Salary
Average Salary: $42,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,753,416
Can you make a cushy living as a grant writer? Eh...that depends on your definition of "cushy."
The average yearly income of a grant writer runs about $43,000 a year (source). That's about $10,000 less than the median U.S. household income. Actual annual salaries range anywhere from not so great ($32,000) to somewhat decent ($61,000) (source). This should come as no surprise when you consider that grant writing is usually a double whammy of two notoriously low-paying gigs: writing and non-profit work.
Freelance grant writers often rake in more than employed grant writers, with hourly rates ranging anywhere from $40 to $200 (source). That's $83,000 to $400,000+ a year assuming you can find full-time work; with freelancing though, there are no guarantees.
You'll need to spend time marketing yourself and finding clients on top of writing all those pesky grant proposals. Freelancers also miss out on employee benefits—handy things like paid vacation and sick leave, retirement packages, or employer-sponsored health insurance. Covering those completely out of pocket can quickly eat up a paycheck.