Music Conductors and Directors

The range of earnings for music conductors and directors is enormous, and there is variation from one category of conductors to another. For instance, many conductors work only part time and make quite small yearly incomes for their conducting endeavors. Full-time church choir directors, for instance, earned average salaries of $59,598 in January 2025, according to PayScale.com. Salaries ranged from $24,000 to $100,000 or more. Opera and choral group conductors make as little as $8,000 per year working part time at the community level, but salaries range to over $100,000 per year for those with permanent positions with established companies in major cities. The same applies to symphony orchestra conductors who, for instance, make $25,000 to $40,000 per year conducting smaller, regional orchestras, but who can make $500,000 or more a year if they become the resident conductor of an internationally famous orchestra. The median annual salary for music directors and composers was $49,630 in May 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The lowest paid 10 percent earned less than $34,240, and the highest paid 10 percent earned $173,810 or more annually. Fifty percent of music directors and composers earned between $46,910 and $101,690.

Benefits include paid vacation, health, disability, life insurance, and retirement or pension plans.