If the 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study were a person, it would be Donald Trump.
A few grains of truth wrapped up in some high-class bullshittery, self-delusion, and fantasy that is sadly taken seriously by too many people.
But before I get into why I believe the study is not just a load of old bollocks, but further undermines the already fragile credibility of a struggling and brutally competitive industry, I want to say this.
I am a HUGE believer in coaching.
And I would be a HUGE believer in the coaching industry as a whole if it could get its collective shit together.
I’ve been a coach since 2005, and as I type this, about 90% of my clients are coaches.
I quite literally wouldn’t have a business without coaches.
So even though this post may seem doom and gloom, it isn’t.
In fact, it’s ultimately hopeful for any coach prepared to put in the necessary work.
My goal isn’t to rip the dreams away from anyone who is fully committed to becoming a successful coach.
Why would I want to do that when it has potentially negative repercussions for my business?
I just want to inject a note of honesty, integrity, and realism into the proceedings.
And to highlight how difficult it is to get coaching clients.
By doing that, I sleep more easily at night, but more importantly, fewer people end up spending thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on training that ultimately proves useless to them.
It is absolutely possible to become a fully booked coach. But not without working really hard and learning marketing.
So the choice is yours
Note: Most of the stats I give are global, but a couple are U.S. as noted accordingly.
The glossy summary vs. the grim reality
With each survey, the ICF releases an upbeat executive summary alongside the full report that serves as a taster.
Whereas the full report for a non-ICF member, like myself, costs $299 (and $99 for members), the summary is available free of charge.
That’s standard practice and not an unreasonable way to make sure the headline stats are widely distributed.
Well, it wouldn’t be unreasonable if the stats were representative of the entire report.
But they’re not, they’re cherry-picked and designed to make the coaching industry look like the Klondike in 1896.
And that’s a problem when they’re the only stats that many new coaches are likely to see.
Not only that, but the stats are the ones most likely to be indexed in Google and reported on by LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini.
Which means that any new coach savvy enough to do a little bit of research is probably going to find stats designed to encourage them down the coaching path, rather than giving them an honest appraisal.
Because the 2025 summary leads with the headline that the coaching industry is now worth an estimated $5.34 billion USD, a 17% increase over 2023.
And goes on to say the average coach in the U.S. earns $71,719 (more shortly) and $49,283 globally.
Who wouldn’t want to hop aboard that gravy train?
However, not only are those numbers misleading, but they are also taken from a survey that suffers from a serious case of survivorship bias.
Survivorship bias, and why it’s important
Imagine abandoning a hundred people on an island in the middle of an Australian crocodile-infested river.
Now imagine judging the difficulty of making it back to shore safely on what the only ten people who did so have to say.
They might tell you it was nerve-racking, but it’s not going to give you the full picture.
For that, you would need to interview the families of the ones who didn’t make it.
Or perhaps look at all the blood-spattered, half-chewed sneakers floating gently down the river.
Metaphorically speaking, the ICF interviewed the survivors.
The people who filled in this survey are far more likely to be successful simply because they cared enough about coaching to bother responding.
The thousands of coaches struggling to get a single paying client likely aren’t filling out the necessary forms, even if the ICF can get an envelope into their hands.
They’re far too busy explaining to a partner where the kids’ college fund went. Or feeling shit about themselves because everyone else seems to be making a go of coaching, and earning 70k whilst they can’t.
And maybe that’s why the number of people responding to the study has more t han halved in five years.
If the industry is expanding and booming, why is there such a precipitous drop-off in people filling out a survey commissioned by the governing body?
Not only are there fewer respondents, but the exec report is also getting shorter each time.
The 2025 executive summary is barely half the length of the 2020 version.
Could that be because there isn’t as much good news to pad it out with?
Of course it fucking could.
Who filled out the 2025 ICF coaching survey?
Of the people who did reply, 54% work in leadership or executive coaching.
A further 13% work in various forms of business coaching (organisational, sales, agile, etc), making up 67% of all respondents.
I’ve worked with over 500 coaches, and I’ve met many hundreds more.
I bet less than 5% of those coaches fit into those categories.
I know that’s an anecdotal stat and I’m unlikely to get hired by many leadership or exec coaches.
But even so, it’s nothing short of ludicrous to expect people to believe that two-thirds of all coaches are somehow connected to business/corporate coaching.
Not that I’m saying the ICF believe that, or is suggesting it, but surely they could have weighted the survey to make it more representative of people doing ICF training.
