Reasonable Salary Ranges in 2025
  • JaredOstermann
    Posts: 490
    THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL POST, NOR A RANT OR COMPLAINT - JUST RUNNING SOME NUMBERS OUT OF CURIOSITY!

    Please don't waste time or space derailing this in a political direction. Inflation is a reality that affects our employment, and its effects are worth calmly considering.

    That said:

    An earlier post on substitute rates included a link to a Chicago archdiocesan guideline on musician employment. Picking apart the many flaws of that document would be an interesting subject for yet another thread (e.g. a highly skilled organist/choral conductor ranks lower on their scale than someone who has guitar/voice/piano, because the latter has three and the former only two instruments). BUT it got me curious about numbers and inflation, after over a decade in the field fulltime, and rather than derail that thread I thought I'd share my perspective.

    When I got into the field fulltime after graduation, in 2012, I was very invested in watching the national job market and comparing things, and applying to a number of jobs. There seemed to be a pretty standard and clear 3-tier breakdown for fulltime pay back then, with, of course, some extreme outliers on either end:

    Bachelors/Low-to-mid Responsibility/Prominence: $35k-$50k/year
    Masters/Mid Responsibility/Prominence: $50k-$60k/year
    Doctorate/Mid-to-High Responsibility/Prominence: $60k-$75k/year

    Your experience may vary, but I think that's a very reasonable assessment based on a lot of comparison of jobs. I keep up on the market still, largely through my alumni job posting newsletter, through Notre Dame. That is not totally comprehensive, but it's a very well-curated list and ranges from small parishes to cathedrals and universities. When I pull up the US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator and enter the numbers above I get the following in December 2024 dollars (and I do see these numbers borne out in the current national market):

    Bachelors/Low-to-mid Responsibility/Prominence: $48k-$68k/year
    Masters/Mid Responsibility/Prominence: $68k-$82k/year
    Doctorate/Mid-to-High Responsibility/Prominence: $82k-$100k/year

    Of course, there are many many variables, especially when you get into part-time, cost of living, etc., etc. I just think it's a worthwhile thing to talk about - with real numbers. Like in the good old days, when the AGO pay scale hadn't been shut down by the feds! I think more calm, collected conversations with real numbers and ranges would be great for us and for our employers alike.

    Side note - this is also why it is valuable to make sure there is some provision for cost of living bumps in your contract. Those little 1, 1.5, 2% increases reflect reality and just wages, and they really do make a difference when you stay in a job for a while.

    EDIT: Again, I'm talking about FULLTIME jobs that are posted in a job search. I understand these may be higher and more serious than jobs that get filled through word of mouth locally.

    Thanked by 3CHGiffen 32ContraBombarde LauraKaz
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,451
    The AGO thing was an egregious antitrust abuse. I’m generally pro-FTC, but then look what happens.

    Some of our members are also saddled with a ton of admin duties. Even if someone else does printing and folding, making scores and materials for the congregation takes hours (even when you get into a rhythm). And it has to be done even if you get the flu.

    That will change the calculus somewhat. One that pastors do not always get. I don’t think that it’s a competition to see whose Sunday/week is the most demanding, but it’s not exactly pegged to the number of Sunday services, although playing every day and having additional choral responsibilities during the week will change things (our average of around 1.2 sung Masses a week is skewed by gaps of three to six weeks with one weeknight Mass, or none, then some Masses with schola alone, and finally the busy season from Holy Week to Precious Blood, sometimes with three Masses in a week).

    Pastors can be terrible judges of that too, whether it’s service volume per Sunday/weekend, the kind of music expected, having the DM direct at Masses where you can’t really repeat things from one to the next. And so on.
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,095
    These links are germane:

    https://www.dioceseoflansing.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/MusicMinisterSalaryGuide2015.pdf

    https://npm.org/wp-content/uploads/NPM-Hiring-a-Director-of-Music-Ministries-A-Handbook-and-Guide-2025-Edition-.pdf

    https://npm.org/2025/01/23/press-release-npm-releases-updated-hiring-guides-for-parish-musicians-directors-of-music/

    I encourage music directors to reevaluate and adjust their funeral and wedding stipends annually to keep up with inflation. I know some directors who have been receiving the same stipends for fifteen years. $100 doesn't cut it anymore. Weekly groceries for a family are often more than $200. A family dinner at a restaurant can easily also cost $200. Auto mechanic labor is now about $200 per hour in my area. Funerals and weddings are expensive, and families should not expect to short the musician. I do offer a free funeral music option (exclusively the proper chants in Latin or English), but no family has ever selected that; they prefer to choose songs, and they pay for that option.

    Also, if you can persuade your pastor to stop buying annual OCP missalette subscriptions, that will save the parish many thousands of dollars per year, which could be reallocated to the music director's salary.

    Thanked by 1LauraKaz
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