Arts, Design & Media

Musicians & Singers

SOC 27-2042

Perform and record music, usually pieced together across many gigs.

The job

Median pay

$47.80/hr

BLS median hourly wage; no annual figure is published

Hourly only

Outlook, 2025 to 2035

Stable

+0.3% projected

Openings a year

17k

BLS projection

Typical education

No formal credential

Our model

AI displacement risk

High

How much of this job AI may do instead of the person

Works with AI

4/100

AI alongside the person rather than instead of them

AI exposure

69th pct

More exposed than 69% of occupations · modeled estimate · 28th pct in Microsoft's data

Future-proof

43/100

At a glance

BLS's 2035 projection for Musicians & Singers is +0.3%, behind the typical occupation we cover. Modeled AI exposure sits at the 69th percentile, with displacement risk rated high and works-with-AI at 4/100, leaning toward displacement. For Musicians & Singers, no formal credential is required. BLS projects about 17,400 openings a year. Pay is not compared here because BLS gives only an hourly median for this occupation ($47.80 an hour), since the work is rarely full-time and year-round. Annual openings here are about 4 times those for Motion Graphics Designers.

Take the next step

Weigh it against ActorsPay, outlook, entry and AI exposure side by side See where it pays mostNevada leads at $136k; all states are listed below Find careers like itOpen the map at Musicians & Singers and explore its neighbours See open jobsMusicians & Singers roles hiring now Learn the skillsCourses for Musicians & Singers, who lean most on speaking Real pay & reviewsSelf-reported pay and reviews on Glassdoor

Similar pay in Arts, Design & Media

Key skills

Speaking
Active Listening
Monitoring
Reading Comprehension
Critical Thinking
Writing

Pay and jobs by state

BLS OEWS May 2025, 50 states and DC. Sorted by jobs; per 1,000 is jobs per thousand workers in the state; vs national compares that rate with the country's. A tilde marks a figure estimated from the parent occupation group where BLS publishes none.

State	Jobs	Per 1,000	vs national	Median pay
California	6,840	0.4	1.6×	$91k
New York	5,470	0.6	2.4×	$130k (estimated)
Florida	2,130	0.2	0.9×	$105k
Tennessee	1,860	0.6	2.4×	$80k (estimated)
Ohio	1,760	0.3	1.4×	$69k
Texas	1,430	0.1	0.4×	$70k
Michigan	1,340	0.3	1.3×	$76k
Oregon	1,310	0.7	2.9×	$102k (estimated)
Illinois	1,300	0.2	0.9×	$110k
Pennsylvania	1,160	0.2	0.8×	$91k (estimated)

All 50 states and DC

State	Jobs	Per 1,000	vs national	Median pay
North Carolina	750	0.2	0.7×	$121k
Washington	750	0.2	0.9×	$97k
Hawaii	740	1.2	5.1×	$109k
Massachusetts	680	0.2	0.8×	$81k
Missouri	620	0.2	0.9×	$82k
Maryland	570	0.2	0.9×	$81k
New Jersey	570	0.1	0.6×	$118k (estimated)
Georgia	540	0.1	0.5×	$96k (estimated)
Minnesota	540	0.2	0.8×	$112k
Connecticut	520	0.3	1.3×	$106k
Colorado	420	0.1	0.6×	$96k
Arizona	410	0.1	0.5×	$90k (estimated)
Indiana	400	0.1	0.5×	$83k
Virginia	400	0.1	0.4×	$105k
Wisconsin	380	0.1	0.6×	$76k
South Carolina	330	0.1	0.6×	$40k
Oklahoma	280	0.2	0.7×	$80k (estimated)
Kansas	260	0.2	0.8×	$60k
Montana	260	0.5	2.2×	$97k
Nevada	260	0.2	0.7×	$136k
Iowa	250	0.2	0.7×	$74k
Utah	230	0.1	0.6×	$46k
Washington DC	200	0.3	1.2×	$161k (estimated)
Nebraska	191 (estimated)	0.2 (estimated)	0.8× (estimated)	$81k (estimated)
Alabama	190	0.1	0.4×	$49k
Idaho	165 (estimated)	0.2 (estimated)	0.8× (estimated)	$78k (estimated)
Louisiana	150	0.1	0.3×	$79k (estimated)
Rhode Island	135 (estimated)	0.3 (estimated)	1.2× (estimated)	$103k (estimated)
Kentucky	130	0.1	0.3×	$76k (estimated)
New Hampshire	123 (estimated)	0.2 (estimated)	0.8× (estimated)	$94k (estimated)
Arkansas	110	0.1	0.4×	$70k (estimated)
West Virginia	90 (estimated)	0.1 (estimated)	0.6× (estimated)	$73k (estimated)
North Dakota	87 (estimated)	0.2 (estimated)	0.9× (estimated)	$78k (estimated)
South Dakota	86 (estimated)	0.2 (estimated)	0.8× (estimated)	$73k (estimated)
Mississippi	80	0.1	0.3×	$69k (estimated)
Delaware	71 (estimated)	0.1 (estimated)	0.6× (estimated)	$95k (estimated)
New Mexico	60	0.1	0.3×	$94k
Alaska	57 (estimated)	0.2 (estimated)	0.8× (estimated)	$85k (estimated)
Wyoming	43 (estimated)	0.2 (estimated)	0.7× (estimated)	$79k (estimated)
Maine	30	0.0	0.2×	$74k
Vermont	30	0.1	0.4×	$45k

Top metro areas

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ4,410 jobs · $138k median
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA3,230 jobs · $111k median
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN1,280 jobs
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN1,050 jobs · $111k median
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA970 jobs · $158k median
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA950 jobs
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL670 jobs · $105k median
Urban Honolulu, HI560 jobs · $111k median

Explore the rankings

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Outlook from BLS (Employment Projections 2025-2035). BLS publishes no annual median for this occupation because the work is not full-time and year-round, so the pay card shows the BLS hourly median. Skills and work activities from O*NET 30.3. AI exposure and future-proof scores are modeled estimates. How these numbers are made.