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Dance teacher pay

How Much Do Dance Teachers Make?

BLS counts dance teachers who are not school teachers in one code, 25-3021 Self-enrichment teachers, together with music, art and driving instructors, and it counts employees only. A one-person teaching business of any kind grosses on average less than half the employee median, and that is before costs.

The dance teachers who publish their own income online mostly also sell trainings to other teachers, so this page leans on official figures, studio price lists and published instructor rates. Below are three official figures side by side, a ZIP code tool for local pay and a calculator for your own classes.

A dance teacher in a black leotard and wrap skirt demonstrates an arm position to a small group of children at the barre in a bright studio with a mirrored wall.
$46,800 a year
Median for employed self-enrichment teachers, the BLS group that holds private dance teachers, May 2025[1]
The self-employed, and it mixes dance teachers with music, art and driving instructors.
$63,210 a year
Where the top quarter of that group starts; with the next figure, it bounds the middle half of employed self-enrichment teachers[1]
The top quarter of employees, paid more than this, and everyone self-employed.
$36,380 a year
Where the bottom quarter of that group stops, the low end of the middle half[1]
Part-timers paid per class below it, and everyone who sets their own prices.

Which of these is closest to you depends on whether a studio pays you per class, you teach private lessons at your own price, or you run classes yourself.

Dance teacher pay near you

Employed self-enrichment teachers in Los Angeles earn a median of $49,070, against $46,800 nationally

Enter a ZIP code to see local pay. Every US ZIP code is matched: 467 of the 528 BLS areas publish a median for this group; the other 61 show the state figure. The group holds dance, music, art and driving instructors together, and it counts employees only.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim pays employed self-enrichment teachers a median of $49,070, 5% above the national median
BLS May 2025 counts 22,400 employed in the area. The figure covers dance teachers together with music, art and driving instructors.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin's median is $45,020, 4% below the national median
12,740 employed, BLS May 2025. Music, art and driving instructors sit in the same count as dance teachers here.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington's median is $35,500, 24% below the national median
BLS May 2025, 5,030 employed. As everywhere in this tool, dance teachers share the figure with music, art and driving instructors.

Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 25-3021, by area, employees only; the Census ZIP-to-county file; USDA rural-urban codes. With a ZIP code, the calculator applies that area's employee pay level to your own prices, because no agency publishes self-employed pay by area. The Census figure for one-person businesses is not shown by area, because the code for dance schools is not published. The lookup runs in your browser. It loads a small file for the first three digits of your ZIP code from this site and sends nothing else.

Dance teacher pay by state

Washington, DC pays employed self-enrichment teachers a median of $66,430; Arkansas pays $30,810

The table shows the national figure, the five highest- and five lowest-paying states, and the states with the most people employed in this job. Beside each median is the average gross of an educational services business with no employees, dance teachers included.

StateEmployed self-enrichment teachers (dance, music, art and driving instructors), median a yearAn educational services business with no employees, dance teachers included, average gross a year
United States$46,800$18,746
Highest five
District of Columbia$66,430$18,718
New Hampshire$59,880$22,851
New York$57,790$21,935
Connecticut$55,240$20,749
Oregon$53,790$18,615
Lowest five
Arkansas$30,810$13,828
Delaware$34,730$33,640
North Dakota$35,100$12,149
Iowa$35,670$13,645
Texas$36,140$18,575
Most people employed in this job
California$49,570$22,969
Pennsylvania$41,740$17,285
Illinois$44,230$16,147
New Jersey$53,780$21,958
Washington$48,020$20,348
Massachusetts$49,430$19,913

First column: BLS OEWS May 2025 state medians for SOC 25-3021, employees only; BLS groups dance teachers with music, art and driving instructors and does not separate them. Second column: Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, average gross receipts of businesses with no employees in NAICS 611 Educational services. Those receipts are before expenses and cover all educational services, not dance teachers alone.

Paid per class or setting your own prices

One studio opening we found pays instructors from $30 a class; private lessons sell for $45 to $60

Most dance teachers either teach classes a studio pays them for, or sell classes and private lessons at a price they set.

