Industry Intel: 2017 Audio Engineer Salaries & Jobs (By Industry and Region)

It’s spring. Leaves are on the trees, a new crop of audio students are graduating into the workforce en masse, and it is time once again to review the just-released annual jobs data to find out where the best prospects in the audio industry lie.

Each May, 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 here are based on the Occupational Employment Statistics (“OES”) survey, a questionnaire that is filled out by businesses about the workers that they employ.

It’s that time again. Read our new 2017 audio jobs report.

Because this survey only tracks regular employees—excluding both freelancers and the self-employed—it leaves out far more jobs than it includes. So once again, we’ll supplement this post with data from the Current Population Survey (“CPS”) as well.

The CPS data is collected a bit less frequently, and the study is smaller in scale, but it tracks the responses of individual workers in real households, helping to account for both freelancers and the self-employed. Comparing these two sets of data can lead to some interesting insights.

So, how many jobs are there?

The first time we explored these numbers, back in 2012, we found that despite all the stories of big studio closings, the number of jobs for “sound engineering technicians” actually increased by nearly 50% in the first decade of the 21st century.

The most recent projections from the BLS are for 8% job growth for “sound engineering technicians”, 12% growth for “audio and video equipment technicians” and job losses of -6% for “broadcast technicians” through the 10-year period ending in 2024.

(Of course, if governments actually did a great job of predicting where markets were headed, there’s probably a major bubble or two 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 far as the total number of current jobs, the OES survey of employers counts just over 15,000 salaried “sound engineering technicians” in the entire country this year—up almost 10% from the roughly 14,000 figure released last year. That’s a pretty significant one-year increase. But it only tells a small part of the story.

If we take the most recent CPS survey into account (which does make an attempt to count freelancers and the self-employed) then estimates of the number of individuals working in audio is something more like 117,000 nationwide.

This disparity in job numbers suggests a ratio of just under 8 freelancers for every 1 salaried “sound engineering technician”.

Surprisingly, this ratio has been trending down slightly, but that is almost certainly due to having more recent numbers for salaried engineers than we have for freelance engineers, so it can probably be ignored as a misleading statistical artifact. If anything, it is reasonable to suggest that the proportion of freelance work has been increasing in recent decades.

Similarly, the 117,000 figure seems to represent a drop of more than 3.5% compared to the 121,000 figure available at the time of our 2015 report. But this also likely a statistical artifact due to the near-constant revisions that the Federal government makes regarding these kinds of rough estimates of job numbers.

(Remember that the next time you hear about “jobs data” or “GDP estimates” being released. They are often announced more optimistically and then revised downward at a later date.)

The OES survey data that we’ll largely be relying on today however, has gone through a year of checking before its released, so it tends to be much more stable, even if it only tells one part of the story.

How much do they pay?

When we first looked into the salary figures in 2012, we found that median salaries for audio engineers rose from $30,000 to $46,000 in the first decade of the 21st century.

By the time of our 2016 report, the BLS data showed that the median salary for audio engineers had continued to rise, reaching $53,000. That’s a 77% increase in 15 years, handily beating the “official” inflation number of 40% over the same period.

(Though of course, there is some reasonable case to be made for doubting the validity of the official inflation estimates.)

Now in 2017, the BLS estimates that the median salary for audio engineers has held steady since last time, right around the $53,000 mark once again.

The average salary ticked up however, up to $65,000 from $63,000, for an increase of roughly 3.5% from last year’s report.

As per usual, the average salary is higher than the median salary because the smaller number of engineers who earn more than the median can sometimes earn a lot more: The top 10% of earners averaged near $121,000 (up about 2% from $119,000), while the bottom 10% earned about $24,400 annually (up about 7% from just under $23,000).

When we first crunched the numbers in 2012, the highest incomes—and the highest levels of job growth—were in “Motion Picture & Video”. By our 2015 report, audio engineers in the “Software Publishing” sector beat them out by a hair, with average salaries of $79,000 for software compared to $75,000 for video.

For our 2016 report, incomes in these two fields increased again, putting the video sector back in the lead at just under $83,000, and the software field close at its heels at $81,000.

