Musician income statistics show a wide gap between headline wage estimates and the financial experience of working creators. U.S. occupational data provides hourly benchmarks, while UK surveys show how uneven music income can be, how important live work remains, and how often musicians subsidize their careers.
Contents
- U.S. musician pay benchmarks
- Employment outlook
- How UK music income is distributed
- Where music income comes from
- Live performance and working time
- Gender differences
- Geographic pay differences in the U.S.
U.S. musician pay benchmarks
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 36,180 musicians and singers employed in May 2025. The national mean hourly wage was $60.46, while the national median hourly wage was $47.80. These are occupational wage estimates for that measurement period, not a guarantee of annual earnings for every performer. BLS, May 2025
The earlier May 2023 BLS profile illustrates the distribution behind the average. Employment was estimated at 35,520, and the mean hourly wage was $51.65. At the lower end, the 10th-percentile hourly wage was $16.02 and the 25th-percentile wage was $23.70. At the upper end, the 75th-percentile wage was $60.92 and the 90th-percentile wage was $102.98. BLS, Musicians and Singers, May 2023
| U.S. musician wage measure | Amount | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile hourly wage | $16.02 | May 2023 |
| 25th percentile hourly wage | $23.70 | May 2023 |
| Median hourly wage | $47.80 | May 2025 |
| Mean hourly wage | $51.65 | May 2023 |
| 75th percentile hourly wage | $60.92 | May 2023 |
| 90th percentile hourly wage | $102.98 | May 2023 |
| National mean hourly wage | $60.46 | May 2025 |
The figures should be read with their dates attached. The 2023 percentile figures and the 2025 mean and median are different releases, so they describe benchmarks from different periods rather than one single current wage ladder. They also measure hourly wages, which does not by itself capture rehearsal time, travel, unpaid development, cancellations, or irregular bookings.
Employment outlook
BLS projects U.S. musicians and singers to number 170,400 jobs in 2024 and 170,900 in 2034. That is projected growth of 0.1% from 2024 to 2034. The projection describes jobs in the occupation and should not be confused with the May 2025 employment estimate above, which comes from a separate BLS wage-and-employment release. BLS, Occupational projections and worker characteristics
The same BLS wage release reports about 17,400 openings for musicians and singers per year on average from 2025 to 2035. Openings can reflect replacement needs as well as employment growth, so a low growth rate does not mean that no opportunities will occur. BLS, May 2025
How UK music income is distributed
UK evidence gives a different view of musician income: it focuses on reported music earnings rather than an hourly occupational wage. In the Intellectual Property Office survey, 37% of music creators earned £5,000 or less from music in 2019, 47% earned less than £10,000, and 62% earned £20,000 or less. Only 9% reported more than £50,000. Music Creators’ Earnings, the Digital Era, and On-Demand Streaming Revenues, 2019
The same survey found that 72% of all respondents earned £30,000 or less from music in 2019. Among respondents whose earnings came entirely from music, 64% earned £30,000 or less. Within the narrower group whose only income source was music, 43% earned £20,000 or less. These groups are not interchangeable: “all respondents,” “entirely from music,” and “only income source” describe different slices of the survey.
The survey also recorded a change in the share reporting no music income: it rose from 4% in 2019 to 8% in 2020. Because the years differ, this comparison should be treated as a reported change across survey periods, not as a general long-term trend.
An older Musicians’ Union survey provides another historical benchmark. In its 2012 survey, 56% of working musicians earned less than £20,000 per year, one in five earned less than £10,000 from working as a musician, and 78% earned less than £30,000 gross annually. These legacy figures are included as historical context and were not independently verified here. The Working Musician, Musicians’ Union
Where music income comes from
In the UK survey covering 2019, live performances generated nearly 31% of respondents’ music-related income. Audio-streaming royalties accounted for an average 6%, and physical music sales accounted for 6%. When physical sales, downloads, streaming, and other recorded sources were combined, recorded music accounted directly for an average 20% of music income.
Streaming was widespread in the sample: 90% of respondents had uploaded music to streaming platforms, and 63% said streaming was an important element of their earnings. Uploading music and earning meaningful income from it are therefore separate measures. The percentages describe participation and perceived importance, not an average royalty payment per stream.
Career costs were substantial. In 2019, 44% of UK respondents spent more on their music careers than they earned from them, including 21% who spent a lot more. By comparison, 34% earned more from music than they spent on their careers, 12% earned a lot more, and 20% reported breaking even.
The balance looked different for respondents whose only income source was music: 54% earned more than they spent on their music careers, while 33% spent more than they earned. The remaining survey responses are not assigned here, so these figures should not be treated as a complete accounting identity.
Live performance and working time
For readers focused on live music, the UK Live Music Census found that live music was the main single income source for professional musicians, cited by 49% of respondents, in 2018. Yet direct annual live-performance income was often modest: 66% of respondents identifying as professional musicians earned less than £15,600 directly from live music per year, and 28% earned less than £5,200. Music Creators’ Earnings, the Digital Era, and On-Demand Streaming Revenues
The income figures sit alongside evidence that music work often occupies only part of a person’s working life. In the 2019 UK music-creators survey, 45% of respondents spent less than half of their working time on music. A further 4% reported earning music income while undertaking no music-related work. The survey therefore captures a mixed labor model in which music income can coexist with other work and can continue after active music-related work has paused.
Gender differences
The 2019 UK survey reported median music income of £13,057 for women and £20,160 for men. The distribution also differed at higher thresholds: 79% of female respondents earned £30,000 or less from music, compared with 71% of male respondents. Music income of £40,000 or more was reported by 6% of female respondents and 14% of male respondents.
The survey’s three-year comparison, covering 2017 to 2019, found that 59% to 62% of male respondents earned less than £20,000 from music. Across the same comparison, 9% to 11% of male respondents reported high music earnings above £50,000, compared with 4% to 5% of female respondents. These are survey results across stated periods, not estimates of a causal gender pay gap.
Geographic pay differences in the U.S.
BLS state and metropolitan data show that musician employment and pay are distributed unevenly. In May 2023, California had 5,540 musicians and singers with a $51.73 hourly mean wage. New York had 4,080 and a $55.78 mean, while Florida had 2,180 and a $59.27 mean. Minnesota’s listed hourly mean wage was $78.75. BLS, Musicians and Singers, May 2023
Hawaii had the highest listed state concentration in the BLS profile, at 1.28 musicians-and-singers jobs per 1,000 jobs, with a 5.47 location quotient. A location quotient compares occupational concentration with the national pattern; it is a concentration measure, not a wage measure.
The largest listed metropolitan figures also varied. New York had 3,490 musicians and singers and a $56.54 hourly mean wage. Los Angeles had 2,750 and a $49.08 mean, while Chicago had 1,580 and a $67.65 mean. Waterbury, Connecticut, had a listed hourly mean wage of $80.14. Metropolitan wage estimates can reflect local occupation mix and the distribution of reported work, so they should be compared with their geography and May 2023 date attached.