Choose one
APaid by a studio
+A paycheck. BLS reports a median of $46,800 a year, or $22.50 an hour, for employed self-enrichment teachers in May 2025, and half of them earn between $36,380 and $63,210. The self-employed are not in these figures.
+The studio finds the students and collects the payments.
−Pay is per class taught. A DivaDance franchise opening for adult dance classes in Pineville, North Carolina, hires instructors as contractors. Its post reads: "Compensation is tiered based on instruction experience and starts at $30 per class." The header of the same post shows $30 to $35 with an hourly label. A $100 training deposit is refunded after three months.
−Our arithmetic: $30 a class at 12 classes a week for 48 weeks is $17,280 before tax.
−That is one brand's opening at one location, not studio pay in general. No independent studio we read publishes its rate.
BTeaching on your own prices
+You set the price. I've Got Rhythm Ballroom Dance Studio in Louisville, Kentucky lists a private lesson at $60, or $50 and $45 a lesson in its three- and six-lesson packages. ATOMIC Ballroom in Irvine, California lists a drop-in group class at $28 and unlimited classes at $229 a month on autopay.
+Children's classes sell by the month. LG Dance Studio in Ruston, Louisiana charges $65 to $95 a month by weekly class time; The Dancin' Place in Noblesville, Indiana charges $65 to $200 a month by weekly hours, August through May.
+Our arithmetic: one hour a week at $65 a month over a ten-month season is $650 a year per student.
−These are four studios in four different markets, not a going rate.
−Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024 counts 924,679 one-person educational services businesses averaging $18,746 in gross receipts, before costs. That code holds every kind of teaching business, not dance teachers alone.

We found no dance teachers' association that publishes a pay survey. Choreographers have their own BLS code, 27-2032, with a median of $55,310 a year and 2,860 employed; it covers people who create dances rather than teach them.

Dance teaching income calculator

Work out what a year of classes and lessons brings in before tax

Choose a price, how many students pay for each class, how many classes or lessons you give each week and the weeks you work. The total is a year of revenue before tax and before your own costs.

  • Classes and lessons you teach in a year$43,200
  • Your share$43,200
  • Card fees− $1,296
Before tax, a year$41,904about $806 a week

Checked November 2026. Studio rent, music licensing, costumes, insurance and tax are not deducted: subtract your own costs, such as studio rent. Class counts and weeks are examples. With a ZIP code, the price follows that area's pay level.

Do dance teachers get tips

Dance teachers are named on the IRS list of tipped jobs, entry 702

This section gives IRS facts only. It is not tax advice, and it does not say whether students should tip.

Entry 702 names dance teachers under code 25-3021, the same code as the pay figures on this page[3]

Entry 702 reads "Self-enrichment teachers. Teach individuals/groups for self-enrichment (non-occupational). Knitting instructor, piano teacher, art instructor, dance teacher 25-3021".

Up to $25,000 of qualified tips can be deducted for tax years 2025 through 2028[5]

Employees and the self-employed can both claim it. The deduction phases out at higher incomes, and only tips a customer pays voluntarily qualify.

Employees report cash tips of $20 or more in a month to their employer by the 10th of the next month[6]

IRS Topic 761 covers employees who receive $20 or more in cash tips in a calendar month.

This page gives no tips figure for dance teachers

None of the sources listed below reports tips as a share of dance teachers' pay, so we do not estimate one.

How much do new dance teachers make

The lowest-paid tenth of employed self-enrichment teachers earn under $30,050

BLS does not report pay for new teachers separately. The closest figures are the low end of the employee range, the Occupational Outlook Handbook's line for this group and one published starting rate.

The bottom quarter of employed self-enrichment teachers earn under $36,380 a year[1]

BLS May 2025: the 10th percentile is $30,050 and the 25th is $36,380. Both count employees only, so a teacher building a private client list is not in them.

BLS gives a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry education[4]

The Occupational Outlook Handbook has no profile for self-enrichment teachers, only a line in its table of occupations not covered in detail: 419,100 jobs in 2025 and 3% projected growth from 2025 to 2035. That job count comes from a different table than the pay figures, so the two counts do not line up.

We found no state license for teaching dance privately or at a studio

Dance teachers in public schools hold a state teaching license like other public school teachers.

What people ask about dance teacher pay
Each bar counts the distinct ways people phrase the question in Google's suggestions, from fixed starting points per row at the same depth for every row, so the numbers compare. Phrasings that name a place are counted separately.
about payaround the edgesthe control
Per year
38
Per class
36
Starting out
30
Private lessons
21
Studio owners
20
Per hour
16
School dance teachers
15
Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire
14
Is it worth it
11
By state or city
3
Domain and email
0
Pay per year is the most-asked row, with 38 phrasings, and per class is close behind with 36
Starting out drew 30. The control row, domain and email, drew none.
Private lessons drew 21 phrasings and studio owners 20
That is why the fork section and the calculator are built around per-class pay and lesson prices. Per hour drew 16.
School dance teachers drew 15 phrasings, and Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire 14
People ask about both, and this page has no published figure for either. Is it worth it drew 11, and by state or city 3.

