Here's an awkward admission. We published our UK day rates guide in April, and then watched our own analytics tell us something inconvenient: the majority of people reading it were American. Roughly twelve times as many US readers as UK ones, all squinting at figures in pounds and quietly doing currency conversion in their heads, which is exactly the kind of half-answer this site exists to avoid.

So this is the US version. Same rules as the UK guide. These are figures that independent AI consultants report actually clearing with US enterprise and mid-market clients, not aspirational numbers from a course seller's landing page. Where we're less confident, we say so. Treat the ranges as a market read to negotiate from, not a price list.

The shape of the US market first

Before the numbers, three structural differences from the UK that change how you should read them.

First, a lot of US consulting work is priced hourly rather than daily. Enterprise procurement teams are used to hourly rates on contracts, so you'll often quote $200 an hour rather than $1,600 a day. The maths below assumes an eight hour day. Quote whichever unit the client's paperwork prefers, but do the conversion yourself before the call so you're not doing arithmetic under pressure.

Second, engagement structure matters more than in the UK. The same work priced corp to corp (your LLC invoicing their AP department) clears meaningfully more than the same work on a W2 through a staffing agency, because you're carrying self employment tax, health insurance and benefits yourself. The ranges below are independent, corp to corp or 1099 figures. If an agency is in the middle, expect them to take 20 to 30 percent, which is a bigger bite than the UK norm.

Third, there is no IR35. Enjoy that. The US equivalent worry is worker classification, which matters mostly if you're working one client, full time, for a year, on their equipment, taking their direction. Structure your engagements like a business (multiple clients, your own tooling, deliverable based contracts) and it largely takes care of itself.

The ranges

AI strategy and advisory: $1,400 to $2,400 a day. Board level AI roadmaps, vendor strategy, use case prioritisation. The top of this range is financial services, healthcare and anywhere the word "regulated" appears in the first meeting. Ex Big Four consultants with an AI story routinely clear the top of it, which tells you the premium is for boardroom credibility more than technical depth.

AI implementation and delivery: $1,100 to $1,800 a day. Leading delivery of actual systems. The interesting movement here in 2026 is at the top end, where consultants who can show a shipped enterprise deployment (not a pilot, a deployment) are pulling away from the pack. The gap between "has done a proof of concept" and "has survived a production rollout" is now roughly $400 a day.

Agentic AI and automation: $1,300 to $2,100 a day. The premium over standard implementation exists because the failure modes are worse and clients are starting to know it. If you can walk into a scoping call with a failure mode catalogue and a risk register rather than a demo, you're selling insurance as well as delivery, and insurance prices well.

AI governance and compliance: $1,300 to $2,200 a day. Growing fastest of the four. US clients selling into Europe have discovered the EU AI Act applies to them, and state level rules (Colorado's AI Act, the New York hiring audit rules, whatever California has passed by the time you read this) are stacking up. Nobody went into consulting dreaming of conformity assessments, but the people doing them are billing more than the people doing prompts.

Entry level, meaning under five years of relevant delivery: $700 to $1,100 a day. Same warning as the UK guide. Going in cheap to win the first engagement mostly wins you the identity of the cheap resource. Price at the bottom of the range if you must, but not below it.

Project pricing

AI readiness assessments in the US typically run $15,000 to $40,000 for two to four weeks, noticeably above the UK equivalent, partly because US mid market companies are simply larger. Full delivery programmes range from $75,000 to $400,000 and beyond depending on scope and whether you're leading delivery or advising on it. The same rule applies at every size: anchor the price to the decision the client is buying, not the hours you'll spend.

One US specific pattern worth knowing. American clients are more comfortable with outcome based and retainer structures than UK clients, and a $8,000 to $15,000 monthly advisory retainer is a normal thing to propose to a mid market firm after a successful project. Propose it. The worst case is a no and a slightly flattered client.

What moves you up the range

The same things as everywhere, in roughly this order. Evidence you've delivered before, in their industry, at their scale. The ability to talk to a CFO about risk without translating through the CTO. A niche, because "AI consultant" is a crowded label but "AI governance for healthcare claims processing" gets you shortlisted by default. And honest scoping, because the consultant who says "that use case isn't ready and here's what is" in the first meeting is the one who gets the second one.

One more thing the data keeps telling us. Rates hold up better than you'd expect even as the tools get cheaper, because clients aren't paying for the model. Token prices fell all year and day rates didn't. What clients buy is somebody to be accountable when the thing meets their data, their politics and their compliance team. That's the job. Price it like the job.

For the full breakdown including retainer structures, negotiation scripts and a rate calculator, the AI Pricing Framework covers the working end of this, and the free Rates & Market Guide has the UK, EU and US benchmark tables side by side. For what the ground under these engagements is doing while you price them, keep one eye on the Platform Ledger.