Industry Intel: 2023 Audio Engineer Salaries and Jobs Report

Prefer to watch or listen? Check out the podcast/video version of this article here.

It’s that time of year again. Read our new 2023 audio engineer salaries and jobs report!

We’re diving into the data once again to give you a sense for the incomes that audio engineers are earning in 2023, and where their best prospects for employment lie.

There are some new and very interesting trends in the data this time, and if you want the cliff notes version, here it is, right up front:

The audio field continues to be dominated by freelance and independent contractor work, rather than by traditional salaried employment. No big surprise there.

The trend of audio engineers leaving more expensive cities for more affordable locales has continued. This has especially been the case in New York.

While New York was home to roughly the same number of audio engineer jobs as California just over a decade ago, its share of the market for audio jobs has declined to just 11% today.

This mirrors a larger national trend throughout the economy, in which workers have been steadily migrating out of high-cost, high-tax states and into low-cost, low-tax states.

I was expecting to see a meaningful downtick in the percentage of salaried audio engineer jobs leaving California, continuing the trend that we saw in past reports. But it appears that out-migration from California to other states has been offset by some additional in-migration from New York to California since 2019.

Despite the general trend of migration out of higher-cost areas, the lion’s share of audio employment remains in New York and California, which were home to about 48% of all the salaried audio jobs in the country put together. The balance has only shifted even more dramatically in from New York in favor of California since our last report in 2019.

Below, we’ll go into all the juicy details, but first a note on how this data is compiled.

Where does this data come from?

Each spring, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases its latest job numbers, which they collected in May of the previous year. The main figures we’ll look at today come from their Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a questionnaire for businesses about the workers they employ.

The one big drawback of this survey is that it only tracks employees, and not independent contractors, so it leaves out more jobs than it includes. Still, this data goes very deep and can help give us a good sense for the overall trends.

As always, we’ll supplement this report with numbers from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Although it is done less frequently and at a much smaller scale, the CPS tracks the responses of individual workers, helping to account for freelancers and the self-employed.

Let’s dive in and see what these studies say about where we are and where we’re headed.

How many jobs are there?

If you’ve read our past reports, you may remember that the first time we explored these numbers, we found that despite all the stories of major studio closings, the number of jobs for “sound engineering technicians” actually increased by nearly 50% during the first decade of the 21st century.

The most recent projections from the BLS going forward are for 10% job growth for “broadcast, sound and video technicians” and 8% job growth for “sound engineering technicians” about double the rate of projected job growth overall.

Of course, if governments did a great job of predicting where markets were headed, there’s probably a major bubble or three that we could have avoided in recent memory. So we’ll take their estimates of where we’re going a little less seriously than their estimates of where we are and where we have been.

As for as the total number of jobs in the field, the OES survey of employers counts 13,420 salaried “sound engineering technicians” in the entire country. This is about flat compared to our 2019 report, and down nearly 10% from its peak in 2017. But this OES data only tells a very small part of the story. It leaves out freelancers, which are probably a much larger portion of those working in the field.

According to this survey, there were 3,860 salaried sound technicians working in “motion picture and video” and 2,690 working in “sound recording industries”. This is 29% and 20% of the total respectively, making up nearly half of all audio engineering jobs.

The most recent estimate from the CPS on the other hand—which does include freelancers—puts the number of people working as “broadcast, sound and video technicians” at 119,900 nationwide and “sound engineering technicians” as 16,300.  The overall category is down nearly 10% compared to its peak in our 2019 report, but about flat compared to 2017 report.

This data isn’t perfect, and the differences in categories from one survey relative to the other aren’t clearly defined.

If the “sound engineering technician” category in the CPS survey is the same as that in the OES survey, it suggests that including freelancers adds just 20% to the total number of audio engineers. This would mean only 1 in 5 audio engineers is working outside of regular wage-based or salaried employment. This is almost the exact opposite of the ratio I would expect to see if these surveys took an accurate sampling of those working in audio in some capacity.

On the other hand, if the “sound engineering technicians” category in the CPS is more comparable to the “sound recording industries” category in the OES, then it would suggest a ratio of 6 freelancers for every 1 employee, which is closer to what I have found from my own informal surveys.

How much do these jobs pay?

This year, the OES estimate for the median salary of audio engineers has risen from $52,400 in the 2019 report to $60,670 for 2023. This is up about 16% since 2019.

Unfortunately, that’s a bit less than the official cumulative inflation rate of about 19% from 2019 to 2023, so in real terms audio engineers are earning less today than they were pre-lockdowns.

