How Much Do TikTok Influencers Make? (2026 Data)
Every day, millions of users worldwide log into TikTok to scroll through short-form videos. The social media app has become a global phenomenon, spawning a new generation of influencers in the process.
With the top TikTok influencers pulling in millions of dollars per year, aspiring content creators are flocking to the platform in hopes of achieving similar success.
Of course, not everyone can become a TikTok millionaire.
This report examines how much the typical content creator can expect to earn in addition to the eye-popping figures the A-listers are pulling in.
TikTok Influencer Average Salary
The latest industry data shows that TikTok influencers earn an average salary of $44,250.
That's about 2/3 of the average US salary. For work that's often a side hustle, it is an eye-catching figure.
However, it may be a little misleading. That’s because mega-influencers — also known as “TikTok royalty” — can sometimes pull in seven-and-eight-figure salaries.
Those highly paid TikTokers skew the average salary upwards. And don’t necessarily reflect what the vast majority of TikTok creators earn on the platform.
Typical TikTok Influencer Earnings
NeoReach’s Creator Earnings and Insights Industry Report takes a closer look at the typical salary for influencers and content creators.
This data covers all platforms. But TikTok was most represented in the survey, with 45.5% of all respondents using the app (the next highest was YouTube, at 30%).
Here’s the breakdown from their survey:
- 50.7% earned less than $15,000
- 8.06% earned between $15,000 and $25,000
- 5.92% earned between $25,000 and $35,000
- 3.55% earned between $35,000 and $50,000
- 13.51% earned between $50,000 and $75,000
- 2.84% earned between $75,000 and $100,000
- 9.72% earned between $100,000 and $150,000
- 5.69% earned $200,000 or more
And despite being the most-used platform among influencers, TikTok is not the most lucrative on average. YouTube, OnlyFans, and Instagram influencers all average higher annual earnings.
NeoReach confirms that TikTok has the heaviest concentration of lower income brackets.
Based on this, we can conclude that the median salary for TikTok influencers is less than $15,000.
Here's how TikTok earnings compare to other platforms:
| Platform | Average Creator Earnings (2025) |
| $81,700 | |
| YouTube | $62,400 |
| OnlyFans | $60,700 |
| TikTok | $44,250 |
| Twitch | $25,600 |
If you’re wondering where all this money for influencers is coming from, keep reading as we break down how TikTok creators monetize their content.
Source: NeoReach
How Do TikTok Influencers Earn Money?
When it comes to earning potential for TikTok influencers, the sky's the limit.
But how are all these influencers getting paid?
Let’s break down the various revenue streams available to TikTok influencers.
Brand Partnerships/Sponsored Posts
The entire influencer/creator economy is centered around creators endorsing brands’ products.
This is especially true for platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where creators can’t earn money passively through ads (like they can with YouTube).
On TikTok, brands typically pay influencers a flat rate to create posts hyping their products.
To manage this, platforms like Semrush Influencer Analytics are invaluable.
The Influencer Analytics app allows brands to find suitable influencers for marketing campaigns.
Brands can forecast the cost of their campaigns and track competing brands' performance.
Here’s a look at how much TikTok influencers can earn per sponsored posts based on their follower count:
| Followers | $/Post (Low End) | $/Post (High End) |
| 1,000-10,000 | $20 | $150 |
| 10,000-50,000 | $30 | $400 |
| 50,000-500,000 | $80 | $1,650 |
| 500,000-1,000,000 | $150 | $3,500 |
| 1,000,000+ | $1,200 | Unlimited |
49.9% of content creators say they earn the most income from sponsored posts and brand deals. It's still the most popular revenue stream, although it has dropped signifcantly from 66.9% in 2023.
Ad revenue is now the top earner for more than 20% of creators.
Sources: HypeAuditor, NeoReach
TikTok Creator Fund
In July 2020, TikTok launched its Creator Fund in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain.
The fund pays content creators based on how many views their videos receive.
To be eligible for the fund, creators must have at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views over the past 30 days.
The Creator Fund offers a path toward monetization, but its payouts aren’t too impressive.
