Music directors and composers
Salary, job outlook, AI risk & career information
Music directors and composers in the United States earn a median salary of $73,710 per year — about $35 per hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Roughly 47K people work in this occupation nationwide, with projected employment growth of 0%.
AI & Automation Risk
The occupation is a hybrid of high-exposure digital work (composing) and lower-exposure physical work (conducting). Generative AI is rapidly automating music composition, arrangement, and scoring for commercial media, while the music director role remains more resilient due to the need for live leadership, physical rehearsals, and human-to-human artistic interpretation.
Salary by City — What You Actually Take Home
Real purchasing power = salary adjusted for cost of living. Higher = more money in your pocket.
| City | Local Salary | Cost of Living | Real Purchasing Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syracuse, NYBEST VALUE | $140,230 | Below avg (95.7) | $146,505 |
| Trenton-Princeton, NJ | $115,400 | Average (102.4) | $112,676 |
| Colorado Springs, CO | $104,690 | Average (98.1) | $106,703 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $112,950 | Above avg (117.6) | $96,086 |
| Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | $84,660 | Average (97.0) | $87,257 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $97,970 | Above avg (112.6) | $86,972 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $94,700 | Above avg (109.1) | $86,808 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | $81,770 | Below avg (94.7) | $86,392 |
| Rochester, NY | $84,130 | Average (98.4) | $85,508 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $82,570 | Average (97.1) | $84,997 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $82,920 | Average (98.3) | $84,366 |
| Madison, WI | $79,870 | Below avg (95.9) | $83,255 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $93,090 | Above avg (114.7) | $81,125 |
| Cleveland, OH | $74,370 | Below avg (92.9) | $80,046 |
| Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA | $73,610 | Below avg (93.4) | $78,819 |