Of course, there is a very reasonable case to be made for doubting the validity of the official inflation estimates, so take even that with a healthy side of salt.

The average salary was also up, from $65,000 in 2019 to $75,590 in 2023. This is also an increase of about 16%.

As usual, the average salary is higher than the median salary because the engineers who earn more than the median can earn a lot more than the median.

The top 10% of earners in the field commanded average salaries near $135,600 in this year’s report (up about 15% from 2019), while the bottom 10% earned about $31,200—up about 20% from our 2019 report.

Where are the jobs, by state?

So far, the numbers we’ve been looking at have been based on national averages. But the conditions in local markets can vary significantly.

Once again, California was home to the most jobs in this field. But its share of the total audio market has declined from its peak.

This has been one of the most fascinating statistics to follow since we began running these reports. Between 2011 and 2018, the ratio of sound technician jobs in California vs New York went from about 1:1 to nearly 2.6:1 as workers left NYC in droves for less expensive cities in California.

Despite a brief blip downward in 2019 as engineers seemed to begin leaving California for lower cost states, this ratio has now reached its highest ever, probably thanks to audio engineers migrating in from New York.

Both states lost share of the overall audio job market from their peaks, but New York has lost even more. The ratio now stands at over 3.3 California audio engineers to every 1 New York audio engineer.

Although this could be because of economic issues or because of workers moving to independent contract work, there is a third and potentially more powerful reason that is being seen throughout the country for years now: The continued migration of workers from high-tax, high-cost states to low-cost, low-tax states.

This was certainly a factor in so many audio engineers moving from NYC to L.A. to begin with. At the time, the cost of living in L.A. could be 20% lower than in NYC, and today, the cost of living is still 13% lower in LA compared to NYC. Now, as more and more creative workers get priced out of LA, they appear to be migrating to more affordable locales once more.

There’s good evidence for this. In general, California has often seen the highest migration out of the state than any other prior to 2020 lockdowns. And at the same time that California had seen job losses, the number of audio jobs has increased substantially in some much smaller markets.

In terms of the sheer number of jobs, after the behemoths of New York and California came The much smaller markets of Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. (The last of which knocked Georgia out of the #5 slot from our prior report.) Each of them are responsible for 3.5% to 7.5% of the total audio engineering market today, with Florida in the lead. This is about on par with where they were in the 2019 numbers.

Post-lockdowns, the job market seems to be more diffuse than ever. Although California and New York lost some market share, audio engineer jobs don’t seem to have migrated most substantially to any one specific city or state.

Where are the jobs by city?

We can get even more granular than this and look not just at states, but at individual cities.

By this measure, Washington DC, Nashville, Orlando, Miami, Salt Lake City and Chicago all make it into the top 10 for the number of audio jobs—although at a much smaller scale than New York City or L.A.

We can also look at cities by the concentration of audio jobs, meaning: How many audio engineers are there compared to the general population?

By this measure, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, NYC, Trento, Baltimore and Minneapolis all made the list. Notably absent were Atlanta GA, and Austin TX, which had made the list in prior years.

Studying these numbers year after year, it’s interesting to see that New York City has fallen so far from the top slot for concentration of audio engineers.

The same now appears to have happened for all the other California cities aside from Los Angeles. As of this year, San Francisco, San Diego and Anaheim have all dropped out of the top 10 by this measure, along with Seattle, Washington.

How much do they pay, by city?

The first time we evaluated these numbers back in 2012, sound engineers in Los Angeles reported the highest average salaries in the nation. But as engineers left NYC for LA, average salaries for L.A. sound engineers actually decreased from $83,000 down to $67,000. Interestingly, New York City audio engineer salaries went up during the same period, from $66,000 to $73,000.

This trend has continued. Despite (or because of) its shrinking market share, New York City is in the #1 slot this year for the highest audio salaries in the nation, having grown to $94,800— up about 19% from the 2019 report. California was not far behind at $85,800. Although roughly 10% lower than New York, this is evened out by a roughly 13% lower cost of living.

Also high on the list for average salaries were the relatively small number of engineers who work in a few surprising markets. Trenton NJ, San Jose CA and Seattle WA boasted among the highest average salaries in the nation, each of them between $100,000 and $105,000. Also worth noting are Atlanta, Boston and San Diego, with averages from $80,000 to $85,000 and Minneapolis and Detroit with averages just above $70,000.

Although average incomes in smaller markets may be lower, conditions may be comparable to (or even better than) the big cities, from a quality-of-life standpoint. It wouldn’t be surprising if the bottom 50% of earners in Southern markets had far more room to stretch out in their homes than the top 50% of earners in New York, for instance.