Influencers can expect to earn between $0.02 and $0.04 for every 1,000 views from the Creator Fund.
That’s $20-40 for every one million views.
Not exactly a cash cow, which is why most influencers don’t rely on the Creator Fund to earn a living.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing has been around for decades, and TikTok creators have found a way to leverage it in their content.
In this monetization strategy, influencers promote products and post a link to purchase the product in their profile or the video’s comments section.
When a user buys a product using that link, the influencer earns a commission.
Influencers can become affiliates by working directly with brands (often by making connections at marketing conferences and events), or by tapping into massive affiliate networks like Amazon Associates and Etsy Affiliate.
And with TikTok becoming the home of social commerce in the US, affiliate marketing is more frictionless than on other platforms. TikTok Shop recorded gross merchandise value of $50 billion last year.
The top affiliates can generate in excess of $2.2 million per month.
In a 30-day period spanning December 2025 and January 2026, four separate creators passed $1.5 million in TikTok Shop affiliate commissions.
You can use the TikTok Insights tool on Exploding Topics to tap into trending product categories.
You can do a general search or filter by category, getting up-to-date data on what's actually trending on TikTok within your niche. You can even view the top-performing videos related to any given topic.
Source: NeoReach, Exploding Topics, Kalodata
TikTok Live Gifts
TikTok Live lets creators interact with their fans in real-time. During these live sessions, fans can send creators digital gifts.
These are stickers that can be redeemed for coins, which in turn can be redeemed for money.
Daily earnings from gifts are reported on Tikleap. For instance, between January 9 and January 14, 2026, US creators alone earned an estimated $2,022,753.
However, much like the creator fund, TikTok Live gifts typically aren’t very impactful for individual creators. While they range in value from $0.01 to $562.48, most stickers are only worth a few cents.
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Top Earning TikTok Influencers (2026)
While most TikTok influencers only earn a few thousand dollars per year, the highest-earning stars are making millions through brand partnerships gained through the app.
This list covers 10 of the highest-paid social media stars using TikTok.
1. MrBeast
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $85 million
TikTok Followers: 114 million
With over half a billion followers across social platforms, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) is the most-followed creator in the world. Over 300 million of those followers come from YouTube, where his channel has the largest subscriber base on the platform. MrBeast's popularity on TikTok has skyrocketed recently, more than doubling since November 2022 to reach over 100 million.
His brands include Feastables, Lunchly, and Amazon-exclusive Beast Games.
In January 2025, TikTok was banned in the US. As the US government looked for a US buyer, MrBeast publicly announced his interest in purchasing TikTok.
2. Dhar Mann
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $56 million
TikTok Followers: 16.5 million
Initially gaining popularity through his short films on YouTube, Dhar Mann has amassed millions of TikTok followers. A large production team creates his story-based videos, attracting viral audiences across multiple platforms.
3. Jake Paul
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $50 million
TikTok Followers: 19.3 million
Jake Paul got his break on the Disney Channel with Bizaardvark but has since pivoted to social media. These days, Jake is best known for his boxing, which is the main focus of his TikTok page. The younger Paul brother also has several companies, including body care brand W Labs, betting app Betr, and events brand Most Valuable Promotions.
4. Rhett and Link
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $36 million
TikTok Followers: 5.2 million
Rhett and Link, also known as Mythical, are an internet-native comedy duo. With multi-million followings across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and more, their skits and routines are wildly popular. They also run a creator fund to support and invest in upcoming influencers.
5. Alex Cooper
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $32 million
TikTok Followers: 3 million
Alex Cooper is best known as the creator and host of the Call Her Daddy podcast (which has over 5 million TikTok followers of its own). Big name guests on the show have included Kamala Harris, Miley Cyrus, and Zayn Malik. In her personal capcity, Cooper has partnered with blue-chip brands like Google.
6. Charli D’Amelio
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $23.5 million
TikTok Followers: 155.9 million
Charli D’Amelio started her TikTok career in 2019 by posting lip-syncing and dance videos. She soon became the most followed influencer on the platform, leading to her opening for the Jonas Brothers and appearing on The Tonight Show. She has since worked with brands like CeraVe, Prada, and Dunkin’ Donuts and has her own show on Hulu with her sister Dixie.