Measured by us in November 2026. Training and certification were measured too and are left off the chart.

Dance teacher pay questions

Related
Booking software for dance schoolsClass packs, memberships and private lessons on one booking page.How much do music teachers makeMusic teachers share the same BLS code, with their own page.How much do personal trainers makeThe same kind of page for personal trainers.

If you teach dance classes or private lessons, let students book and pay online between classes.

Put your classes, class packs and private lessons on one booking page and share the link.

  • Class packs and monthly memberships.
  • A drop-in class with a capped number of spots.
  • A private lesson with its own length and price.
Free to start. No credit card needed.
A dance teacher in a studio doorway holding a speaker and a water bottle, a sprung wooden floor behind.
An adult ballroom couple mid-turn in a studio with a mirrored wall, a teacher watching.
Rows of small ballet shoes lined up on a wooden bench.
The kiwilaunch iPhone app showing today's bookings and payments
Services
Book now

Sources

Where every number on this page comes from.

  1. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Self-Enrichment Teachers (25-3021), national, state and area, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-05-15 Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed. 467 of 528 areas report a median; the other 61 show the state figure. BLS 27-2032 Choreographers is a separate code.
  2. Nonemployer Statistics 2024: Educational Services (NAICS 611), national and state, U.S. Census Bureau, 2026-09-29 Gross receipts of businesses with no paid employees, before costs and tax. A catch-all code that holds every kind of teaching business; the closest published figure, not a count of dance teachers. NAICS 611610 Fine arts schools, the code for dance schools, is not published, nor are 61161 and 6116.
  3. Occupations that customarily and regularly received tips on or before Dec. 31, 2024, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-08 Entry 702: Self-enrichment teachers, SOC 25-3021. Example titles include dance teacher.
  4. Occupational Outlook Handbook: Data for occupations not covered in detail, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-11-08 Self-enrichment teachers, all workers: 419,100 jobs in 2025; 3 percent projected growth, 2025 to 2035, 14,600 new jobs. Typical entry education is a high school diploma or equivalent. No self-employed or part-time share is given.
  5. One Big Beautiful Bill Act: tax deductions for working Americans and seniors (no tax on tips), Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-09 Qualified tips deductible for 2025 through 2028, up to $25,000; for the self-employed no more than net income from the trade; phases out above $150,000 of modified AGI ($300,000 joint); tips must be voluntary.
  6. Topic no. 761, Tips: withholding and reporting, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-09 Employees who receive $20 or more in cash tips in a calendar month report them to the employer by the 10th of the following month.
  7. Stripe pricing, standard US card rate, Stripe, 2026-10-25 the card processor kiwilaunch uses; quoted for the 3% card fee in the calculator
  8. Part-time dance instructor and choreographer, Pineville (Charlotte), North Carolina, DivaDance, 2026-11-10 One franchise location's job post, July 2024, for contractors. The body gives pay as tiered by experience, starting at $30 per class; the header shows $30 to $35 with an hourly label. A $100 training deposit is refunded after three months. One brand's opening, not studio pay in general.
  9. Packages and prices, I've Got Rhythm Ballroom Dance Studio, Louisville, Kentucky, 2026-11-10 Private lesson $60 for up to two people; three lessons $150, six $270; group classes $60 for six on a first purchase, then $30 for six; weekly dance party $10.
  10. Pricing, ATOMIC Ballroom, Irvine, California, 2026-11-10 Drop-in group class $28 with the social dance after; new-student 10-class card $99; unlimited $229 a month on autopay, $299 without a contract; social dance alone $16.
  11. Tuition and fees, LG Dance Studio, Ruston, Louisiana, 2026-11-10 Children's monthly tuition by weekly class time, $65 for 30 minutes to $95 for 2 hours; $40 registration, $100 to $150 costume deposit, $110 recital fee per family.
  12. Classes, tuition, dress code and schedule, The Dancin' Place, Noblesville, Indiana, 2026-11-10 Monthly tuition by weekly hours, August through May: $65 for 45 minutes to one hour up to $200 for seven hours; $15 registration for new families.

Not tax, legal or financial advice. Prices, pay and what you keep vary by state and city, licensing rules differ by state, and the tax rules on tips have conditions. A tax professional who knows your situation can answer for you.