How much does the average coach earn in 2025?
The 2025 exec summary would have you believe that the average coach in the U.S. is raking in $71,719 a year.
Which sounds sweet if you’re stuck in a corporate job you hate, worried that your role is about to be gobbled up by AI, or merely looking for a well-paid side hustle.
But I’d wager my pension, my soul and my favourite Joy Division t-shirt that if you move that decimal point one place to the left, you’d be a lot closer to the truth.
Fortunately, there’s no need to take my pessimistic word for it, look at the graph above.
I’m going to be rash enough to believe that the term life vision and enhancement coach covers life coaching, mindset coaching, transformational coaching, etc, because they’re not listed anywhere else and they seem to be the terms that I see the most frequently.
That is a worrying stat, not just for the people who coach in that sector, but for me too, because half of my clients probably label themselves as such.
It doesn’t get much better when you look at relationship, health and career coaching.
And it gets much worse when you look at Western and Northern Europe, where the average yearly income is only $44,712.
And it’s better not to ask about coaches in their first year of operating because even in the U.S. and in such a skewed survey, it’s still less than $15,000.
Put another way, most new coaches in Western countries aren’t making minimum wage.
Note: Other includes sales coaching, which is confusing as fuck when it is also listed independently.
But don’t worry, everybody, coaches are optimistic
One of the key findings the exec summary highlights whenever a new report is published is that most coaches are optimistic about the future.
Well, of course they are; they’re coaches ffs!
It’s like surveying professional athletes and reporting back that they can all run upstairs without getting out of breath.
Or like an airline pilot union proudly announcing that their members aren’t experiencing too many blackouts from day-drinking at the moment.
Broadly speaking, pessimists don’t become coaches.
But even so, the summary again tells a selective story.
It notes that less experienced coaches are far more optimistic, but what it avoids mentioning in the exec summary is the pessimism among veterans.
According to the full report, among coaches with more than ten years of experience, only 48% expect their revenue to rise, and 18% expect it to decline.
The coaching stat I’d most like to see
I said at the beginning that ultimately this post isn’t doom and gloom.
And it’s not
The one stat or stats missing from the report is how many respondents are treating their marketing as seriously as their coaching in terms of time and money invested.
I’d be prepared to wager it’s somewhere on the scale of a tiny minority to fuck all.
And that is important to you as a coach.
Very important
If you’re the kind of coach that thinks coaching owes you a living just because you love to help people, then you’re, not to put too fine a point on it, toast
But if you’re the kind of coach that just loves to help people and also understands that you’re going to have to work really hard to turn that love of helping people into a solid income, then you’ll probably be fine.
The reality is, there are fully booked coaches, I’m one of them; there just aren’t as many as the ICF and some of the less scrupulous training companies would have you believe.
Note: When I was getting ready to publish this blog post, I typed ‘ICF Global Coaching Study 2025’ into Google so I could link to the report. The first result I got back was a paid ad by the ICF. I clicked on the link, and it took me to a login for the 2023 study. That may not mean a lot to you. But trust me, if an organisation is so bad at their marketing, especially paid traffic, that they’re paying people to go to an outdated report, that tells you a lot. And it’s not good.
Over to you
I’m very much like your opinion on this.
If you think I’m being too harsh, tell me in the comments.
If you agree with me, tell me that too.
And if you just want me to stop fucking swearing all the time, you’re free to tell me that as well.
Thanks, Tim. It’s interesting stuff, and helpful.
I bet you’re glad you’re out of it mate!
Thank you for explaining some principles essential to interpreting survey results with integrity: survivor bias and looking beyond the average or weighting.
Based on reading your thoughts here, it seems interesting and questionable how the ICF conducts and reports on their surveys, and even more curious why their popup links to the 2023 report.
I think Ben has a point about ignoring noise, however, I take the view of being informed enough to help others differentiate between bs and what to take seriously.
It may sound arrogant, Liane, but I almost feel like I’ve got a care of duty, to let as many coaches know as possible just what they’re letting themselves in for.
It’s almost certainly not the best way to get clients, but the clients I do get are the best.
Quality over quantity 😀
Oh Tim! You stole my words since 2022 and I didn’t even have the 2025 report YET!
Raw and true. I agree with every dot – and I am one of the coaches who sees many coaches even around me, or friends, earning less that wage. I am also obliged to do another job cause “helping others” isn’t paying my bills…or anything at all. But I can ensure one thing, if all coaching would be pro-bono, we’d all have a longer queue than at the supermarket (ffs).
