The short version
- A US headshot session averages $304, and most cost $216 to $427 (Thumbtack's 2025 price guide).
- Most packages include only one to three retouched images. Extra images, extra looks, and hair and makeup are priced on top.
- On-site team days in the biggest cities work out at $125 to $275 per person.
- The cheap routes: a phone by a window is free, a chain studio is about $75, and AI credit packs here start at $9.99.
- Pay a photographer for casting photos, print and press, or when you want in-person direction.
How much do headshots cost on average
A professional headshot session in the United States costs $304 on average, and most prices fall between $216 and $427. Those are the figures in Thumbtack's 2025 price guide, read in October 2026. Bark, another marketplace, prices by the hour and reports $100 to $230, with $150 as the average, in its 2025 guide.
Marketplace averages blend every kind of photographer and every size of city. Specialists in big cities publish higher numbers. A San Francisco headshot studio puts a standard session in a major city at $295 to $450, and a New York corporate photographer says individual sessions there cost $250 to $600 (both read in October 2026).
The full range is wider still. A chain portrait studio can do it for about $75. A well-known New York specialist charges a $1,500 session fee before you have bought a single image. Where your quote lands depends on the type of session and on what is included.
Headshot pricing by type of session
These are published rates and published ranges, all read in October 2026. The sources are linked under the table.
| Type of session | Published price | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| US average, all headshots | $216 to $427, $304 on average (Thumbtack) | Thumbtack's national figure for headshots of every kind. It does not say how many looks or images that covers |
| Mini session | From $175 (Colorado Springs Headshots) | Half an hour and one retouched image |
| Chain portrait studio | $14.99 session fee plus $59.99 for one digital image (JCPenney Portraits) | About 15 minutes in the camera room, with retouching charged per image |
| On-demand marketplace | From $89 for the first hour, plus a 15% service fee (Snappr) | A vetted local photographer and a set number of edited photos |
| Actor headshots | $490 for two looks, $690 for four, $890 for six (Ari Scott, New York) | One retouched image per look |
| Corporate, per person | $125 to $275 on site in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco (market range, Johnny Wolf Studio) | A photographer at your office and a retouched photo for each person |
| Corporate, day rate | Half day $1,500 to $3,500, full day $2,500 to $6,000 or more (market range, Johnny Wolf Studio) | Four or eight hours on site, priced by time instead of headcount |
| Top-name photographer | $1,500 session fee plus $300 per image (Peter Hurley, New York) | Direction from a well-known specialist, with retouching included in the image fee |
Sources: Thumbtack, Colorado Springs Headshots, JCPenney Portraits, Snappr, Ari Scott Photography, Johnny Wolf Studio and Peter Hurley.
Individual sessions
Three published examples show what the middle of the market looks like. Colorado Springs Headshots starts at $295 for up to two hours and two retouched images. 415Headshots in San Francisco sells a coached session with two retouched images for $219. Ari Scott in New York charges $290 for one look and one retouched image.
Corporate and team headshots
Teams are priced per person or by the day. Johnny Wolf Studio's market breakdown puts on-site work in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco at $125 to $275 per person. New York photographer James Maher quotes the same range with full retouching, and from $75 per person with light editing. In San Francisco, Josh Edelson starts half days at $2,000 and charges $3,500 to $4,000 for a full day. At a $2,000 half day, 20 people works out at $100 each, which is why day rates suit larger groups. Ask whether retouching is included: Johnny Wolf Studio's breakdown has day rates billing it separately, at $35 to $75 per image in the biggest cities. See corporate headshots and team headshots for what the result should look like.
Actor and model headshots
Actors pay for looks, because each look is a different casting type. Ari Scott's packages above add $100 for each extra look and $40 for each extra retouch. 415Headshots puts the wider market at $249 to $1,500. Bark's guide lists entertainment headshots at $140 to $270 and modelling headshots at $150 to $185, against $100 to $200 for corporate ones.
Mini sessions and chain studios
A mini session is a short slot with one or two final images. Colorado Springs Headshots sells a half-hour corporate mini session with one retouched image from $175. Atlanta photographer Mike Glatzer notes that session-fee pricing can start at $50 for a 30-minute shoot, with retouched images then sold at $50 to $100 or more each. At JCPenney Portraits the session fee is $14.99 per person. One digital image is $59.99, three are $79.99, and the full album is $179.99.
What drives the price of a headshot
Six things move a quote, roughly in this order.
- Location. Big-city studios pay big-city rent. Bark's averages run from $150 in Wisconsin to $225 in California.
- The photographer's name. At Peter Hurley's studio, a session with Hurley is $1,500 plus $300 per image. A session with the studio's in-house photographer is $500 plus $150 per image.
- Session length and looks. More time means more outfits and backgrounds. Extra looks are often priced one by one.
- Number of retouched images. This is the line that surprises people. Most packages include one to three finished images, and each extra one costs more.
- Usage and licensing. A personal headshot price normally covers your profiles, your CV and your own website. Hurley's image fee, for example, includes unlimited personal-use licensing. If a company wants the photo for advertising, ask whether that is covered. Johnny Wolf Studio says team packages should include a licence for website, press and marketing use.
- Studio or on site. When the photographer brings lights and a backdrop to your office, you pay for travel and setup time, usually as a half-day or day rate.
What you actually get for the money
A session fee buys the photographer's time, lighting and direction. What you take home is smaller than most people expect. In the published packages above, $219 to $295 buys one or two retouched images, not a folder of fifty.
A typical mid-range session includes:
- 30 minutes to two hours with the photographer, including coaching on expression and posture
- One or two outfits or backgrounds
- An online gallery of unedited proofs to choose from
- One to three retouched, full-resolution files
- The right to use those files for your own professional profiles
The direction is the part you cannot get elsewhere. A good photographer notices the raised shoulder and the forced smile and fixes them on the spot. If you are choosing between two quotes, compare what is included, not the headline number.