This year, “Motion Picture & Video” takes the lead once again with an average of just over $88,000 (up about 6% from last year) beating out “Software Publishing” just slightly again at $86,500. (Up 5.5% since last year.)

There are still a lot more audio engineers working in film & video than in software, but the gap has been narrowing from a ratio of roughly 100:1 in our 2015 report down to 38:1 in 2016’s report and a bit under 35:1 today.

Once you add in the fairly new category of “Computer Systems Design and Related Services” however, the ratio of engineers in film and video sinks to more like 18:1 over the computer and software sector.

This new category of “Computer Systems Design and Related Services” just entered into the statistics as of our last report. At that time, engineers in this small field there were making the beaucoup bucks with average salaries of roughly $100,000, putting this category in the lead overall. This year, their average salaries have fallen by about 2% to just shy of $98,000, but they still get to keep the #1 slot.

It’s worth noting that the Corporate A/V sector appears to be at least as large as the software and computer sector. The categories of “Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services” and “Other Information Services” alone accounted for about the same total number of jobs as the “Software” and “Computer Systems” categories, and commanded average salaries of about $72,000 and $68,000 each.

“Radio and Television Broadcasting”, which has been experiencing declines as new media overtakes the old, saw some of the lower salaries once again at around $56,000.

Interestingly, the very tiny category of “spectator sports” and “amusement parks” seems to have dropped out of the statistics entirely.

Last we checked, there was a slight drop in their average salaries, from $72,000 down to $71,000 in spectator sports and $69,000 down to $67,000 for amusement parks.

It seems reasonable to suggest that this may be due to a shift toward freelance work, rather than salaried work in these sectors, though automation of some tasks may also play a role. More information is needed to be sure.

What about music though?

What most people tend to ask about of course, are audio jobs in the music field. So let’s get to it!

Audio engineers who were identified as working in the “Sound Recording Industries” earned around $53,000, up 2% from $52,000 in the last report, and up 13% from the $47,000 figure the year prior. This is right around the average for the audio field as a whole.

Although this is one of the lower-paying audio categories overall, it is also one of the largest sectors for salaried employment in audio, just below the higher-paying motion picture and video field.

The much smaller number of audio engineers whose employers identified themselves as “Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers” earned an average of $58,000. This is down 3% from $60,000 last time, and down 6% from the $62,000 average the year before that.

A very real possibility to help explain this drop is that higher-earning artists and writers may be moving to freelance positions for tax advantages or other reasons, removing themselves from the OES rolls of “salaried” employees. But it is impossible to say from this data alone.

How reliable are these numbers?

If you are somewhat puzzled as to how each category is defined, don’t worry—you are not alone! Many of these category definitions are about as clear and transparent as the tax code.

At this point, it’s worth reiterating that we’ve been looking at the “OES” data of salaried employees. Because it is based on mandatory employer reports, it is the most detailed, exacting, and up-to-date data available.

The more casual and sporadic “CPS” data (which is based on phone surveys and works to include freelancers and the self-employed) puts the median salary of the field a bit lower, at around $42,000 rather than $53,000.

While this may seem like a significant difference at first, it’s worth noting that:

A) Freelancers may work fewer hours in total each year, have other sources of income, or filter much of their income through LLCs or other personal corporate entities for tax purposes.

B) This “CPS” data is a few years older than the “OES” data we’ve been looking at so far, and

C) The CPS survey likely suffers from greater reporting errors, a self-selection bias toward the least busy workers, and a greater likelihood for respondents to think in terms of net rather than gross pay.

(Not to mention, “D”: The likely greater propensity to round down one’s annual income when talking to someone representing the Federal government.)

As always, a word of caution here: Although all these salaries look reasonable on paper, it’s worth stating that an “average” is neither a minimum nor a guarantee.

It is always worth remembering that these averages won’t ever factor in the wages of aspiring professionals, who may often earn $0, or “too-little-to-report.”

Where are the jobs, by region?

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

Once again, New York and California alone are home to nearly 47% of all of the audio jobs on the books at the BLS, making that a natural place to start looking.

