More than most people expect, and less predictable than they'd like. Studies cited by the Congressional Research Service put primary-market fees at 13% to 58% of the base price, averaging about 27%, and resale fees at 20% to 56%, averaging 31%. The FTC says they have reached 44%. Since May 2025 they are included in the price Ticketmaster shows first.
A 2025 analysis of New York sales by the National Independent Talent Organization put primary fees at 28.65% and secondary at 38.95%. The Federal Trade Commission's September 2025 complaint against Live Nation says fees have run as high as 44% of the ticket price, and that fans paid $16.4 billion in mandatory fees between 2019 and 2024.
So the honest answer is a range. Across the CRS figures, a $100 face-value ticket lands anywhere from $113 to $158 all-in before tax, about $127 at the primary-market average and about $131 at the resale average, depending on the venue, the promoter's contract and who is selling.
Where the fee stack comes from
Ticketmaster's own price breakdown lists four lines, and its help pages say who gets each.
The service fee is the big one. It is charged per ticket and "shared between Ticketmaster, venues, sports teams, leagues, promoters" under the contract for that event. This is why the same $89 seat can total $104 in one arena and $118 in another: the fee isn't Ticketmaster's alone to set.
The facility charge goes to the building; Ticketmaster says it keeps none of it. It's usually a flat few dollars per ticket.
The order processing fee is charged once per order rather than per ticket and shared between the venue and Ticketmaster, so buying four tickets in one go is cheaper per ticket than buying them one at a time.
Delivery is free for mobile tickets and charged for the few events still shipping paper. Taxes sit on top where the state or city applies them. The face value underneath all of this is set by the artist, team or promoter, and Ticketmaster says it doesn't keep any portion of it.
For most of the internet's life none of these appeared until the bill. Which is why the FTC's rule mattered.
What the all-in pricing rule changed
In December 2024 the FTC adopted a rule requiring live-event sellers to display the total price, including all mandatory fees, up front; it took effect on 12 May 2025. The total must be shown more prominently than any other price, and the rule covers resellers and platforms as well as primary sellers. Ticketmaster launched All In Prices in the US the same day, "including all fees (before taxes)".
Three things the rule didn't do. It didn't cap fees, so the total is the same as before; you just see it sooner. Venue documents reported by TicketNews show Ticketmaster raising per-ticket service charges to offset processing fees it dropped when the display changed, by $2 a ticket at one Arizona arena. It doesn't cover taxes, optional add-ons or the resale markup itself, which is set by whoever is selling. And it didn't make everyone comply: in April 2026 the FTC sued StubHub, alleging its screens still led with base prices, with a real total 25% above the first number in the FTC's example.
The other change came from court. The Justice Department's March 2026 settlement with Live Nation included a 15% cap on fees at Live Nation-owned amphitheaters. That's a specific set of venues, not the whole market, and 26 states rejected the settlement and won their own trial in April; remedies there won't be decided before 2027.
How big is this, in money
Live Nation's 2025 results put Ticketmaster at 346 million fee-bearing tickets and $3.1 billion in revenue. The CRS report works that out to roughly $8.91 in fee revenue per fee-bearing ticket for Ticketmaster's share alone. Pollstar's mid-2026 figures put the average North American ticket on a top-100 tour at $122.15, and stadium shows averaged over $200 in 2025.
Put those together: a couple going to one arena show is paying something like $60–$80 in fees on top of two $120 tickets before parking.
What that looks like on one ticket
A worked example, with round numbers. A seat has a face value of $89. Add a service fee of about $17, a facility charge of $4 and a $5 order fee split across two tickets, and the all-in price is roughly $112. On Ticketmaster US, $112 is the number the event page shows you; the $89 only appears in the breakdown. Sales tax, where it applies, goes on at checkout. On a site that still leads with base prices, you'd see $89 and meet the $112 later.
Either way, the number to budget from is $112 plus tax. Told "$90 max, fees included", a Found My Tickets tracker would correctly stay silent about that ticket; told "$120 max", it would email you. How to pick that number, on all-in screens and base-price screens, is its own short guide: how to budget for concert ticket fees. What each line means as you meet it on screen is in the anatomy of a Ticketmaster price.