It is possible to make good money as a coach. It’s just very, very hard.
And to be honest, I see coaches offering sessions for free on Reddit and Facebook still struggling to fill those.
In 2025, you have to sell for free because there’s so much free shit everywhere.
So… why would you buy that free shit, when you can buy our free shit?! 💩 🤷🏻♂️😉
I liked your article on the reality of the coaching business and on the practices of ICF/Coaching schools. I tend to agree with you. There is a profusion of coaches coaching coaches and there is a reason for that.
As you point out, the demand for coaches is not as large as advertised by those that rely on coaches to have a business, i.e. ICF/the schools. Therefore, the demand from coaches in need of help to find clients is huge.
Nevertheless, I would like to point out that succeeding in business (in any business) is not easy. You have to work hard. It takes at least 5 years before you can start making a living of your endeavour.
When it comes to free coaching sessions on Reddit, there must be something wrong with me. It seems that every time I try to get one of those offers, the available slots are already gone!!!
I’m not sure I necessarily agree it has to take five years. But I think two to three years is should be expected.
You could start your own thread and ask for a coach. I allow people to do that in my sub and in my Facebook group.
I am not entirely sure if it would be easy to get clients even pro bono, speaking as a new, disillusioned coach who was struggling to find clients even for free.
That sucks massively Maria. You’re welcome to ask in my Facebook group or Reddit sub. Or if you ask on LinkedIn and want me to leave a comment or bump the post, just hit me up with a DM.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thefullybookedcoach
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFullyBookedCoach/
Same Maria, launched in march and struggled to get clients to coach for free!
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the article, because it means I don’t need to read the report!
I consider all this stuff to be nothing more than noise. It actually makes no difference to me how the coaching industry is doing – what matters is what I’m seeing in my coaching business.
I find it similar to AI – there is so much bullshit out there and people selling things that I’ve lost interest in it. I use it to help me be more productive, but I don’t listen to all the noise, instead I see if I notice it impacting my business, and try to adapt as necessary.
This year I completely stopped listening, watching and reading any news, which is also noise. The world is full of noise.
Instead of listening to the noise, we should put our heads down, do the work (and as a client of yours I am now more confident that I’m doing more of the right kind of marketing work) and periodically see how our results are, without becoming obsessed by all the industry BS.
I’ve had a podcast for about 5 years and every year it’s “the biggest growth industry ever” and “99% of podcasts stop after 5 episodes” or “everyone should start a podcast” and all that crap. More noise.
My podcast is quietly and slowly growing in audience size and I’ll never be Joe Rogan (thankfully) but if we are so focused on short-term results, we’ll never get anywhere.
My point is, we should stop listening to the noise and do the work, because it really doesn’t matter if the coaching industry is booming if you’re struggling as a coach, and it doesn’t matter if the industry is dying if you’re still getting consistent clients.
For me it’s all about sustainability. Don’t do a podcast every week if you can’t maintain that rhythm. Don’t write an article every day if you can’t keep it up. Don’t post on LinkedIn every day if you can’t maintain it, or if you hate it (like me) because you’ll eventually give up.
That’s my rant for this morning.
Cheers,
Ben
P.S. If you didn’t get the message it’s “Stop listening to all the noise”.
And a very fine rant it was too, sir!
I hear what you’re saying, but I am paying more attention to political noise now than I ever have. It is very easy and understandable for people to ignore it. Just not me.
Similarly, it would be easier for me to stay fully booked by ignoring this ICF report, or making the same claims that others do. I just prefer not to.
But in many respects you’re right, that sometimes it is just better to ignore the noise.
You are absolutely right. “Stop listening to all the noise” is what we should be doing.
Such a useful report for coaches to read – saying it how it is. Some people might not want to hear that, but I think it’s better to be prepared for what’s to come in the coaching industry. Like planning for a tornado: I’d rather know it’s coming, than deal with a surprise tornado!
To be honest, Laura, I don’t want to hear it, it just is what it is.
Thanks Tim. I’ve been looking at coaching for a year and have just signed with a coaching school. I have noticed they quoting those %growth numbers, but they would of course. I did note that some now include marketing in their modules so hopefully that’s being addressed. A pessimistic but probably realistic article, thank you.
Most of the marketing that I’ve seen from training companies is inadequate at best. They’re just not really set up to deliver something that is so fast moving. You’ve got to do it yourself.
Full-on marketing it is! Or, to quote the great philosopher Marshall Mathers: “Success is the only motherfucking option”.