Do
- Ask how many retouched images the price includes
- Ask what each extra image and each extra look costs
- Ask what you are allowed to use the photos for
- Ask when the final files arrive
Don't
- Assume the session fee includes the image files
- Compare an hourly rate with a package price
- Pay for six looks when you need one profile photo
- Add hair and makeup without asking what it costs
Extras that are not in the headline price
These are the extras that turn a $300 quote into a $500 bill. Each example is a published price or a published range, read in October 2026.
| Extra | Published examples |
|---|---|
| Extra retouched image | $40 (Ari Scott), $49 (Colorado Springs Headshots), $45 to $150 in San Francisco (415Headshots), $9.99 retouching per image at JCPenney Portraits |
| Extra look or outfit | $100 each (Ari Scott) |
| Hair and makeup, one person | $150 to $400 as a general range (Mike Glatzer's guide), $300 to $450 (Peter Hurley's studio) |
| Hair and makeup, team day | $600 to $1,200 a day in major cities (market range, Johnny Wolf Studio) |
| All the files | $395 to buy out your top 25 images (Colorado Springs Headshots), $179.99 for the full digital album (JCPenney Portraits) |
| Platform fee | 15% service fee on top of the hourly price (Snappr) |
| Deposit | Many photographers ask for a non-refundable booking fee, either a set amount or up to 50% of the session fee (Mike Glatzer's guide) |
Sources: Ari Scott, Colorado Springs Headshots, 415Headshots, JCPenney Portraits, Mike Glatzer, Peter Hurley, Johnny Wolf Studio and Snappr.
A worked example, mixing those prices: a $295 session with two images included, two extra images at $49 each, and hair and makeup at $150 comes to $543. Nothing in that total is unusual, and none of it is hidden if you ask first.
Cheaper ways to get a headshot
Take it yourself
A phone, a window and ten minutes cost nothing. Face the window, put the phone at eye level an arm's length or more away, and use the rear camera with a timer. Our guide on how to take your own headshot covers the setup, what to wear covers the outfit, and headshot poses covers the rest. The limit is the background and the light you happen to have at home.
Book a mini session or a chain studio
This is the cheapest way to be photographed by someone else. About $75 at JCPenney Portraits buys one digital image, and their standard session lasts about 45 minutes, 15 of them in the camera room. Expect a clean, standard portrait and little direction.
Use an AI headshot generator
An AI generator makes the headshot from selfies you already have. Our free AI headshot generator works from one to three selfies, and a photo takes about a minute. You pick the outfit, background and lighting by choosing from the styles library or by describing the look in words. New accounts get 5 free credits with no credit card, and free photos are full resolution with no watermark. After that, credits are paid once, with no subscription:
- Starter: 20 credits for $9.99, which is $0.50 a photo
- Value: 120 credits for $29.99, which is $0.25 a photo
- Flash: 300 credits for $49.99, which is $0.17 a photo
One credit makes one photo at standard quality, and the highest quality setting uses two. Credits can expire after 12 months without activity. For comparison, as of October 2026 HeadshotPro charges $29 for 30 headshots up to $59 for 70, and Aragon charges $35 for 40 up to $75 for 100.
The selfie
Free, and already on your phone.
Studio look
Generated from that selfie for one credit.
Office look
Same selfie, different outfit and background.
The photos above are AI-generated and the person is fictional. That is also the limit of this route: the result is a generated image, not a record of a moment. Some results will not look enough like you, so generate a few and keep the ones that do. If none of them work, there is a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Try the free route before you book anything
Photographer, DIY or AI: the routes compared
The same routes side by side. Costs are the published figures from the sections above, read in October 2026.
| Route | Cost | Time | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent photographer | $216 to $427 typical, $250 to $600 in New York | Book ahead, 30 minutes to two hours in the session, then wait for the edits | In-person direction, studio light, one to three retouched images | Senior roles, press photos, print, actors and models |
| On-site team day | $125 to $275 per person in the biggest cities | A half or full day at the office | Matching photos of everyone who is in that day | Companies that want one consistent look |
| Chain studio | About $75 for one digital image | About 45 minutes in the store | A standard portrait from a real camera, retouching extra | A basic photo on a small budget |
| DIY with a phone | Free | 10 to 20 minutes | One real photo, as good as your light and background | Students, quick profile updates |
| AI generator | Free for the first 5 photos, then $0.17 to $0.50 a photo here | About a minute a photo | As many outfits and backgrounds as you have credits, from 1 to 3 selfies | LinkedIn, CVs, company pages, a photo you need today |
The routes are not exclusive. Plenty of people take a decent selfie by a window, turn it into a LinkedIn headshot with AI, and book a photographer later when a promotion or a press request makes it worth the money. You can see what the AI route produces on the headshot examples page.
When paying a photographer is worth it
A photographer is the better choice in these cases.
- You are an actor or a model. Casting needs a photo that matches the person who walks into the room. A generated image is the wrong tool, and a heavily edited one is too.
- The photo will be printed large or sent to the press. A conference banner, a magazine feature or an annual report deserves a real, high-resolution file and a clear licence.
- You freeze in front of a camera. Direction is what you are paying for. Someone who can relax you in ten minutes is worth more than any backdrop.
- The whole team is in one place. An on-site day gives everyone the same light and the same crop in one go, and the per-person cost drops as the group grows.
- Your face is the product. For a senior leadership page or a personal brand that sells on trust, a few hundred dollars spread over the years you will use the photo is small.
For everything else, such as a LinkedIn profile, a CV, an email signature or a team page that needs filling this week, start with the free routes. The guide to professional headshots covers what a good one looks like, whichever way you get it.
