Average TikTok Engagement Rates
TikTok consistently delivers the highest engagement rates of any major social media platform. While Instagram averages 1-3% and YouTube hovers around 1.5-3.5%, the average TikTok engagement rate in 2026 falls between 4% and 8% across all account sizes and content categories.
That gap exists because of how TikTok distributes content. The For You Page algorithm surfaces videos to users based on interest signals rather than follower relationships, which means a well-made video from a 500-follower account can reach the same audience as one from a 5-million-follower account. This discovery-first architecture generates more interactions per view than platforms where content distribution is locked behind follow graphs.
However, "average" tells you very little about where you stand. A good TikTok engagement rate depends on your follower count, your niche, and what you are trying to accomplish with your content. A 5% rate might be excellent for a 300K-follower lifestyle creator but underwhelming for a 3K-follower account in the comedy space.
The sections below break down what "good" actually means across the variables that matter.
Engagement Rate Benchmarks by Follower Count
Follower count is the single biggest factor that determines what a good engagement rate looks like for your account. Smaller accounts almost always see higher engagement percentages because their audiences are tighter and more invested. As accounts grow, the percentage naturally declines even as total interactions increase.
Here are the tiktok engagement benchmarks for 2026, based on aggregated data from creator accounts across multiple niches.
Nano-Influencers (1K-10K Followers)
Nano-influencers on TikTok typically see engagement rates between 8% and 15%. Some accounts in this tier regularly exceed 15%, particularly if their content targets a tight community or specific interest group.
This high engagement happens for a straightforward reason: nano-influencer audiences are often built on genuine connection. Followers at this stage tend to be real fans who discovered the creator through niche content, not casual scrollers who followed after a single viral video. The comment sections are more conversational, and viewers are more likely to share content with friends who share the same interest.
If you are in this tier and sitting below 8%, it is worth examining your content strategy. You may be attracting views from outside your core audience (which inflates view counts without corresponding engagement), or your content may not be prompting enough interaction through questions, opinions, or shareworthy moments.
A good TikTok engagement rate at the nano level is 10% or above. Anything in that range signals strong audience connection and positions you well for early brand partnerships.
Micro-Influencers (10K-100K Followers)
Micro-influencers see engagement rates between 5% and 10%. This tier is where the natural decline begins — as your audience grows, a larger portion of your followers become passive viewers rather than active engagers.
The 10K-100K range is also where the TikTok algorithm starts testing your content more broadly. Videos get pushed to wider audiences through the For You Page, and those new viewers interact at lower rates than your established followers. This is normal and expected.
A micro-influencer holding a 7%+ engagement rate is performing well above average and will be highly attractive to brands. Even at the lower end of this range, a 5% rate is solid and competitive for brand deal negotiations.
Mid-Tier Creators (100K-500K Followers)
Mid-tier creators typically land between 3% and 6% engagement. At this level, your content reaches a much broader and more diverse audience, and maintaining the intimate engagement levels of smaller accounts becomes structurally difficult.
The key metric to watch at this tier is not the percentage itself but the trend. A mid-tier account holding steady at 4-5% over several months is in a stronger position than one that spiked to 8% and is now declining. Consistency signals genuine audience interest rather than algorithm-driven spikes.
Creators in the 100K-500K range who sustain engagement above 5% are outperforming the vast majority of their peers. This is the tier where brands focus significant partnership budgets, and a strong engagement rate here directly translates to higher deal values.
Macro and Mega Influencers (500K+)
Macro influencers (500K-1M followers) and mega influencers (1M+) typically see engagement rates between 1.5% and 4% and 1% and 2.5%, respectively.
These numbers look small compared to nano accounts, but the math works differently at scale. A mega influencer with 2 million followers and a 2% engagement rate is generating 40,000 interactions per post. A nano influencer with 5,000 followers and a 12% rate is generating 600. Total impact matters as much as the percentage.
