beta
Write my resume

Pay · 27-2032

Choreographers earn $55,310 a year at the midpoint

Pay in this work stretches a long way: the lowest tenth earn about $34,090, the highest tenth about $138,630, and the middle sits at $55,310.

Write my resume for this job →

$55,310median a year · United States
$26.59an hour $73,100average 2,860people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$41,60025th $55,310median $75,71075th
$34,09010th percentile $138,63090th percentile
$41,600a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$173,100best-paying state · New York
$33,640lowest-paying state · Utah
+213%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $173,100 in New York and $33,640 in Utah — a gap of $139,460 a year.

Choreographer earnings, from starting pay to the top 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

Experience
Name this figure
When they ask “What are your salary expectations?”

An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Choreographer wages across the states

Across 14 states the median ranges by 5.15 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
New York $173,100 $48,470 $48,470 — $333,210 340
California $75,000 $42,990 $42,990 — $138,630 410
Minnesota $74,810 $41,600 $41,600 — $87,360 40
Maryland $69,140 $59,320 $59,320 — $75,760 80
Ohio $66,910 $41,230 $41,230 — $81,780 120
Louisiana $51,170 $43,940 $43,940 — $61,730 210
Nebraska $49,490 $48,450 $48,450 — $73,740 60
Texas $46,460 $32,810 $32,810 — $62,130 380
Indiana $44,840 $41,740 $41,740 — $82,280 —
South Dakota $40,320 $27,300 $27,300 — $64,430 250
Alabama $38,990 $35,550 $35,550 — $49,080 30
Florida $36,670 $31,310 $31,310 — $64,550 180
Illinois $34,560 $31,200 $31,200 — $35,890 30
Utah $33,640 $28,140 $28,140 — $69,330 60

Examples

Resumes written for this line of work.

Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.

All templates →

Choreographer pay rate, hourly and yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$55,307a year

Writing a resume for choreographers

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

YouTubeFacebookMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft WordMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft ExcelWeb browser softwareSocial media sites
  • Directed rehearsals to instruct dancers in dance steps and in techniques to achieve desired effects.
  • Advised dancers on standing and moving properly, teaching correct dance techniques to help prevent injuries.
  • Taught students, dancers, and other performers about rhythm and interpretive movement.

Write my resume →

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Adjacent work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Choreographers$55,310
Producers and Directors$90,360+$35,050 Coaches and Scouts$47,320−$7,990 Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials$40,710−$14,600

Ranked 460 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 42% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 458 Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators $55,490
  2. 459 Roofers $55,440
  3. 460 Choreographers $55,310
  4. 461 Desktop Publishers $55,290
  5. 462 Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health $55,090

Questions people ask

What is a choreographer’s yearly income?

A choreographer makes a median of $55,310 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $41,600 and $75,710.

What is a choreographer’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $26.59 an hour; the average is $73,100 a year.

What is the starting pay for a choreographer?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $41,600 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $34,090.

Which state pays choreographers the most?

New York, with a median of $173,100 a year.

How many people work as choreographers?

About 2,860 in the United States — number 460 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays about the same

Median pay within $300 of what choreographers earn — $55,310 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations