# Best-paid orchestra? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436 "2005-03-27T04:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/1 "2005-03-27T04:06:23Z")
Fairly simple question: who is the best-paid orchestra in the US, and in the world? I don’t mean necessarily star soloists on specific tour dates who raked in serious cash, but contracted members of established orchestra. And what is that starting salary? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/2 "2005-03-27T04:36:09Z")
The New York Philharmonic seems to be listed consistently as the top U.S. orchestra for minimum salary. [An article](http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1100169118227680.xml) in _The Plain Dealer_ (Cleveland) lists the minimum for NY as $114,400, Chicago (#2) as $113,360. I didn’t find a comprehensive current list, but I found one that compares growth between 1952 and 2000 for about 40 or so orchestras [here](http://orchestrafacts.org/chart.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/3 "2005-03-27T05:01:42Z")
Thanks much! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/4 "2005-03-27T10:02:27Z")
US orchestras are well-known (at least over here 😉 ) for being very well-paid. At least compared to ours. [This article](http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/story.jsp?story=560086) gives a good idea of the British situation - $45k for rank-and-file players is typical. With which you’re supposed to scrape a living in London. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/5 "2005-03-28T16:02:56Z")
To be fair, orchestral musicians aren’t generally supposed to be scraping out a living on their salary alone. Traditionally, rehearsing and performing is not a full-time job, and they’re teaching and playing other paying gigs as well. ---
**Author:** ![Figaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@Figaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Figaro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/6 "2005-03-28T16:29:49Z")
I’ve always heard that the Met orchestra is tops for salary. Heck - even long standing members of the Met \*chorus \* make six figures. I couldn’t find the Plain Dealer article referenced above, or more recent figures than these from 1997, but for what it’s worth, here were the top 10 as of 8 years ago. The 100K+ figure posted by JeffB seems reasonable for today’s market given 8 years of increases. According to an article I found online, the Met now keeps its orchestral salaries mum, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it still pays better than the NYPO. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra ($85,000) Chicago Symphony ($78,520) New York Philharmonic ($76,960) Boston Symphony ($74,360) Philadelphia Orchestra (also $74,360) L.A. Philharmonic ($74,100) San Francisco Symphony ($73,640) Cleveland Orchestra ($71,760) Minnesota Orchestra ($65,780) Pittsburgh Symphony ($63,960) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/7 "2005-03-28T16:40:42Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > To be fair, orchestral musicians aren’t generally supposed to be scraping out a living on their salary alone. Traditionally, rehearsing and performing is not a full-time job, and they’re teaching and playing other paying gigs as well. Again, this is from a British perspective, but you’re wrong: a full-time orchestra post is just that. By the time you factor in preparation time etc., it easily works out as a full week’s work. Players take on freelance gigs and teaching on top of this, because it’s the only way to make ends meet. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-paid-orchestra/296436/8 "2005-03-29T02:31:33Z")
Echoing **GorillaMan** , in the US at least the top orchestras are expected to be doing 5 day weeks (practice and performance), and have unionized contracts which effectively state this. It appears that the salaries of many of the major American orchestras have risen $30,000 in less than a decade!