* Post updated 2024. Due to peso fluctuation, amounts are quoted in U.S. dollars
The most frequently asked question of all about teaching English as a second language in Argentina has to do with the payscale.
There are many people who seek out a living as English teachers in Argentina and even more who get by with a combination of teaching English and other paid work. In any case it is recommended to come to the country with sufficient savings to cover your costs for a few months until you build up a regular clientele.
Q. How much money can I make as an English teacher in Argentina?
A. Most English teachers in Argentina are paid an hourly wage.
If you work for an institution, they generally pay about the equivalent of US$10 per hour.
For a private class a typical fee starts at US$12 per hour, although you can sometimes ask for as much as US$15-20, depending on factors such as travel time, number of hours per week and your reputation as a teacher. If you are just starting out, you may want to offer private classes for a cheaper rate, in order to build up your number of students.
What this amounts to per month depends entirely on how much you work. Most ‘full-time’ teachers average about four or five classes per day. Such a workload would allow you to make a salary that is better than the average local wage, but much less than professionals in the corporate world, and the workload as a full-time teacher can be grueling.
A very important factor to consider is the travel time between classes. Not many academies can offer you a whole batch of classes at one company, so you will likely be traveling around by foot, bike, bus or subway in order to get to different classes around the city. So it is possible to ‘work’ a 12-hour day, but only actually earn a fee for five or six of those hours, with the rest of the time spent traveling between destinations, or on little breaks of one or two hours that you could not fill with a class.
Quick tip: To save money on subway or bus fare, and get some exercise during the workday borrow a bike if in Buenos Aires through the city’s bike lending program, Eco Bici.
The majority of English students prefer classes at one of three times of day: before work, lunch time, or straight after work. Therefore you tend to easily fill those time slots with classes, but have more trouble filling the spaces in between.
So you can earn enough to survive and have a little fun if you are prepared to work long days, and are lucky enough to fill up your schedule or find well-paying private students. Many opt to teach less classes per day, or only work three or four days a week and earn just enough to live like a typical college student.
At the low end, a teacher can expect to earn the peso equivalent of US$200 teaching 15 one-hour classes. A fulltime teacher working 40 hours a week can earn anywhere from the peso equivilant of US$400 to $625 per week, which isn’t bad money, especially outside of Buenos Aires.
To see how this relates to the cost of living in the country, see check out the FAQ at Wander Argentina.com.
Note: There is a high inflation rate in Argentina which can make earning pesos a rollercoaster ride (and this is why we quote prices in US dollars) — luckily class fees tend to increase along with inflation as well.
Hi there, I’m currently teaching English out here in Salta, Argentina. I agree with this article and it’s really important to know that inflation is high here and prices change on a weekly basis. Your salary, however, will only increase annualy, if at all, so wages do not reflect the rate of inflation. Living costs are high and the average English teacher will have to budget.
I am currently working at a private English institute earning AR$ 87 an hour on a 20 hour week. With my boyfriend earning about the same, it’s just enough for us to pay for rent, food and have one ‘luxury’ a month – for example, to make a short weekend trip, or to buy some clothes, or to go out for a meal or two, … or to pay for an extension on our visas. So bear in mind that we are sharing a lot of living costs so it’s easier than if we were living here alone.
As we love travelling, we would love to go away and visit a bit more at the weekends, but, apart from that, we love it here! As long as we keep track of our spending, we can manage just fine.
I’ve made a website giving information about living and teaching English in South America and I’m in the process of updating the Argentina section. Please have a look if you’re interested: (dead link deactivated)
Thanks 🙂
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I have a blog centered on the same ideas you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information.
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Hi,
Good article but I have a few things to say on the earnings here. I’ve been in Argentina for 5 months now and I’ve worked in a language institute, a company that gets you work in businesses and I have my own private classes. There are websites where you create a teacher profile and find students but you won’t get enough students from these to fill your time. You need to be very social and market yourself as much as possible. The wages in the article are incredibly high. I am a native English speaker with a TEFL certificate and a Masters Degree but students will run away if I try to charge more than 500 pesos for a class ($11.50). I worked at a language institute and was paid 110 pesos per hour ($2.50). Granted, I didn’t have a work visa,
still only but the wage for my colleagues with visas was 170 pesos ($3.90). Argentina is a great place but the current economic situation means you have to be prepared to hustle. I’m producing flyers and a presentation to go into private businesses to offer my services. I wouldn’t want to put anyone off, only to make you aware of the real wages here as this article is misleading.