How much should a new tattoo artist charge? A price ladder

When artists name a newer artist's rate, $80 to $100 an hour comes up most. At a year and a half to two years in, replies outside New York mostly say $100 to $150, and New York replies say $150 to $200. Speed decides hourly or by the piece.

You're about a year and a half in, posting $100 an hour, and you can't tell if that's low. You ask around and the answers run from $100 to $200 an hour.

When artists name a number for a newer artist, $80 to $100 comes up most, from about half a dozen single posts and one studio page. That sits under the $150 to $200 that established artists mostly charge. Check your own number first: have a friend ask nearby shops to quote the same design, as how to price tattoos says. Here is what individual artists posted at each stage:

Those are single posts, self-reported, and nobody can check a portfolio from a comment. Your city and how fast you work move the number as much as your years do. In some shops the number isn't yours to pick: one commenter called a boss-assigned $100 an hour for a newer artist "pretty standard" in Missouri shops.

Artists split. Outside New York, replies mostly say $100 to $150 for a year and a half to two years in. In the two New York threads they ran $150 to $200. In one thread, from an artist two years in at a shop that now charges $200 across the board, a comment with 35 upvotes said, "Nobody only a couple years in should be charging $200 an hour." Another reply, from an artist almost three years in and booked at $200, said, "It depends on skill level, not years in the game."

In the first New York thread the top reply to an artist at $800 a day, a year and a half in, said that was low and to charge at least $200 an hour. In a second New York thread, replies split on an artist two years in who floated $200: some said to cap it at $150 or that $200 was above their level, and a couple said $200 sounds about right. A lower-voted reply in the first New York thread argued for keeping the lower rate: "You have no idea what your tattoos look like healed 3 years/5 years/10 years."

Speed is the first question artists ask; size and sessions count too. In one thread an early reply to "what should my hourly be" was "Are you fast or slow?" Most working artists mix the two, as how to price tattoos lays out: flat prices on flash and small pieces, hourly or day rates once the work is big.

One route that came up: price per piece while you can't predict the hours, then switch to hourly once you can.

Artists split. The advice that gets repeated is steps of about $20 an hour, each held for six to twelve months; the top reply in one thread said to jump to $150. Here is a ladder laid out from what the threads name:

Move up a rung when you've held the current one at least six months and new requests are arriving faster than you finish sessions. The signs are in how to price tattoos.

Not everyone steps. In a thread from an artist a year and a half licensed and charging $100, the top reply, with 30 upvotes, said to go straight to $150. How to tell clients, and what to do with quotes you've already given, is in how to raise your tattoo prices.

Less than the rate you post. On a shop split, newer artists keep about 50%, so $100 an hour is about $50 to you before tax, and only for time on the clock. That's our arithmetic on a 50% split. In the one thread on this, more artists start the clock when the needle touches skin than at any other point, so consults, drawing, setup and stencils have to fit inside the rate.

A quote that runs long cuts it further. In a thread about a piece that took twice its quoted time, an artist two years licensed said, "I usually end up charging about $70/hr on average." Quote a range and estimate high. Taxes depend on how you're set up, so ask an accountant.

Most US artists keep a shop minimum around $100, and it's worth checking each time you move up a rung. For the deposit, $50 to $100 covers flash and small pieces, or use one hour of your rate. At $100 an hour that's $100, and it goes up with each rung. Newer artists tend to take too little, and artists who moved from $100 to $150 or $200 report fewer no-shows. Sizing by job is in how much a tattoo deposit should be.

My rule: no discounts. It cheapens the work and brings in hagglers. Not every artist agrees. One commenter two years in described a 20 to 50 percent discount on pieces in the style they want to be known for, and a reply in the same thread said not to discount at a convention at all.

In a slow month, the best-liked comments said not to cut your rate. The reasons are in how to raise your tattoo prices.

When artists name a rate for a newer artist, $80 to $100 an hour comes up most. At a year and a half to two years in, replies outside New York mostly say $100 to $150. Rates are self-reported, and your city and speed move the number.

Artists split. Replies to artists a year and a half to two years in mostly say $100 to $150 outside New York, and $150 to $200 in New York. One artist booked at $200 says skill matters more than years.

Artists split: the repeated advice is steps of about $20 an hour, each held for six to twelve months, and one top reply said jump to $150. Move up when inquiries outrun the sessions you complete, and honor quotes you've already given.

It depends on speed first, then size and sessions. Slow artists billing hourly on small pieces run the bill up, and fast ones get paid less for being quick. Most price small pieces flat and big work hourly or by the day.

Checked October 2026. Rates are what artists posted in about a dozen pricing threads on r/TattooArtists and r/TattooApprentice (2024 to 2026), self-reported and not a survey. Non-US figures are left out. The ladder is our layout of the steps artists describe, and the 50% split and deposit figures come from our shop-deal and deposit research, not these threads.

Gal, founder of Collabo.ink, the booking app for tattoo artists. For 15 years I booked sessions for dozens of artists, some of them among the best known in the world. Collabo.ink takes your bookings and deposits, so you can focus on what matters: tattooing.