Looking for the highlight reel? Here’s a quick recap of the biggest coaching statistics.
- There are 4.7 million coaches on Linkedin.
- There are 109,200 certified life coaches in the world in 2024 and around 34,200 in the US.
- Life coaching is one of the fastest-growing industries in the US.
- There are 24,603 registered life coaching businesses in the US as of 2023.
- The coaching market is projected to grow to $6.25 billion in 2024.
Before you enter the scene as a life coach, you might want reassurance that there are enough opportunities.
Here’s our complete guide to life coaching industry statistics as of 2024. Let’s explore why life coaching is a booming industry and the caveats to building a business in it.
How Big is the Global Life Coaching Industry?
Life coaching is predicted to have a market size of $6.25 billion in 2024, growing by roughly 14.5% year on year. It’s a versatile field with new niches emerging and gaining momentum yearly.
That’s impressive considering that life coaching as a concept has only been around for around 40 years.
The industry is made up of 109,200 certified life coaches in the world as of 2024 and around 34,200 in the US. That’s more than double what the International Coaching Federation estimated just two years ago.
Pro Tip: If you’re into detailed market data about the life coaching industry, check out the annual report of IBISWorld. They predict that the coaching industry will greatly benefit from rising levels of disposable income in the coming years.
How Big is the Life Coaching Industry in the U.S.?
There are 23,201 registered life coaching businesses in the US in 2023. That’s a 4.8% annualized growth increase since 2018.
What’s fascinating is that life coaching is the second fastest-growing industry in the US, just behind IT. It’s seeing increased demand in all 50 states.
The states that have the most registered life coach businesses are California, Florida, and Texas.
In terms of certified American coaches, ICF says they have 21,176 coaching practitioners as of October 2022.
How Many Life Coaches are There?
CoachRanks predicts there will be around 145,500 active coaches worldwide in 2024. This would mean that the number of practicing coaches in the market would double from 2019 to 2024.
Of course, the exact numbers are hard to account for, as many practitioners fly under the radar. One thing’s for sure: You’ll have a lot of people to learn from in this field.
LinkedIn Statistics
Another really interesting set of life coaching industry statistics comes from the networking site LinkedIn:
- If you search for ‘coach’ on LinkedIn as of September 2024, you’ll find 4.7 million profiles that feature this in their lower third. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the entire population of Los Angeles.
- A search for ‘life coach’ brings up almost 300,000 profiles. Close to half of them, around 140,000, live in the US. To put this in perspective, LinkedIn has more active life coaches than the total population of St. Louis.
- A search for “business coach” brings up over 610,000 profiles on LinkedIn, out of which 275,000 live in the US.
Instagram Statistics
On Instagram, popular life coaching hashtags generate millions of posts.
As of September 2024:
- #LifeCoach has 17 million posts
- #LifeCoaching has 7 million
- #LifeCoachForWomen has close to a million
How Much Money Do Life Coaches Make?
According to GlassDoor, life coaches make between $51,000 and $92,000 a year on average. However, this spectrum is probably much wider since most coaches are self-employed and set their own rates.
How much they make depends on their location, years of experience, specialization, and whether they coach full-time.
Business coaches tend to make more on average, around $140,000 to $262,000 yearly according to GlassDoor.
Why is Life Coaching a Booming Business?
Here are some of the reasons why life coaching is a growing industry, along with how you can use this information to grow your business.
More People Want to Be Coached
More people are aware of coaching and want to be coached these days than ever before.
In fact, in the 2022 ICF Consumer Awareness Study, 73% of survey respondents were aware of coaching.
People who were currently employed were more likely to know about or had participated in coaching before.
Younger professionals were significantly more likely to have worked with a coach than their older counterparts. For instance, 47% of Millennials had worked with a coach compared to just 21% of Baby Boomers.
This growing awareness is also translating to the corporate world.
In the last ten years, companies have seen how life coaches directly help to boost their bottom line. Career and executive coaches have always charged premium prices, as their work helps companies of all sizes to get great results.
Generally, a productive team leads to higher profit margins, so more businesses hire coaches to invigorate their workforce.
However, it’s not just big companies that benefit from the existence of coaches. Because of all of the demands and stressors of modern life, more people are seeking out great life coaches that can help them handle it all.
Whether an overworked Fortune 500 CEO or a wide-eyed young professional who needs help, a life coach will always be on hand to assist as best they can.
Life coaches are bonafide heroes to some people, and with so many different niches out there, you’re sure to find demand for your skillset in the business world.
The Future of the Coaching Industry
There has never been a better time to start a coaching career. If you distinguish yourself with great training and certifications, then you’ll be on the right path to building a profitable business as a coach.
The positive effects of life coaching are now being felt globally, and organizations like the ICF are great at keeping professionals up to date with the best innovative tools.
The coaching industry is showing a steady trend of growth that’s unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
The Biggest Challenges of the Life Coaching Industry
While the future of the coaching industry looks promising, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any challenges.
The Lack of Regulation
One of the biggest reasons behind the growth of this industry is also one of its biggest challenges: the lack of regulation.
The coaching industry is largely unregulated, meaning anyone can become a coach without formal certification or oversight. On the one hand, this allows for diverse approaches and innovation, making coaching accessible to more people.
On the other hand, the lack of standardized credentials can lead to inconsistency in quality, making it harder for clients to assess a coach’s qualifications or expertise. This raises concerns about professionalism and accountability within the industry.
In the 2022 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study, most clients said it was important that their coach was certified. Additionally, 65% of respondents who have worked with a coach said their coach held a certification or credential.
At the same time, many coaches enter the field without formal education, gaining expertise through work experience, mentors, and self-study. Ultimately, it’s your responsibility as a coach to ensure you have the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively help your clients, regardless of how you acquire them.
Increased Competition
Since the bar is low to start practicing, more and more people are joining the field every year. This creates increased competition.
Successful life coaches tend to master personal branding and marketing to stand out. A great first step to getting better at these is to niche down your coaching business.
Just think about it: If you want to hire a career coach one-on-one to help you move past burnout, do you choose a general one or one that specializes in working with burnt-out executives?
If you specialize as a coach and master helping a certain niche, you can raise your rates, sell your life coaching packages faster, and introduce other services like group coaching to your clients more easily.
Recession Fears
According to ICF, 21% of coaches are worried about the risk of a global recession. While you can’t control the economy, there are a few things you can do to put yourself in a better position to weather an uncertain environment:
- Being consistent with your marketing efforts and bringing in new leads each month
- Having an emergency fund for your business and your life
- Using a solid cash flow management strategy like Profit First
The Bottom Line
These life coaching industry statistics and trends prove that this field still has huge potential.
As more and more coaches join the field, standing out is essential. Niching down allows you to create demand for your unique services, helping you attract the right clients while further diversifying the industry.
If you’re ready to build a standout coaching business, try Paperbell—the all-in-one client management tool that streamlines your bookings, contracts, payments, and more.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2023 and has since been updated for accuracy.
