# How much do symphony musicians make?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-symphony-musicians-make/339082>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 9, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-symphony-musicians-make/339082 "2006-01-09T01:56:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-symphony-musicians-make/339082/1 "2006-01-09T01:56:11Z")

</div>

How much do symphony musicians make? I’m not talking about Yo Yo Ma, just the average person playing for a full orchestra in a major city.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![exastris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b38774/32.png) [@exastris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exastris)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-symphony-musicians-make/339082/2 "2006-01-09T02:01:39Z")

</div>

My guess is that it varies widely depending on the city.

A quick google gives [this slightly outdated page](http://www.orchestrafacts.org/facts.htm). The last data is from 2004. Seems it varies quite a bit ($23K to over $100K).

Enjoy.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-symphony-musicians-make/339082/3 "2006-01-09T02:04:59Z")

</div>

Some of the highest-paid orchestral players are the the New York Phil, who earn about $100k for rank-and-file positions. Many are much lower. And the typical salary in Britain is about $30-40k.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-symphony-musicians-make/339082/4 "2006-01-09T02:10:01Z")

</div>

They can do quite well at the [top orchestras](http://www.yeodoug.com/articles/text/procon.html) like Boston, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. Average salaries are about 100K with some doing better. Some management positions in those orchestras push 500K.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-symphony-musicians-make/339082/5 "2006-01-09T02:10:13Z")

</div>

[Here](http://www.mozartinthejungle.com/work2.htm) is an interesting article.