Musicians and Singers · SOC 27-2042

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Musicians and Singerss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median hourly wage for musicians and singers. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (34 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 78 metro areas

Musicians and Singers: metro areas with the highest published median hourly wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median hourly	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$85.80	30	0.2
2	Medford, OR	$85.45	90	1.0
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$75.75	970	0.4
4	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$66.29	4,410	0.5
5	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$65.46	240	0.2
6	Boulder, CO	$64.45	60	0.3
7	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$64.25	410	0.1
8	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$63.36	230	0.2
9	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$61.56	400	0.2
10	Pittsburgh, PA	$60.47	270	0.2
11	New Haven, CT	$60.12	80	0.3
12	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$59.92	180	1.1
13	Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH	$59.56	160	0.4
14	Winston-Salem, NC	$58.88	70	0.2
15	Tulsa, OK	$56.27	90	0.2
16	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$55.59	60	0.7
17	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$55.43	250	0.5
18	Richmond, VA	$54.98	Not published	Not published
19	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$53.80	540	0.2
20	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$53.78	120	0.3
21	Urban Honolulu, HI	$53.46	560	1.3
22	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$53.16	1,050	0.2
23	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$53.16	3,230	0.5
24	Kalamazoo-Portage, MI	$53.07	180	1.5
25	Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL	$52.67	50	0.2

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Musicians and Singers overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.