $112,000
• NoSQL: Working with NoSQL Database in Python can help in increasing your salary by almost 13%. This means that you could enjoy a higher salary of almost $113,000.
• Communication Skills: Believe it or not, communication skills also play an important role in determining your salary as a Python developer. Especially if you are working as a freelancer, good communication skills can help you get an 8% higher salary. This can translate into an increased salary of $108,000.

Conclusion

With this, we’ve covered everything there is to know about freelance python developer salary. The main takeaway from this article was that freelance experienced and skilled Python developers can easily earn an annual income in six figures. But since a lot depends on your regional location, it’s important to take that into consideration when negotiating your pay.