Estimate your monthly Medium earnings from your own numbers, not made-up averages. Work out your real earning rate from last month’s dashboard, add your traffic from outside Medium, and see how many member reads you need for your income goal — with Medium’s $10 payout minimum built in.
Step 1 (recommended): enter last month’s figures from your Partner Program dashboard. The calculator works out your real rate per 1,000 member reads and fills it in below.
An estimate, not a promise. Medium shares a monthly budget among writers and updates its earnings model from time to time, so your rate changes month to month. IncomeJets is not affiliated with Medium.
Quick answer: Medium doesn’t pay a fixed amount per view or per read. It pays from member reading and listening time plus claps, highlights and replies, with extra for Boosted stories and members who arrive from outside Medium. Because the rate changes every month, the best estimate is last month’s earnings ÷ last month’s member reads, multiplied by the reads you expect. That’s what this calculator does.
Medium explains its approach in its official help article. Only paying Medium members generate reading earnings. These are the parts it describes:
| Factor | What Medium says | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Reading and listening time | The more time members spend reading or listening, the more you earn. A read counts at 30 seconds or more; idle time doesn’t count. | Useful stories that people actually finish earn more. |
| Engagement | Claps, highlights and replies are combined with reading time. | A genuine question at the end can earn replies. |
| Boost | Boosted stories earn engagement points at a higher rate. Medium says non-Boosted stories now get a larger share than before. | A Boost can lift one story well above your usual rate. |
| External traffic | A 5% bonus on member reads from outside Medium. Stories found through search engines get an additional share, and reads from your email subscribers earn at a higher rate. | Google and email readers are worth more than feed readers. |
| New members | A one-time amount when a story turns a non-member into a paying member. Members who cancel shortly after joining are excluded. | Occasional extra income; Medium doesn’t publish the amount. |
| Read ratio | Member reads ÷ member views. Stories below average are adjusted down; stories above average are adjusted up. | Titles that deliver what they promise pay off. |
Your rate = last month's earnings ÷ last month's member reads × 1,000
Reading earnings = expected member reads × your rate ÷ 1,000
External bonus = reading earnings × % from outside Medium × 5%
Monthly estimate = reading earnings + external bonus + new members × earnings per new member
Reads for goal = (goal − new-member earnings) ÷ earnings per read
Using your own rate already includes your current mix of engagement, Boosts and read ratio. The 5% is the bonus Medium states for any outside source; search and email reads can earn more, so this part is a cautious estimate.
Use a full month, and average two or three months if you can — one Boosted story can make a single month unusually high.
According to Medium’s payouts help page:
| Can | Can’t |
|---|---|
| Project earnings from your real rate | Predict changes to Medium’s monthly budget or earnings model |
| Show the member reads you need for a goal | Predict whether a story will be Boosted |
| Estimate when you’ll reach the $10 payout minimum | Count non-member views, which earn no reading income |
These use example rates to show the maths. Your own rate will differ.
You earned $42 last month from 3,500 member reads: $42 ÷ 3,500 × 1,000 = $12 per 1,000 member reads. With 5,000 member reads next month and 20% from outside Medium, that’s $60 + a $0.60 external bonus = about $60.60.
At $12 per 1,000 reads with 20% outside traffic, each member read earns about $0.0121. For $100 a month, you’d need about 8,251 member reads a month.
You earn about $4 a month. That’s under $10, so it rolls over; after 3 months your balance is about $12, and Medium pays it by around the 10th of the following month.
Starting at $30.30 a month (2,000 member reads at $15 per 1,000, 20% from outside) and growing 5% a month, the next 12 months add up to about $482 — compared with $364 if reads stayed flat.
Each tip links to something in Medium’s own description of how earnings work:
There’s no fixed rate. Medium pays from member reading time and engagement, not views, and only paying members count — non-member views earn nothing. The best estimate is your own rate: last month’s earnings divided by last month’s member reads.
A paying Medium member reading or listening to your story for 30 seconds or more. Idle time isn’t counted, and shorter visits count as views, not reads.
Yes, if the readers are paying members. Medium adds a 5% bonus to member reads from outside Medium; stories found through search get an additional share, and reads from your email subscribers earn at a higher rate. If a non-member joins through your story, you get a one-time amount.
$10 USD. If you earn less, the balance rolls over until it reaches $10. Payouts usually start by the 10th of the month and go to your Stripe account; some countries have extra Stripe minimums.
Yes — Medium combines claps, highlights and replies with reading time when calculating engagement.
No. It’s an independent IncomeJets tool based on Medium’s public help articles. Actual earnings depend on Medium’s monthly budget, Boosts and how your readers behave.
Disclaimer: This calculator gives estimates for planning only. IncomeJets is not affiliated with Medium. Medium’s formula, budget and payout rules can change at any time; check your Partner Program dashboard and Medium’s help centre for current details.
Sources (checked 15 October 2026): Medium Help — Partner Program earnings calculation · Medium Help — Payouts
Last updated: 15 October 2026 · By Udaychandra, IncomeJets