Salaries by sector

Since we first started crunching these numbers in 2010, the highest salaries have gone either to engineers in the “Motion Picture & Video” sector, or to audio engineers in one of the computing sectors like “Software Publishing” or “Computer Systems Design”.

But for this year’s report, audio engineering in the motion picture, music and broadcast categories have all dropped from the top 5 completely.

As of today, the highest incomes go to audio engineers in “Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services” ($109,580), Software Publishers ($109,310), Miscellaneous Manufacturing ($102,590), Newspaper, Periodical and Book Publishers ($97,720) and “Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services” ($96,600).

What most people tend to ask about though, are audio jobs in music. So let’s get to it! Audio engineers who were identified as working in the “Sound Recording Industries” earned an average of $61,500, up about 9% from the $56,680 figure reported in 2019.

Although music is one of the lower-paying categories in audio, it is also one of the largest sectors for salaried employment in audio, ranking in at #2 in total employment rate, just behind the higher-paying Motion Picture and Video field, where salaries averaged 55% higher at $95,580.

How much training do I need?

Do you need a degree or special training for these jobs? We can get some estimates about the education levels required for audio work from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a joint project from the US Department of Labor and the Employment & Training Administration (USDOL/ETA).

According to their data, 22% required an associates degree, and 22% required at least a bachelor’s degree. 46% of jobs required no degree, and only 19% of jobs were advertised as requiring less than a high school diploma.

Because I am a nerd, I did my own research when I was the chair of the audio program at the largest audio school in New York City in 2014 and 2015. When I surveyed employers there to slake my own curiosity, I found that 22% of them expressed no minimum education preference at all.

43% of the employers who responded to my surveys preferred at least a post-secondary certificate from a vocational school, while 21% preferred at least an associate’s degree. Just 14% preferred a bachelor’s degree as a minimum credential.

While 64% percent of employers in the field said that an associate’s degree credential offered applicants “an advantage” in hiring, only 14% considered any kind of degree “a necessity”.

None of the employers who responded to my survey expressed any preference or requirement for applicants to have a master’s degree or higher.

What’s next?

Trying to predict the future too precisely is a fool’s errand. A trend will often continue unabated, until at some point it can no longer go on. At that point, a long running trend can quickly reverse. Because of this, it’s always wise to approach employment projections with some skepticism and critical reasoning.

I also like to try and remember that many of these numbers come from the US government. Though a well-meaning and well-educated bunch I’m sure, they are also working within the same kind of institutional framework that brings you the Post Office, the DMV, the VA, the FCC and the Federal Reserve— none of which are widely renowned for their foresight or infallibility.

What we can say with some degree of certainty is what has happened recently, and what is happening right now. We can also make some reasonable guesses about what trends are likely to continue for some time (barring any major shocks). Here are a few things that I’m reasonably sure of today:

1. Audio engineers, much like millennials, creative workers more broadly, and heck, people in general, are starting to move from the largest and most expensive markets to smaller and more attractive ones. This kind of things seems to happen at least once a generation. I’m living proof of it myself, having recently moved from Brooklyn to a smaller city in New Hampshire for the quality of life and to start a family. The data shows that I’m not alone. And it’s not only in this field.

2. The world is now full of more video than ever before. That means it’s also full of more audio than ever before. As companies continue to figure out more ways to monetize streaming web video, we can expect more jobs to continue emerge in this field.

3. Recorded music revenues—after taking a decade-long beating—are finally on something of an upward trend again. This is thanks to both the monetization of streaming audio services and crackdowns on unethical pirate websites. As “paying for music” begins to become not only the most ethical, but the most convenient option once again, we should expect income increases in the music sector, and the regaining of some lost ground.

4. Video games continue to bring in more dollars than movies and recorded music combined. The number of audio professionals employed here is small at the moment, but swiftly growing. Of course, more money often attracts more competition. Look for this field, and the number of jobs in it, to continue to grow in the future.

5. Live events—both in music and in the corporate sector—were attracting more revenue than ever before up until the point the whole world locked down in 2020. Although it is still suffering today, it may be poised for a comeback in years to come. In the age of a non-stop stream of digital entertainment and information, people seem to be refreshingly willing to pay more for real-life experiences once again. That’s good, because evidence suggests that experiences make us happier than things.

6. As long as there is audio, there will be jobs in audio. Sometimes more and sometimes less. But this much is certain: Short of the collapse of civilization as we know it, audio isn’t going anywhere.

Justin Colletti is a mastering engineer, educator and writer. He edits SonicScoop.

Please note: When you buy products through links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.