What freelancers cost in China in 2026, by role

155,491 yuan: that was the average 2025 wage of a professional or technical employee in China, and it’s where a freelancer’s price starts.

China’s statistics office put the 2025 average wage of professional and technical staff at larger employers at 155,491 yuan a year, about 596 yuan per paid day, and of IT professionals at 275,504 yuan, about 1,056 a day. A freelancer charges more per day than that, because they pay their own social insurance and aren’t paid between jobs.

Employee wages by role group, 2025 (NBS, published May 15, 2026; Shenzhen Statistics Bureau, July 24, 2026). Edition 1, October 2026. Monthly, daily and hourly figures are our arithmetic. Dollars at the CFETS central parity of October 16, 2026, US$1 = 6.7220 yuan.

The official day wage

Everything in the day column hangs on one number, 21.75, and it comes from the human resources ministry. The State Council raised public holidays to 13 days a year from January 1, 2025 (Order No. 795). The ministry’s notice of the same day reset working time to match, and kept the paid days a month where they were.

Holidays stay in the count because an employer has to pay for them. So an employee is paid for 261 days a year and works 248, the working-day figure in the same notice. Divide the year by 248 instead and the professional wage comes to 627 yuan per day worked, not 596. Either way, a freelancer is paid only for the days they bill.

The annual figures behind the table, as the two bureaus published them:

From a wage to a day rate

A freelancer’s day rate has to pay for what an employer would otherwise cover, and for the days when nobody pays at all. Here’s the arithmetic for one case.

Step two is also a reminder that a freelancer isn’t your employee: they handle their own social insurance, and the hours are theirs to set. Contractor or employee in China sets out where Chinese law draws the line.

The example simplifies in three places. The national rules let a flexible worker choose a pension base between 60% and 300% of the province’s average wage (国办发〔2019〕13号), so a freelancer on a higher base pays more. Medical insurance isn’t counted here, and a freelancer who buys it pays more again. And step two overstates slightly, because the bureau’s wage already includes the employee’s own 8% pension share; at the 5,521 floor, that share comes to about 5,300 yuan a year.

Income tax sits on top of all of it. Who withholds it depends on who pays the freelancer and from where, and the chapter on paying covers the routes in RMB and who withholds.

The bid on your brief will differ from 937. Use the example to check whether a bid is in a sane range.

Reading a bid against the table

If you came here with a bid already in hand, start with this section.

A bid usually prices milestones, not days, so work out the day rate yourself. Ask each bidder how many days each milestone takes, then divide the milestone’s price by those days. Get the days in writing, too. A bidder who can’t say how long a milestone will take probably hasn’t planned it yet.

Say a designer bids 4,500 yuan for a milestone she expects to take five days. That’s 900 yuan a day. The design row’s employee day wage is 662 yuan, and the worked example came to 937 on the professional wage, so this bid sits in range. Now say another bid comes in at 1,500 yuan for the same five days: 300 a day, below the day wage of a service employee. Ask what’s missing from that plan before you accept it. Both bids are examples, not market prices.

If a freelancer quotes by the hour, multiply by eight and use the day columns. If they quote by the month for ongoing work, use the month column, and remember the month figure is an employee’s, with paid holidays and an employer’s insurance behind it.

The legal floor

The minimum wage is the lowest official figure you’ll find, and for a freelance budget it matters least. China’s minimum wages are set by each province, and the human resources ministry publishes the table.

The floor protects employees, so for a freelance price it’s only context. Even the lowest monthly figure in the table, 6,655 yuan, is more than twice Shanghai’s minimum.

What pushes a quote up or down

• City. Local wages set local expectations, and Shenzhen’s all-staff average of 191,367 yuan is above the national figure for professional staff.
• Seniority and a portfolio you can check. A freelancer who can show dated work for clients like you will price above one who can’t.
• English for live calls. Fewer freelancers can run a call with your team in English, and the ones who can price that in.
• Deadline. A rush job pushes other clients aside, and the bid reflects that.
• Travel to a site. A factory visit can turn a half day of work into a full day once the train is counted.
• The size and length of the job. A month of steady work can carry a lower day price than a two-day job that still needs the same setup.

For sourcing work, the guide to hiring a freelance sourcing agent shows how to scope it, and sourcing agent fees compares the ways to pay for it.

Edition history

Edition 1, October 18, 2026. The next edition follows the bureau’s release of 2026 wages; the 2025 figures came out on May 15, 2026.

On ChinaTalentDesk you fund one milestone at a time, as Pricing explains. Set a budget per milestone, and let the bids tell you the price. Start a brief.