How much should mobile notaries charge?
Notary work is billed per appointment, not by the hour — a general mobile-notary visit (a will, power of attorney, or a handful of signatures) runs lower, while a full loan-signing appointment (dozens of pages, more time on-site) runs higher. Set your target hourly rate here to see what that implies per appointment, then compare it against your state's notarial fee cap.
Estimate your rate
A starting point for notary services — adjust to your own numbers.
~$46.50 / visit
Based on a 45-minute visit at an effective rate of ~$62.00/hour. Formula: (target income + expenses) ÷ (billable hours/week × 50 working weeks), converted to a per-visit price. This is a starting estimate, not a guarantee — adjust for local market rates.
What moves the rate
- State-capped notarial fee per signature/seal — every state sets a maximum you can charge for the notarization itself, separate from travel; check your state's cap before quoting
- Travel fee and distance — charged on top of the notarial fee and generally not capped, this is where most of a mobile notary's real income comes from
- General notarization vs. loan signing — a simple document (POA, affidavit) takes 10-20 minutes; a full loan-signing package (deed of trust, promissory note, disclosures) can take 45-60+ minutes and pays more
- Number of signatures/notarial acts needed in one appointment
- After-hours, weekend, holiday, or rush/same-day scheduling — commonly 1.5x-2x standard rate
- Scan-backs — returning signed loan documents same-day via scan/upload, often billed as a separate add-on
- Location type — hospital, jail, and nursing-home signings often carry a premium for access difficulty and scheduling constraints
- Local market and competition from bank/credit-union free-to-members notary services
baseHourly of $90 is a target blended rate that lands the calculator's default per-visit output (90 x 45/60 = $67.50) inside the general-mobile-notary band ($50-100/appointment) once the state's capped notarial fee plus an uncapped travel fee are combined; loan-signing appointments are a distinct, higher-paying specialty ($100-200+/signing, avg. ~$135) that this simple calculator doesn't model separately — treat that as a premium add-on once you're signing-agent certified and on platforms like Snapdocs. Remember the notarial-fee portion itself is state-capped (commonly $5-15 per signature/seal) — it's the travel fee, stacked on top, that's uncapped in most states and where the real per-appointment total comes from; always check your specific state's fee cap before setting a number. The $2,000/yr expense default covers: E&O insurance (~$150-300/yr, not state-required but standard practice — protects you personally, unlike the state-required bond which protects the public and must be reimbursed by you if claimed against), notary bond and background-check renewal amortized (~$15-30/yr for a typical 4-year bond term), a dual-tray laser printer plus toner/paper/notary-seal supplies (~$400-500/yr amortized), signing-service directory and platform listings (Snapdocs, NotaryRotary, 123notary — roughly $500-800/yr combined, the main way signing companies find you for loan work), and scheduling/invoicing software (~$150-250/yr). Vehicle gas/mileage is intentionally excluded from this fixed default since it's billed to the client separately as the uncapped travel fee, the same approach used for errand running.