The Creative Independent is a resource of emotional and practical guidance for artists of all types. Our aim is to publish resources and produce programming that make it easier to thrive as a creative person. In our work, we’ve noticed a lack of accessible information on how visual artists can expect to sustain themselves financially. Because of this, we’ve seen how hard it can be for aspiring artists to make informed decisions and plan for the future.

In spring of 2018, we conducted an anonymous survey for visual artists asking them to share how they were able or unable to achieve financial stability. With this report, we hope to paint a clearer picture of how structures of the art world work (or don’t work) to grow artists’ careers, help them earn a living, and satisfy their overall human needs.

By capturing the opinions and perspectives of 1,016 individuals, this report offers a snapshot of the financial state of visual artists today. We hope that what follows will be useful if you’re working to forge your own path as a visual artist. If you’d like to make your own analysis of our survey’s data, you can download the entire data set as a CSV file.