At this level, the benchmark for "good" shifts. A macro influencer maintaining 3%+ is performing exceptionally. Most mega influencers with 5M+ followers will hover around 1-2%, and that is entirely normal. If you are in this tier and your rate drops below 1%, that is when you should investigate whether content quality or posting frequency has slipped.
Good Engagement Rates by Niche
Your content category affects your engagement rate almost as much as your follower count. Some niches naturally generate more interaction because of how audiences consume and respond to the content.
Comedy and Entertainment: 8-12%. Comedy content drives the highest engagement on TikTok. Funny videos get shared at significantly higher rates than other content types because sharing humor is a core social behavior. Skits, reaction content, and observational comedy consistently hit the top of engagement charts across all follower tiers.
Beauty and Fashion: 5-8%. Beauty content performs well because it triggers both aspirational engagement (saves, shares) and conversational engagement (comments asking about products, techniques, or where to buy). Tutorial-style content tends to outperform hauls or lookbooks within this niche.
Fitness and Health: 5-9%. Workout content, transformation reveals, and health tips generate strong engagement through a mix of saves (people bookmarking routines), shares, and motivational comments. This niche benefits from TikTok's visual format — demonstrating exercises or showing results works better in short video than in any other medium.
Food and Cooking: 6-10%. Recipe content and food reviews generate high engagement because food is universally relatable. Viewers save recipes, tag friends, and debate techniques in comments. ASMR-style cooking content performs particularly well in this category.
Finance and Business: 3-5%. Finance content typically sees the lowest engagement rates on TikTok, but this comes with an important caveat — the audience is significantly more valuable per person for monetization. Finance viewers tend to be older, higher-income, and more likely to convert on products or services. A 4% engagement rate in finance may generate more revenue than an 8% rate in entertainment.
Education and Learning: 4-7%. Educational content earns strong save rates as viewers bookmark information for later. Comment engagement tends to be lower than entertainment niches because the content is consumed more passively, but the overall interaction pattern indicates high audience value.
Gaming: 5-8%. Gaming content benefits from a passionate and vocal audience. Clip compilations, gameplay highlights, and game reviews all drive consistent comment and share engagement. This niche also sees strong cross-platform sharing, with viewers sending TikTok clips to gaming communities on Discord and Reddit.
Why Engagement Rate Matters for Monetization
Engagement rate is more than a vanity metric. It directly determines how much money you make from brand partnerships and how much organic reach the algorithm gives your content.
Brand Deal Thresholds
Most brands and agencies set a minimum engagement rate threshold when selecting creators for paid partnerships. The industry standard minimum in 2026 is a 3% engagement rate. Below that line, most brands will not consider working with you regardless of your follower count.
Here is how engagement rate maps to brand deal pricing:
Below 3%: Most brands pass. You may get product-only deals (free product, no cash payment), but paid partnerships are rare. Brands see sub-3% engagement as a signal that your audience is disengaged, inauthentic, or mismatched to your content.
3-5%: You meet the baseline for most brand deals. Pricing follows standard CPM rates for your follower tier. This is where the majority of mid-tier and macro creators land.
5-8%: Strong engagement commands premium pricing. Brands will pay 20-50% above standard rates for creators in this range because higher engagement means more visibility and interaction with the sponsored content. Micro-influencers with 5%+ rates are especially sought after.
8%+: You are in the top tier. Brands pursue you proactively, and you have significant leverage in negotiations. Creators at this level can often command 2-3x standard rates because their content consistently drives action from viewers.
The difference between a 3% and a 7% engagement rate can mean a 2x or 3x difference in per-post payment. For a micro-influencer with 50K followers, that can translate to the difference between a $500 deal and a $1,500 deal for the same deliverable.
Algorithm and Distribution Impact
TikTok's algorithm uses engagement signals to determine how widely to distribute your content. When a video receives strong early engagement — likes, comments, shares, and watch time within the first 30-60 minutes — the algorithm pushes it to progressively larger audiences.
This creates a compounding effect. High engagement leads to broader distribution, which leads to more views and potentially more engagement, which leads to even wider distribution. The initial engagement rate on your videos acts as the ignition for this cycle.
