As a church music director, you’re likely used to working for free or a small stipend. A lack of budget is the most common reason you might not receive compensation for your work. A good way to determine how much you should be paid is to research an average rate for musicians in your area (even if you aren’t local). Then contact the music director of another church in the area and ask if they could give a referral for you. Hopefully she will understand that you are worth it.
A church music director’s salary is dependent on location, experience, and a number of other factors.
A church music director’s salary can range from $40,000 to $100,000 per year. The average annual salary for a church music director is $50,000.
Salary for church music director
When you think of the church, money is rarely the first thing that comes to mind – at least in regard to salaries. Many people believe working for a church is more about charity, service and spirituality than anything else. But salaries aren’t that out of line with many other professions. Directing the church choir isn’t something done on a volunteer basis, and directors can earn a good living, especially at larger churches for certain denominations.
Salary Overview
In 2011, music directors averaged $53,760 a year. Because high salaries of independent artists can skew this figure, median wage is often a better indication of earnings. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of all music directors earn $47,410 a year or less. Neither figure, however, accounts for industry, so to speak. A church choir director earns a much different scale than a music director at a performing arts company.
Church Salaries
While salaries can range anywhere from $46,991 to $74,606 a year, the average wage of a church choir director is closer to $62,000 a year, revealed a survey by Christianity Today International, a nonprofit ministry association. In fact, this salary was one of the higher for church staff in 2010. Adult ministry pastors, for example, earned $58,877 a year – roughly $3,000 less than the choir directors. Senior pastors, of course, were the highest paid on staff, averaging almost $81,000 a year.
Congregation
The size of the congregation plays a significant role in earnings. Church choir directors at smaller churches tend to earn less than those at larger ones. At a church with an attendance of under 300, a choir director averaged $48,476 a year, reports the CTI survey. With 300 to 500 members, salaries increase about $9,000, with an average salary of almost $58,000 a year. The highest paid church choir directors can be found at churches with attendance over 1,000, coming in at almost $80,000 a year.
Location
As with any vocation, location affects salaries, and church choir directors are no exception. For example, those working in the Pacific region of the United States earned almost $62,000 a year, while those in the Mid-Atlantic region earned closer to $68,000 a year. In Northeast Central U.S., a church choir director averaged just $52,541 a year – the lowest average salary in the nation.
Denomination
You can’t discuss the topic of religion without at least brining up denomination, and it has quite an impact on a choir director’s earnings. Lutheran choir directors, for example, averaged almost $52,000 a year. Those at the Methodist church earned just over $57,000 a year. The same can be said for choir directors at Assemblies of God. But the highest paid choir director can be found at a nondenominational church, with an income of just over $67,000 a year.
