How Much Does A Figure Skater Make?

Figure skaters use skates to glide across the ice and perform tricks, twirls, and incredible skating feats that inspire awe in their audiences. Professional figure skating is a competitive sport where the best of the best can earn quite a bit of money. The annual pay range for all figure skaters ranges anywhere between $14,500 and $108,000. Read on to learn more about how much the average figure skater makes.

The Average Figure Skater

In the United States, figure skaters make $58,290 a year, or $28 an hour (13% of jobs make that amount of money). 24% of skaters make between $23,000 and $31,500 a year, and 19% of jobs make $82,500 and $90,100 a year.

Figure skaters make the most in California. The top three highest-earning cities in the U.S. are Santa Clara, San Francisco, and Fremont (all in California). Skaters make $34.53, $33.31, and $32.53 an hour on average in those cities, respectively.

Professional Ice Skaters

International figure skating competitions can pay up to $45,000 for the top prize. Therefore, winning competitions can be a good source of income for the competent figure skater. Skaters that travel with a show (such as Disney on Ice) or a cruise ship can earn $500 to $800 a week, which is about $10,000 for three months of work.

Some nations reward figure skaters with bonuses for medaling at the Olympics. For example, US Olympic skaters can earn $22,500 for a silver medal and $37,500 for a gold medal while other countries may pay even more. While this is a good sum, skaters earn the most through sponsors and advertisements. Nathan Chen, for example, earned one million dollars even before the 2008 Beijing Olympics began from his sponsors Nike, Visa, and Comcast. 

Top Earning Figure Skaters

The top-earning figure skaters get their money from winning competitions and catching the eyes of sponsors. We detail the net worth of the three highest-earning figure skaters below and explain how they got their money:

Yuna Kim, $35.5 million: Yuna is one of the most decorated figure skaters ever. She has won gold in the Olympics,  the Four Continents Championships, the World Championships, and the Grand Prix Finals.

Scott Hamilton, $30 million: Hamilton has won four consecutive U.S. Figure Skating Championships. He also created the show Stars on Ice. Furthermore, Hamilton has written two books and provided sports commentary in figure skating matches.

Evgeni Plushenko, $21 million: Has earned gold in the Olympics twice, three times in World Championships, and seven times in the European Figure Skating Championships.

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