Career
Musicians and singers
Perform music for audiences.
—
Median pay
+0.3%
Job growth, 2025–35
17,400
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Perform before live audiences in concerts, recitals, educational presentations, and other social gatherings.
- Practice performances, individually or in rehearsal with other musicians, to master individual pieces of music or to maintain and improve skills.
- Specialize in playing a specific family of instruments or a particular type of music.
- Play musical instruments as soloists, or as members or guest artists of musical groups such as orchestras, ensembles, or bands.
- Provide the musical background for live shows, such as ballets, operas, musical theatre, and cabarets.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on creation & expression, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Perform before live audiences in concerts, recitals, educational presentations, and other social gatherings.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Speaking, Monitoring, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though long-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of — a year and 17,400 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Music Directors and Composers$73,710 · +1.2%
- Actors
- Choreographers$55,310 · +3.1%
- Dancers
- Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary$78,620 · +2.2%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.