How much can I make as a freelance interpreter?

Unfortunately there is no concise answer to this question. I get quite a few emails every month from people wanting to know what their life and income could look like as a freelance medical or court interpreter. In this post I’m going to break down some of the factors that need to be addressed in order to answer this question. I am happy to provide personal consultation and feedback regarding your specific situation, and to help you form a freelance plan to hit the ground running as an interpreter. If that sounds helpful, please feel free to reach out through my CONTACT page.

By way of disclaimers, please keep in mind that the information I share is specific to income as a Spanish-English medical and/or court interpreter in the United States market. I do not have sufficiently comprehensive experience as a conference, business, or diplomatic interpreter to be able to cover earning potential in other such sectors. The good thing is that, in my experience, most interpreters in the US seem to start off in the medical and/or legal field, so learning about earning potential tends to start here.

In order for you to arrive at answers relevant to your situation, it’s helpful to consider the following questions:

• How much do I need to make?
• How much do I want to make?
• How much can I work?

Let’s look at each of these questions in detail. In breaking down why these questions are important, I’ll include relevant information regarding hourly rates and earning potential under the umbrella of medical and court interpreting.

How much do I need to make?

You’ll need to add up your monthly costs for all static spending (rent, cell phone bill, child care, car insurance, subscriptions, gym, health insurance etc.) and costs for any dynamic spending (groceries, gas, fun money, haircut etc.). Remember that you will be responsible for settings aside income for taxes, retirement, and will be paying for health insurance out of pocket. A good rule for freelance taxes seems to be setting aside at least 20%. For example, if you need $1000 of income per week to cover both static and dynamic spending (including health insurance and retirement), you will need to make $1200 per week when taxes are taken into account.

The need threshold is important as an interpreter because once you have that number in front of you, you can look at how many hours per week would be necessary at different rates.

For example, a medical interpreter can make anywhere from $0.22 per minute ($13 per hour) for big-agency telephonic interpreting, to $41 per hour for DSHS certified medical interpreters in Washington State. In order to cover your weekly bills (e.g. $1200) at the first rate, you would need to be interpreting on the phone about 92 hours per week (5520 minutes, because there is no minimum payment for most medical telephonic). Safe to say that would be an impossible work week when also having to balance any personal schedule. At the second rate I mentioned, you would need about 30 hours a week (so 6 hours per weekday). At this higher rate, you would need to have passed both an oral and written medical interpreting exam (see this blog post on the topic).

For certified court interpreters, rates start around $50/hour at the lower end for state certification. If you are federally certified, rates can exceed $100/hour, especially when working with private clients. To hit our $1200 weekly threshold at those rates, we see that 24 weekly hours would be necessary at $50, and 10 weekly hours at $100. For court interpreting, there is also the benefit of minimum payments kicking in. The standard for legal interpreting is a two-hour minimum, and certain kinds of assignments allow for half-day/full-day billing.

With all of this in mind, you’ll have to ask yourself “What level of certification am I willing to invest in and prepare for?” I wrote several blog entries (here, here, and here) about court certification, which I recommend reading to give yourself an idea of how the process works.

How much do I want to make?

This question won’t take as much delving into, but once you’ve answered how much income you need, it’s worth asking how much you want. I wasn’t able to answer this question for myself until I had a comprehensive budget with both “need” and “want” categories. The “want” categories may be monthly spending (Spanish tutor, clothes, dining out) or longer-term savings categories (vacation, auto maintenance, Christmas gifts) that I pour into, but don’t use, each month. Once you’ve got your needs in place, flesh out the wants in your budget, and this will give you a clearer idea of the certification level, rate, and weekly hours you might like to aspire to.

How much can I work?

This is a question that needs to be answered in relation to your personal schedule, but also in relation to how many weekly or monthly hours your interpreting market can feasibly offer you.

If you have personal circumstances that limit your availability during certain hours, this will of course need to be taken into consideration. Freelance translation is a desk job where you can find/make the time to complete the work; freelance interpreting requires that you be available on someone else’s schedule.

Building up a steady flow of in-person and remote work takes time, and is dependent on supply and demand in your area. In the first two quarters of 2021, I averaged around 20 billable hours per week through a combination of local and remote legal interpreting. It may be worth speaking to a handful of interpreters in your local area who are working in the sector into which you also wish to enter. There is no blanket answer for how many weekly hours you can reach without taking numerous individual details into account.

This sounds daunting. Is it worth it?

The short answer is that, for me, absolutely! The freedom and flexibility that come from freelancing are not something I’m interested in giving up at this point. I think one of the bottom lines is that for decent earning potential, you have to be in it for the long haul.

If you would like to discuss your personal circumstances and what professional route might be best for you as an aspiring interpreter, please feel free to reach out to set up a Zoom consultation. I’m happy to answer any and all questions and to work through a potential plan with you. Consultations are offered at a student-interpreter rate.

As always, thank you for stopping by. I hope this information is useful, and please feel to comment with any suggestions for future helpful topics.