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Engagement rate benchmarks by niche and tier
Pick a niche and a follower tier and read the engagement band we measured for that exact cell, with the number of profiles behind it. There is nothing to calculate here: every figure is a read-out of our own Instagram index.
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Categories our index actually holds
Same boundaries as our calculators
Measured band
Engagement band
Median in this cell
Profiles measured
Same tier, all niches
This niche, all tiers
Instagram median
Gap to the tier median
Publishing floor per cell
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Every band here comes from creators you can actually search. Filter the KALO IQ database by niche, tier, engagement and audience quality.
Browse free →Every published cell, measured from our own index
Nano (under 10K)
Measured from KALO IQ’s own index · Instagram only · plausible band 0.1-25% · Methodology
Beauty n = 4,9650.4-2.7% · 1.09%
Fashion n = 4,2060.8-4.3% · 2.01%
Sports n = 1,3802.5-9.9% · 5.15%
Food n = 1,7301.1-3.9% · 1.94%
Home & interior n = 1,3270.8-3.0% · 1.59%
Fitness n = 1,2171.1-4.9% · 2.48%
Wedding n = 8050.9-3.2% · 1.69%
Photography n = 5391.8-5.8% · 3.22%
Music n = 5731.5-4.8% · 2.56%
Tattoo & body art n = 4920.9-2.6% · 1.54%
Travel n = 3611.4-4.7% · 2.54%
Tech n = 4470.5-3.9% · 1.57%
Pets & animals n = 4761.1-4.2% · 2.07%
All niches, this tier n = 35,3730.9-4.5% · 2.08%
Micro (10K-100K)
Measured from KALO IQ’s own index · Instagram only · plausible band 0.1-25% · Methodology
Beauty n = 7,8560.3-2.3% · 0.85%
Fashion n = 8,2860.4-2.9% · 1.15%
Sports n = 2,9531.5-7.3% · 3.27%
Food n = 2,7670.5-2.9% · 1.15%
Home & interior n = 2,2090.4-2.3% · 1.03%
Fitness n = 1,7850.7-3.9% · 1.65%
Wedding n = 9600.4-2.4% · 1.04%
Photography n = 7250.8-4.5% · 2.00%
Music n = 6931.2-4.6% · 2.25%
Tattoo & body art n = 7360.4-2.4% · 1.12%
Travel n = 6570.6-4.1% · 1.62%
Tech n = 5400.4-2.9% · 1.02%
Pets & animals n = 5290.7-4.0% · 1.74%
All niches, this tier n = 53,8550.5-3.4% · 1.38%
Macro (100K+)
Measured from KALO IQ’s own index · Instagram only · plausible band 0.1-25% · Methodology
Beauty n = 1,2580.3-2.0% · 0.75%
Fashion n = 1,4640.4-2.7% · 1.04%
Sports n = 7591.4-6.8% · 3.27%
Food n = 4320.5-3.1% · 1.15%
Home & interior n = 3070.4-3.0% · 1.06%
Fitness n = 3530.5-3.6% · 1.50%
Wedding n = 77n < 300, no band
Photography n = 107n < 300, no band
Music n = 59n < 300, no band
Tattoo & body art n = 42n < 300, no band
Travel n = 116n < 300, no band
Tech n = 102n < 300, no band
Pets & animals n = 58n < 300, no band
All niches, this tier n = 8,6790.5-3.8% · 1.44%
Thirteen niches qualified: every category in our Instagram index with at least 1,000 profiles inside the 0.1-25% plausible band. Niche is the category recorded on a profile, and a profile can hold more than one, so the niche columns overlap and do not sum to the platform sample. Seven macro cells fall below the 300-profile floor and publish no band rather than a thin one.
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FAQ
Engagement benchmark FAQ
Lower than almost every published guide claims. Measured across 7,856 beauty profiles in the 10K-100K tier, the middle half sits between 0.3% and 2.3% with a median of 0.85%. Across all tiers, 14,079 beauty profiles measure 0.4% to 2.4%, median 0.93%. Beauty is the largest category in our index and one of the lowest engaging.
Sports, by a wide margin. Across 5,092 profiles the band is 1.7% to 8.0% with a median of 3.75%, against an Instagram median of 1.61%. In the nano tier it reaches 2.5% to 9.9%, median 5.15%, from 1,380 profiles. Photography and Music follow.
Because the sample is too small to publish honestly. Our floor is 300 profiles per cell after the plausible-band filter. Seven macro cells fall below it: Wedding, Photography, Music, Tattoo & body art, Travel, Tech and Pets & animals all hold fewer than 120 macro profiles. The cell still reports its sample size, so you can see exactly why nothing is shown.
No, and they should not be read that way. A profile in our index can carry more than one category, so a creator who posts fitness and food appears in both niches. The columns overlap by design. The platform figure of 97,907 counts each profile once; the niche columns do not.
By sample size, not by editorial interest. We took every category in the Instagram index with at least 1,000 profiles inside the 0.1-25% plausible band, which gave thirteen. The index holds 875 distinct category values in total, so the long tail is large, but a band measured from a few dozen profiles is not a benchmark.