Find out how much an actor makes
How much do actors really make – well lets find out. Here are figures from different sources including the US department of labor and the acting unions.
The salaries below are average salaries for 2011 – 2012
Actors salary in Los Angeles $27,000
Average actor salaries for Los Angeles, CA are 3% higher than average actor salaries nationwide.
Actors salery in New York $30,000
Average actor salaries for New York are 15% higher than average actor salaries nationwide.
Actors salary in Dallas Texas $25,000
Which is about 4% lower than the national average
Actors salary in New Orleans $22,000
about 2% lower than average
Actors salary in Atlanta $27,000
Average Atlanta actor salaries are 3% higher than average actor salaries nationwide.
Actors salary in Chicago $27,000
Average actor salaries for Chicago are 3% higher than average actor salaries nationwide.
Actors salary in Miami $25,000
Miami actors make about 4% lower than average
Actors in DC make about $30,000
DC actors are 11% above average
Las Vegas actors make about $22,000
thats 16% lower then the national average
From the US Labor Board
Here is the breakdown for actors salaries by percentile
For the United States and DC as a whole here are the hourly breakdowns
10% 25% 50% 75% 90%
Hourly Wage $7.98 $10.18 $16.20 $29.33 $74.44
basically, what the above means is that a small percentage of people make minimum wage
another small percent of actors make about $75 an hour
Most actors will fall into the $10 to $30 an hour range with the large part of that is around $16 hourly
Wow! not what you were expecting. Unfortunately, the media has made many young people believe that acting is a ticket to fame and fortune. Sadly, that is not the case. Most working actors, act, because they love it. They may have started out chasing fame and fortune but stuck with it because they enjoyed it. Most actors have to have a side job to make ends meet since acting is usually temporary and very sparadic.
1st Year Mark – $72,800 – $156,000/per year
5 Year Mark – $156,000 – $312,000/per year
10 Year Mark – $208,000 – $520,000/per year
These numbers are based on a typical work week of two days per week, times 52 weeks per year, which does not account for holidays, vacations, etc. These numbers are also just estimates, and may or may not be typical of the actual earnings. Also, as mention above there are many other factors which can influence the actor’s salary as well, including how much they pay their agent, their current contract status, bonuses, length of contract, and which network they work for. Many soap stars also take time off in the slow months to do movies, commercials or other television projects which certainly adds to their annual take-home pay.
The above figures cover most actors – A screen actors guild source actually reported that of the 100k+ actors the union has, only around 50 can negotiate salaries in the millions.