Creators with consistently high engagement rates see their content distributed more aggressively over time. The algorithm learns that your content generates the interactions that keep users on the platform, so it gives you more reach as a reward. Low engagement signals the opposite — the algorithm restricts distribution to protect user experience.
This means your engagement rate does not just affect brand deals. It fundamentally determines how many people see your content, which affects every other metric and monetization channel downstream.
How to Calculate Your TikTok Engagement Rate
The standard formula for TikTok engagement rate is:
Engagement Rate = (Likes + Comments + Shares) / Views x 100
For example, if a video receives 5,000 likes, 300 comments, and 200 shares with 100,000 views, the engagement rate is:
(5,000 + 300 + 200) / 100,000 x 100 = 5.5%
Some creators and agencies use a follower-based formula instead:
Engagement Rate = (Likes + Comments + Shares) / Followers x 100
The view-based formula is more commonly used on TikTok because the platform's algorithm-driven distribution means view counts are not tied to follower counts the way they are on Instagram or Twitter. A video can get 2 million views from a 10K-follower account, and the view-based formula accounts for this.
When calculating your overall engagement rate rather than a single video's rate, average the engagement rates across your last 20-30 posts. This smooths out outliers — every creator has the occasional viral hit and the occasional underperformer. The average across a meaningful sample gives you the most accurate picture of your true engagement rate.
You can calculate this manually by pulling data from TikTok Analytics in the app, or use our engagement rate calculator to get your rate instantly by entering your account metrics.
Tips to Improve Your Rate
If your engagement rate falls below the benchmarks for your follower tier and niche, these strategies can move the number up.
Post when your audience is active. Check TikTok Analytics for your followers' active hours. Posting during peak activity windows gives your content the best chance at strong early engagement, which triggers broader algorithm distribution. For most US-based audiences, late morning (10-11 AM) and evening (7-9 PM) tend to perform best.
Hook viewers in the first second. TikTok's engagement metrics are heavily influenced by watch time. If viewers scroll past your video in the first second, they never get the chance to like, comment, or share. Open with a strong visual, a provocative statement, or an unexpected moment that stops the scroll.
Ask for interaction directly. This sounds basic, but it works. Ending a video with a question, a call to comment, or a prompt to share with a specific person measurably increases engagement rates. The key is making the ask feel natural rather than desperate — frame it as continuing a conversation, not begging for metrics.
Create content that triggers saves and shares. Likes are the easiest engagement to generate, but saves and shares carry more algorithmic weight. Content that teaches something useful (save-worthy) or that a viewer wants to show someone specific (share-worthy) tends to generate higher overall engagement than content that is merely entertaining.
Respond to comments quickly. Engaging with commenters within the first hour of posting does two things: it doubles the comment count (your replies count as comments), and it signals to the algorithm that your comment section is active and worth surfacing. Prioritize replying to comments that spark further conversation.
Use trending sounds strategically. Trending audio clips can boost your content's initial distribution, but only if the sound fits your content naturally. Forcing a trending sound onto unrelated content may get initial views but will hurt engagement because viewers who click through expecting the trend will leave when the content does not match.
Maintain a consistent posting schedule. Accounts that post regularly — at least 4-5 times per week — tend to maintain higher engagement rates than those that post sporadically. Consistency trains the algorithm to expect and distribute your content, and it keeps your existing audience engaged rather than forgetting about you between posts.
Experiment with video length. Test different durations to find what your audience prefers. Some niches perform better with 15-30 second clips while others see peak engagement on 2-3 minute content. Let your analytics guide this rather than following generic advice about ideal video length.
The most important thing to understand about improving your engagement rate is that it compounds over time. Small improvements in hook quality, posting consistency, and comment interaction add up. A creator who systematically applies these strategies over 3-6 months will see a materially different engagement profile than one who makes no changes. Track your rate monthly, identify what moves it, and double down on what works for your specific audience.