How much do transcriptionists make?

General transcription is paid per audio minute, not per hour of work. Rev lists its transcriptionist role at ¹, so one audio hour pays ² at those published rates. A beginner's real hourly pay is lower, because listening, replaying and checking are not paid on their own. At average typing speed, the bottom of Rev's range comes to ³ per hour of typing, and the top comes to ⁴, before any of that extra time.

For the wider picture of jobs, pay and tests, see our guide to transcription jobs and the overview of transcription.

The posted rate pays for the audio, not for your working time

The table compares the published rate with what it works out to per hour, using the same Rev figures.

The last row assumes you type at the average speed of an online typing study and do nothing else. It leaves out listening, replaying hard words and checking spelling and style, so real earnings are lower. Treat Rev's range as a published figure on the date checked, not a guaranteed rate ¹.

Typing speed and audio length set your hourly pay

Speed is the part you control most. In a 2018 study of 136 million keystrokes from an online typing test, the average typist managed 51.56 words per minute, with a spread of 20.2 ⁵. That spread is why two typists on the same rate can earn very different amounts.

Length matters as much as speed. At a speaking rate of 150 words per minute, one audio hour holds about 9,000 words, which takes about 175 minutes to type at the average speed ⁶. That is before any listening, replaying or checking. A faster typist finishes sooner, and a difficult recording takes longer for everyone.

Checking and correcting can take as long as typing

Typing from scratch is not the only route. In a 2024 study of research transcripts, the authors found that transcribing from scratch and correcting an automatic transcript "still take equally long", at about 7 times real time on average, for the data and conventions they tested ⁷. In plain terms, one hour of audio took the study's workers about seven hours. That was a study of hard research recordings with strict conventions. Clean business audio may be quicker, which is why you should measure your own work rather than assume.

Your rate depends on the platform, the file and your own speed

Pay terms differ between companies. GoTranscript says its pay varies by language, audio length, difficulty, turnaround and quality ⁸, so no single rate applies to every file. Before you accept a file, check the per-minute rate and what the file contains.

Specialist work pays on a different basis. Medical and legal transcription have their own pay figures, which we cover in how much medical transcriptionists make and how much legal transcription pays. Some legal work is priced by page or line rather than by minute, as explained in the transcription line rate entry.

What to do: measure your real hourly rate

1. Log every file for ten files. Write down the audio minutes, the time you spent and the pay for each one, including listening and checking time.
2. Divide pay by total hours. That gives your real hourly rate. Compare it with the posted per-minute rate, not with the headline figure.
3. Compare files by hourly rate. A file can pay more per minute and still take so long that your hourly pay falls, so judge each file by the time it took you.
4. Read the terms before you start. Check the rate, the payment schedule and the test, using the checklist in the guide to transcription jobs.

A transcriptionist is the person who types the recording, and the transcriptionist entry explains the role in more detail. If you are still learning to type faster, the typing speed question for transcription covers the speeds employers test.

The bottom line

A general transcriptionist earns the posted rate on the audio, but the hours they work are longer than the audio. Rev's published range of ¹ pays well on paper, and the realistic hourly figure depends on your speed, the difficulty of the audio and the time you spend checking. Measure your own rate before you commit.