The most popular freelance project of 2022 was graphic design followed by PHP and HTML (hypertext markup language), according to the “Freelancing in 2022 Report” released by Freelancer.com. PHP is a programming language used in website development.

Overall, the top 10 projects listed on Freelancer.com in 2022 were:

1. Graphic design
2. PHP
3. HTML
4. Website design
5. Photoshop
6. Logo design
7. Illustrator
8. Article writing
9. WordPress
10. JavaScript

The high-end freelancer jobs with the highest pay per year included:

1. Design (UX design, website design, Photoshop, Illustrator): USD 75,789 to USD 263,571
2. Game development (game design, Unity 3D): USD 56,493 to USD 258,501
3. Coding (Java, HTML, CSS, PHP, backend development): USD 101,250 to USD 219,108
4. Mobile app development (iOS and Android app development): USD 56,493 to USD 145,200
5. Website development (WordPress, PHP, MySQL, HTML): USD 63,586 to USD 141,923

The company noted the number of freelancers on its platform rose by 13.6% in 2022 to nearly 6.7 million.

Looking at the freelancers themselves, a survey by the company found that 31.0% became freelancers to earn extra money, 11.0% to gain experience in their desired field and 10.9% to have the freedom to study while earning an income.

Freelancer.com also noted there were more than 2.3 million jobs posted on its platform in 2022.

“While 2022 was a unique year for freelancing, we also observed interesting trends that tend to occur during a downturn,” Freealncer.com Chief Executive Matt Barrie said. “The main being the surge in tech which we’ve observed since the middle of the year. We also saw the number of new freelancers surge as a response to the rising cost of living crisis, a similar trend which occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.”