7. Matt Rife
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $50 million
TikTok Followers: 19.7 million
Matt Rife is a comedian and actor. He's appeared in high-profile traditional media including Brooklyn 99, and has had multiple Netflix specials. But he also has an extremely strong online social media presence, making him an in-demand influencer.
8. Mark Rober
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $50 million
TikTok Followers: 3.8 million
Mark Rober is a science video creator. Primarily known as a YouTuber, his TikTok following of nearly 4 million shows how single-platform influencers are becoming increasingly rare. He can command lucrative partnerships by strength of his TikTok following alone, while he's also the founder of STEM education company CrunchLabs.
9. Druski
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $14 million
TikTok Followers: 12.4 million
Druski is a comedian and influencer. Popular with premium brands like Google and Nike, he also appeared in the 2025 Super Bowl ad for Dunkin' Donuts. Starting out on Instagram, he now counts TikTok as his largest social channel.
10. Khaby Lame
Estimated Social Media Earnings: $20 million
TikTok Followers: 160.5 million
Khaby Lame doesn’t post dance or lip-sync videos. Instead, he creates comedic skits, often parodying other viral TikTok videos. The Senegalese mega-influencer has overtaken Charli D'Amelio to become the most-followed creator on the platform. Khaby has had brand partnerships with the likes of State Farm and Hugo Boss.
Here's a table of the top-earning influencers and their TikTok followings, as of January 2026. Ranking order comes from Forbes' 2025 list of top creators:
| Influencer | TikTok Followers | Social Media Earnings (all platforms) |
| MrBeast | 114 million | $85 million |
| Dhar Mann | 16.5 million | $56 million |
| Jake Paul | 19.3 million | $50 million |
| Rhett and Link | 5.2 million | $36 million |
| Alex Cooper | 3 million | $32 million |
| Charli D'Amelio | 155.9 million | $23.5 million |
| Matt Rife | 19.7 million | $50 million |
| Mark Rober | 3.8 million | $50 million |
| Druski | 12.4 million | $14 million |
| Khaby Lame | 160.5 million | $20 million |
Source: Forbes, TikTok, Google Blog
TikTok Ban Risk and What Oracle Deal Means For Creators
TikTok is clearly a lucrative avenue for many creators. In most cases, a significant chunk of their audience are based in the US.
So the looming threat of a TikTok ban throughhout 2025 was a big deal. 99.5% of TikTok creators created a plan to pivot in the event of a ban.
Most creators (65.3%) planned to shift their efforts to Instagram. 29.8% planned to move to YouTube, while 3.5% intended to focus on Twitch.
Two-thirds of creators believed a TikTok ban would have a negative impact on the creator economy.
Fortunately, the threat of a ban now seems to have been averted. Completing in January 2026, a deal has been agreed to create a new domestic entity that will operate TikTok in the US.
Oracle is leading a consortium of investors including Silver Lake and MGX. Meanwhile, ByteDance will retain a 19.9% share.
As well as investing, Oracle will be tasked with making sure the US-based version of TikTok is compliant with security goals. The White House has been involved in brokering the deal, with President Trump repeatedly delaying a ban deadline while an agreement was being struck.
While influencers will clearly be glad that TikTok is set to be saved, the jury is out on the full impact of the Oracle agreement. Time will tell what form the app takes moving forward under new guidance, and what that means for the creator ecosystem.
Key Takeaways
TikTok influencers have the potential to make seven or eight-figure salaries. For most, being a TikTok creator is more of a side hustle than a career.
There are monetization features baked into the app, but influencers need massive followings and multiple brand partnerships if they are to make life-changing money.
If you would like to learn more about TikTok, read our other TikTok reports:
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Exploding Topics is owned by Semrush. Our mission is to provide accurate data and expert insights on emerging trends. Unless otherwise noted, this page’s content was written by either an employee or a paid contractor of Semrush Inc.
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Josh is the Co-Founder and CTO of Exploding Topics. Josh has led Exploding Topics product development from the first line of co... Read more