There have been some big changes here recently: In just 3 years alone, from 2011 to 2014, the ratio of sound technician jobs in California vs New York went from about 1:1 to nearly 2:1!

This is a dramatic shift. In this past economic cycle, we’ve gone from near parity between these two regions to roughly twice as many audio jobs in California as New York. In last year’s report, the ratio had dipped slightly, to 1.9:1, but it has come roaring back up this year with California in the lead at a nearly 2.4:1 ratio of audio engineers over New York.

After these two behemoths come Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and New Jersey, which were each home to about 3.5% of all salaried audio jobs each.

Georgia and Tennessee have been holding fairly steady at around 3.5% in recent years, but this year marks a continued decline in salaried audio jobs in Florida, which accounted for 15% of the market in 2012 and 5% in 2015 and about 3.5% now.

(Once again, it’s seems reasonable to suggest that this may be due to a shift toward freelance work in the amusement park sector, though automation may also play a role.)

Following on the heels of these states are Washington (2.2%), Connecticut (1.8%), and Louisiana (1.8%).

Exact numbers were not released for Nevada this year, though it was still included in the list of top audio markets. Colorado did not make the top rankings at all, meaning that they’ve presumably dropped somewhat below the 1.7% market share they had last year.

Texas, which was home to 4% of salaried audio jobs just a few years ago, was absent from the list again this year. Whether this is due to job declines in these markets or transition to freelance work is not clear.

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, Atlanta, Nashville, Seattle, Chicago and Boston all make it into the top 10 for the number of audio jobs—although at a much smaller scale than New York or LA.

Some cities didn’t do quite as well as they have in the past: Salt Lake City and Hartford CT fell out of the top 10 for audio jobs this past year and Washington D.C. and Denver fell out of the top 10 in our prior report.

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, Nashville, San Francisco and New York City are in the top slots once again, and in that order.

After that, some small and unexpected markets have an unusually high concentration of audio jobs compared to the total number of workers. By this metric, some of the largest numbers of audio engineers per capita work in Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut; New Orleans, Louisiana; Asheville, North Carolina; and Atlanta, Georgia.

They may not have nearly as many total audio jobs, but they do have a surprisingly high number of audio jobs compared to their populations—just a bit lower on that scale than New York and San Francisco.

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 this was no longer the case by 2015.

Between our 2012 and 2015 reports, the average salaries for L.A. sound engineers actually decreased from $83,000 down to $67,000, for a loss of -7% in 3 years, taking them from the #1 slot down to #3.

Meanwhile, here in New York City, the average income for audio engineers actually went up during that same period, from $66,000 to $73,000 for an 11% increase, edging out L.A. for the #2 slot in 2015.

This means that the big increase in L.A. audio jobs was accompanied by a significant drop in average salaries, while NYC saw salary increases as its relative population of engineers declined.

This makes sense, as one would assume that the lowest-paid NYC engineers would be the most likely to leave and seek their fortunes elsewhere, helping to increase the average of those who remained. Meanwhile, the huge influx of green engineers into L.A. would likely reduce the market price of audio engineers there toward a new, lower equilibrium.

In recent years however, salaries have begun to level out once again. New York City engineer salaries increased in our 2016 report, to just shy of $77,000. But L.A. pay increased even more, with audio engineers there making back some of their losses to reach average salaries just short of $76,000.

This year, the data have L.A. coming out ahead of NYC once again—just slightly. The latest numbers show Los Angeles engineers making up even more of their lost ground with a 4% increase, leaving them with an average of $79,000 and the #2 slot. New York City is now just behind them with average salaries of $78,500 at #3.

With that said, it’s worth noting that the cost of living is about 20% lower in L.A. than in NYC, meaning that direct comparisons of income may not be entirely relevant. An engineer earning $79,000 in L.A. may very well have a higher standard of living than an engineer making $78,500 in New York. (Depending of course, on their own values and preferences.)

Also high on the list for average salaries were the relatively small number of engineers in a few surprising markets:

Seattle leaped up to the #1 slot with average salaries of $82,500. This is an increase of about 8.5% from last year when they were #6 at $74,000. This is likely driven by increased demand in the tech sector.

