Ask three families in Washington, DC or Baltimore what they pay for tutoring and you will hear three different numbers. A college student helping with fifth-grade homework, a teacher working through Algebra I with an eighth grader and an SAT coach are different services, and they are priced that way. Here is what tutoring cost in the DC–Baltimore area in November 2026, where each number comes from, what moves the price and how to plan a budget.
Tutor prices in DC and Baltimore at a glance
The table brings together published rates from three kinds of sources. They measure different things, so read the last column before comparing rows.
| Type of tutoring | Washington, DC | Baltimore | What the number is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homework help, general tutoring | $25.66 an hour | $22.50 an hour | Average starting rate on Care.com, November 2026 |
| Math tutor, entry level | $28.35 an hour | $23.88 an hour | Average starting rate on Care.com, November 2026 |
| Math tutor, experienced | Median $60; half charge $49–$100 | Median $60; half charge $50–$85 | The 25 top-rated math tutors on Wyzant, November 15, 2026 |
| SAT tutor | Median $70; half charge $50–$125 | Median $65; half charge $50–$100 | The 25 top-rated SAT tutors on Wyzant, November 15, 2026 |
| Tutoring company, one-to-one online | About $101–$135 an hour, paid as a package | Educational Connections' published packages | |
So most published rates in the area fall between $25 and $100 an hour. The low end is entry-level help with homework; the middle is an experienced subject tutor; the high end is test prep, specialist work or a tutoring company.
Where these numbers come from
No single survey covers every tutor in the region, so it helps to know what each source measures.
- Care.com publishes the average starting rate that tutors on its platform report, updated monthly. Starting rates are the lowest a tutor quotes, so these numbers sit at the low end of the market. For comparison, Care.com's national average starting rate for a math tutor was $24.94 an hour, so DC sits about 14% above it.
- Wyzant lets each tutor set an hourly rate. We took the rates of the 25 top-rated tutors it showed for each city and subject on November 15, 2026. These are tutors with strong reviews, and their prices sit well above the Care.com averages.
- Tutoring companies price by package. Educational Connections, for example, lists $1,080 for 8 hours of one-to-one online tutoring and $4,970 for 49 hours. That works out to about $135 an hour for the small package and about $101 for the large one. The company says over 87% of its tutors and coaches hold master's degrees.
The spread inside each group is wide. On Wyzant's Washington, DC page, the 25 top-rated tutors across all subjects charged from $21 to $400 an hour. Five of them asked $150 to $400, among them a law professor, a college-essay coach and an MCAT tutor: specialist work priced well above everyday school help.
What moves the price up or down
Experience and qualifications
A certified teacher or a tutor with years of results in one subject usually charges more than a college student. That is often worth it when a child is far behind or the subject is advanced, and matters less for homework help in the early grades.
Subject and level
Elementary reading and math tend to cost the least. Prices climb for high school chemistry, physics, precalculus and calculus, for AP classes and for test prep such as the SAT and ACT. Specialist work, such as college essays or graduate-school test prep, sits at the top of the range, as the Wyzant examples above show.
Online or in person
Online lessons remove travel for both sides. In person, some tutors add a travel fee for coming to your home; a cross-town drive at rush hour in DC or Baltimore can take longer than the lesson itself.
Session length and packages
Many tutors work in 45- or 60-minute sessions. Packages lower the hourly price, as the company example above shows, but they also commit you to many hours before you know whether the match works. Try a few single sessions first.
How much tutoring do you need?
The hourly rate matters less than the total. A cheap tutor your child sees once is worth less than a good one they see every week for a semester. Some sample budgets at the rates above:
| Plan | Hours | At $28 an hour | At $60 an hour | At $100 an hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One hour a week for a 12-week term | 12 | $336 | $720 | $1,200 |
| Two hours a week for 10 weeks | 20 | $560 | $1,200 | $2,000 |
| Ten hours of focused test prep | 10 | $280 | $600 | $1,000 |
Twenty hours is a useful yardstick. When DC released its 2026 test results, the city's education agency, OSSE, reported that at least 20 hours of high-impact tutoring at school was associated with better changes in students' test scores. That tutoring is small-group and intensive, a reminder that regular sessions over months beat a burst of lessons the week before a test.
Free and low-cost tutoring in DC and Baltimore
Before you pay, check what your child can already use for free:
- DC Public Library. With a DC library card, students get live online tutoring through Brainfuse HelpNow seven days a week from 1 to 10 p.m.
- Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore. A Pratt card gives access to HelpNow: one-on-one homework help from tutors and a 24-hour writing lab, at any Pratt branch or from home.
- Tutoring at school in DC. OSSE funds high-impact tutoring in DC schools in the 2026–27 school year, focused on the students who need it most. Ask your child's school whether it runs a program and how to join.
Free help works well for homework questions and practice. A private tutor makes the most difference when a child needs the same person every week, a plan built around their gaps, or preparation for a specific test.
How to choose a tutor, whatever you pay
- Ask about your child's grade and test. A good math tutor for a sixth grader in DC knows what the spring DC CAPE test asks; in Maryland, what changes with the new MSTAR test.
- Ask how they check progress. Expect a first lesson that finds the gaps, a plan, and a short update for you every few weeks.
- Start with one lesson. How your child feels after the first session tells you more than a résumé.
- Ask about cancellations and payment before you book, so the price you budget is the price you pay.
- For in-person lessons with a minor, agree on where they happen and make sure an adult is nearby.
How pricing works on Edtalk
On Edtalk, each tutor sets an hourly price and shows it on their profile, so you see the cost before you book. You pay by card for each lesson that takes place, with no sign-up fee and no subscription. Lessons take place online in the Edtalk video classroom or in person in Washington, DC and Baltimore. You can browse tutors by subject and grade, or go straight to math tutors or SAT prep.
