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- According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median pay for models in 2010 was $15.83 per hour or $32,929 per year. Average earnings are difficult to predict, however—salary ranges can vary widely within a single modeling agency, where there may be one model making $100,000 a year and another who is $20,000 in debt to the agency.
- Modeling agents and managers typically receive a 10 to 20 percent commission on each model’s earnings. However, many agencies negotiate pay on behalf of the models, and models may not be aware of how much they are getting paid for a shoot until it is completed.
- Sociologist and former model Ashley Mears writes in her 2011 book Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model that a day-long fashion shoot for the magazine Vogue pays a model $150.
- The majority of models begin working between 13 and 16 years of age.
- The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is a not-for-profit trade organization fortop fashion designers in the United States. While the CFDA recommends that designers not use models younger than 16 (and suggests that designers check ID to verify age), it does not have the power to enforce this guideline, which means many designers continue to employ underage models. One of the guidelines under the CFDA’s health initiative reads in part: Support the well-being of younger individuals by not hiring models under the age of 16 for runway shows; not allowing models under the age of 18 to work past midnight at fittings or shoots; and providing regular breaks and rest.
- A 2012 Model Alliance survey of 85 female fashion models in the United States in 2012 showed:
- Nearly two thirds of models have been asked by their modeling agencies to lose weight.
- Anxiety or depression affects 68.3 percent of models.
- Of the 85 models who responded, 28.8 percent do not have health insurance.
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