Kansas City is a new addition to the top ten with average salaries of around $75,000 putting them in the #6 slot this year.

Las Vegas dropped from the #1 slot all the way down to #7 with salaries just below $75,000—down about 6% from $80,000+ the year before.

Engineers around Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk in Connecticut were in the #8 slot earning around $74,000, and audio engineers from the Silver Spring/Frederick/Rockville area of Maryland entered the #10 slot at $67,000, kicking Denver out of the top 10 (which presumably saw declines from its $68,000 mark last year.)

Included in the top ten once again were a handful of other California cities, notably Anaheim (#4 at $76,500), San Francisco (#5 at $75,000) and San Diego (#9 at $68,000).

Salaries are lower across the largest southern markets and saw declines since last year’s report. Nashville’s average was $51,500 this time, down 11% from $58,000 last year, while Atlanta saw an average of $42,500, down 7.5% from $46,000.

However, the costs of living are also far lower in these areas, so conditions may be comparable to—or even better than—the big cities from a quality-of-life standpoint.

Despite significant salary declines in these areas, it wouldn’t be surprising if engineers in the bottom 50% of earners in Southern markets still had far more room to stretch out in their homes than the top 50% of earners in New York, for instance!

How much training do I need?

The Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a joint project from the US Department of Labor and the Employment & Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) offers some estimates about education levels required for audio work:

According to their data, 31% of these jobs required at least a high school diploma, 25% required a post-secondary certificate from a vocational school, and 22% required at least an associates degree.

Presumably, the remaining 22% either required a bachelor’s or higher degree, or required no training at all. Unfortunately, that distinction was not made, which would have been useful.

Fortunately (because I am a nerd) I did my own original research when I was chair at the largest audio school in New York City in 2014 and 2015. When I surveyed employers there for my own edification, 22% of them expressed no minimum education preference at all.

43% of the employers who responded to the survey I created preferred at least a post-secondary certificate from a vocational school, while 21% preferred at least an associate’s degree, and 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 candidates to have a master’s degree or higher.

Fortunately, I also collected some numbers on what kinds of audio jobs students found soon after graduation in the New York area. As of 2015, it broke down like this:

Live Events (Live Sound, Corporate A/V, DJ): 61%
Music Production (Recording Engineer, Freelance/Self Employed, Record Label): 18%
Sound for Multimedia/Sound for Picture (Post-Production, Audio Books, Broadcast): 15%
Other (Pro Audio Sales, Education): 7%

Tellingly, relative employment in the “live sound” category increased by almost 50% over a 3 year period, while employment in the “music production” category dropped by nearly 50%. Employment rates in “mulitmedia/sound for picture” and “other” stayed fairly constant as a percentage of our job placements.

Over this same period, there was an increase in both the total number of graduates, and the percentage of graduates who quickly found relevant jobs. However, it’s also worth noting that because the total number of graduating students increased, so did the gross number of students who couldn’t find jobs—even as their percentage decreased as a portion of the whole! So again, comparisons like these can only go so far.

There’s a lot of nuance in the numbers when you dig deep. As always, no one isolated statistic can tell the whole story. We need logic and sound reasoning to craft realistic narratives that truly make sense of the numbers.

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 which point it can quickly reverse. Because of this, it’s always wise to approach employment projections with some principled scrutiny and skepticism.

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 no doubt, 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 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. The world now has more video, and therefore, more recorded sound than ever before. As companies continue to figure out more ways to monetize streaming web video, we can only expect more jobs there.

2. 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. These developments have finally begun to make “paying for music” seem like the more convenient option once again—as well as the more ethical one. This should lead to income increases in the music sector (which is still slowly re-monetizing) and to even greater gains for audioworkers in the software and computing sectors, which are helping to make this re-monetization possible. (Having themselves decimated it more than a decade ago.)

3. Live events—both in music and in the corporate sector—are attracting more revenue than ever before. 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.

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 to continue to grow in the future.

5. 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 who lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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