Average Annual Income per YouTuber Reaches 71 Million Won, Top 1% Earn 1.3 Billion Won

[Financial News] The average annual income of self-employed creators in one-person media, such as YouTubers, who filed income tax returns has surpassed 70 million won. As the number of creators has grown rapidly, income for the top earners has reached the 1 billion won range, widening the income gap.
According to data titled "Income Status of One-Person Media Creators for Tax Years 2020–2024" submitted by the National Tax Service to People Power Party lawmaker Park Sung-hoon of the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee on the 16th, 34,806 YouTubers filed comprehensive income tax returns in 2024. Their total reported income came to about 2.47 trillion won, translating into an average of roughly 71 million won per person.
The statistics are based on the comprehensive income tax amounts reported by business operators whose primary business category is registered as "one-person media content creator" or "media content creation."
The number of YouTubers filing returns increased from 9,449 in 2020 to the 10,000 range in 2021–2022, the 20,000 range in 2023, and the 30,000 range in 2024. Over the same period, average income per person rose about 25.6%, from roughly 56.5 million won to about 71 million won.
However, the income distribution shows a clear gap between the top and bottom tiers, confirming growing polarization. In 2023, the top 1%—348 creators by comprehensive income—earned a total of about 450.1 billion won, or an average of roughly 1.293 billion won per person. This is about a 70% increase from the 2020 average of around 780.9 million won.
The top 10%, or 3,480 creators, reported a combined 1.16 trillion won in income, averaging about 333 million won per person. In contrast, the bottom 50%, or 17,404 creators, earned a total of about 428.6 billion won, with average income per person at only around 24.6 million won.

syj@fnnews.com Seo Young-joon Reporter