WestwardAI Consulting

Local market data · AI for photographers

Photographers by US metro, 2022

The US had 11,115 photographers with paid staff in 2022, employing 36,521 people at an average of $33,982 a year. 95% have fewer than 10 staff and the average has 3.3 people. New York has the most of the big metros listed here, with 873.

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Photographers in the biggest US metros

MetroBusinessesEmployeesAvg payUnder 10 staffRank of 387
New York8732,103$46,05897%1st
Los Angeles6761,663$40,05796%2nd
Chicago3901,365$34,04094%3rd
Miami319851$33,73896%4th
Atlanta242551$27,18397%5th
Dallas2161,159$45,15493%6th
Houston186630$28,71695%8th
Philadelphia180630$39,92797%9th
Washington176446$38,52997%10th
Boston129433$41,42094%20th

Each metro page adds the size mix, a calculator for what your team's admin hours cost at local pay, and the jobs photographers hand to AI first.

Where these numbers come from

The U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022 (released 2024), NAICS 541921 (Photography studios, portrait). Businesses with paid employees only. More metros are added as each set is checked. Page checked 2026-11-12.

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A free 30-minute call. You leave knowing which part of your photographer to hand to AI first, what we would build, and roughly how long it takes.

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