Thanks for the time, effort and care you put into this.
ps. you will be hearing from me via email soon. it’s been a full-on couple of days!
Thanks Jane, I look forward to getting it.!
Thanks for the article, I always find your posts both insightful and refreshingly honest.
The reason I wanted to comment is simple: I enjoyed your piece. Of course the ICF wants to show the coaching world in a positive light — that’s part of their job. And you, from your experience, are pointing out the gaps and distortions that many coaches really need to hear.
Thanks again for keeping it real and for adding some much-needed groundedness to all the coaching “hype” out there.
You’re welcome, Ioan.
And to be honest, I have no problem with the ICF highlighting the benefits of the coaching industry. It’s just that, as the de facto governing body, they have a duty of care to let coaches know what they’re getting into.
Makes me pretty nervous to have entered the industry to be honest and already planning to engage in deeper study to head back to corporate life for income.
It’s doable Hema, just hard!
Thank you for this refreshing insight, and yes in the UK we earn a lot less than the US. Interestingly enough when I give business advice to other coaches I tell them to speak, write and do digital products if they want to get close to earning a decent income
100% David, they have to broaden their income base.
I love that you have brought this to front and centre Tim. Weirdly, many of the ones who are good at marketing aren’t so good at the actual coaching (and vice versa).
You are brilliant at both.
This is mixed with years of hard graft, continuous research, challenging norms, working with hundreds of clients, fighting the ever changing algorithms, making interesting stuff fascinating, publishing books, partnering with others, reading (soooo much reading), wading through research (so we don’t have to), keeping online communities motivated and engaged, risking your $$$ to test ideas, leaving comments, supporting people off line with no need for recognition and being funny, gritty and honest.
A doddle really.
Bwahaha, a doddle indeed.
Thanks mate!
Thank you for sharing such an honest perspective. Too many people sugar-coat coaching as an easy path to income, and honestly, a lot of people get into it primarily for the money. I’m not saying they don’t want to help others, but when financial gain becomes the primary motivator, the integrity of the coaching relationship suffers.
Coaching has absolutely been valuable for my personal growth—it’s played a real role in shaping who I’ve become. But building a sustainable career as a coach takes genuine commitment and staying power. Anyone looking for quick money will likely bow out after reading perspectives like yours, and that’s probably for the best. The ones who stay will be those with a clear sense of purpose—people who truly know why they’re doing this work.
In a way, it’s like any oversaturated market—there’s a natural sorting that happens. The coaches who are driven by mission rather than just opportunity will ultimately thrive.
I’ve seen too many people who have been told by the course providers about how much they can earn through coaching. They have jumped onto the so-called accredited courses and paid a lot of money to the course providers. I feel sad about this. A reset is required in the coaching industry.
People need to know the truth. Thank you for helping us see it.
It makes me feel, in equal measure, sad and angry that so many people have wasted so much money.
But I actually think that reset is coming sooner rather than later.
And rather ironically, I think it’s AI that’s going to force it.
The coaching landscape is going to look a lot different in 18 months time.
Tim — thank you for your honesty and great analytical thinking in breaking down this report. You’re sharing the truth people need to hear. I remember meeting many new coaches during COVID — most quit within a year. Your insight really hits home.
COVID encouraged so many people to join the coaching industry that weren’t prepared or equipped to do it. So there was always going to be a haemorrhaging after.
Good to see you, Lei.
Hardly anyone I qualified as a coach with is still coaching. In fact, out of a cohort of around 30, I might be the only one. And I only survived this long because I worked for a big American coach for 7 years and have a very supportive partner who earns enough for the both of us.
I think there’s not enough realists in this world, to be honest!
So, thank you for this post and all the posts you write!
It was the same with me after three years, I think. To be honest, I did lose touch with some people, but I don’t think they ever actually started. The rest have all gone by the wayside.
I listened to a webinar a few days ago where the guy was selling scripts and telling coaches they will sell you all the info to get clients. I listen to see what people are proposing out there. He was proposing 30 clients in a month. And he was quoting that the coaching industry is short of coaches and was a 26 billion dollar business in 2025 with 1:1 coaching making up 8 million of that. I asked where they got that from and the admin put ICF stats in the chat. This guy’s webinar was 6hrs long. No I didn’t listen to the whole thing. Left and came back to hear his pitch at the end (lol).
Well, why doesn’t that surprise me? It’s pretty sickening. If you don’t want to name the person in public, and personally, I think you should, would you mind letting me know via email, please?