This blog post is for church musicians and their music directors who are looking for information to help them determine the salary a church musician should earn. You will find some helpful tools and websites to assist you along with complete descriptions of various jobs that church musicians may be asked to fill and an approximate pay range for those jobs. What makes this resource unique is that it is written directly for church musicians who are looking for information about their compensation, rather than by someone on the business side of the house.
The salary of church musicians is determined by many factors. The first factor is the organization for which you are working. If you are working for a large church, your salary will be higher than if you work for a small church. The second factor is your level of education and experience in music. If you have been playing the piano for many years, you would expect to be paid more than someone who has just begun playing piano.
The third factor is what kind of music you play and how well you play it. If you play classical piano, then it will be more difficult to find work as a musician than if you played rock or country music because people do not listen to classical music as often as they do other genres.
The fourth factor that determines whether or not someone will get paid is whether or not they have any formal training in music at all! If someone does not know how to read music very well or cannot play an instrument very well at all then they will probably not get paid very well either!
Finally, some churches do not pay their musicians at all! Some churches believe that God provides everything we need so there is no need for us humans to worry about paying each other for our services because God will provide everything we need including money too!
Salary for church musicians
How much does a Church Musician make?
The average Church Musician in the US makes $35,538. Church Musicians make the most in San Francisco at $53,041, averaging total compensation 49% greater than the US average.
U.S. Average
$35,538
$10,063$180,583
Base Salary
$35,538
Bonus
N/A
Get Bonus
N/A
Salary Ranges for Church Musicians
The salaries of Church Musicians in the US range from $10,063 to $180,583 , with a median salary of $32,817 . The middle 57% of Church Musicians makes between $32,817 and $82,005, with the top 86% making $180,583.
How much tax will you have to pay as a Church Musician
For an individual filer in this tax bracket, you would have an estimated average federal tax in 2018 of 12%. After a federal tax rate of 12% has been taken out, Church Musicians could expect to have a take-home pay of $31,464/year, with each paycheck equaling approximately $1,311*.
* assuming bi-monthly pay period. Taxes estimated using tax rates for a single filer using 2018 federal and state tax tables. Metro-specific taxes are not considered in calculations. This data is intended to be an estimate, not prescriptive financial or tax advice.
Quality of Life for Church Musician
With a take-home pay of roughly $2,622/month, and the median 2BR apartment rental price of $2,506/mo**, a Church Musician would pay 95.58% of their monthly take-home salary towards rent.
