How much do music teachers make a year?

BLS reports a median of $46,800 a year for employed private teachers in code 25-3021, May 2025. The middle half of employees earn between $36,380 and $63,210. BLS does not survey the self-employed and publishes no self-employed share for this code.

How much do music teachers make an hour?

The BLS median for employed private teachers in code 25-3021 was $22.50 an hour in May 2025. A self-employed teacher is paid by the lesson, so an hourly figure depends on the price, the lesson length and the unpaid time between lessons.

How much do piano teachers make?

No agency publishes a separate figure for piano teachers. BLS counts them in code 25-3021, where the median for employees is $46,800 a year. Three published piano price lists charge $20 to $35 for 30 minutes and $40 to $70 for 60 minutes. They are three teachers' own lists, not a survey.

How much do guitar teachers make?

No agency publishes a separate figure for guitar teachers either. They are in the same BLS code, 25-3021, with a median of $46,800 a year for employees. Bullock Guitar, a studio in Monrovia and the San Gabriel Valley, California, lists $50 for 30 minutes, $70 for 45 and $85 for 60. That is one studio's list, not a national price.

How much should I charge per lesson?

This page cannot set your price, and no national price survey is public. Four published lists charge this for 60 minutes: $40 (Sheridan County, Wyoming), $50 for teens and adults (Canandaigua, New York), $70 (Music Lovers Studio) and $85 (Monrovia, California). Rate dates are not shown on those pages.

How much do school music teachers make?

BLS does not split music teachers out of the school teacher codes. Elementary school teachers of all subjects have a median of $63,970 and secondary school teachers of all subjects $72,040. The NEA puts the average public school teacher salary, all subjects, at $74,495 in 2024-25. These are not music teacher figures.

Do music teachers make good money?

No official figure settles it. For employed private teachers, BLS's range runs from $30,050 at the 10th percentile to $92,840 at the 90th, with a median of $46,800. Where a teacher falls depends on the price, the number of lessons, the weeks worked and what they pay for rent and costs.

Can music teachers make 6 figures?

Employed private teachers at the 90th percentile earn $92,840 a year, which is under $100,000. BLS publishes no higher cut for this code. Nothing official covers self-employed teachers.

How much do music schools pay teachers?

We found no music school we could read that publishes teacher pay, a revenue split or per-lesson rates. Ask a school what it pays before you compare it with teaching on your own.

Do you need a degree or license to teach music?

BLS gives a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry education for self-enrichment teachers, with less than 5 years of related work experience. Public school music teachers hold a state teaching license. We found no state license for teaching private music lessons.

Which state pays music teachers the most?

The District of Columbia, with a median of $66,430 for employed private teachers. New Hampshire ($59,880), New York ($57,790), Connecticut ($55,240) and Oregon ($53,790) follow. In the four most populous states, New York pays $57,790, California $49,570, Florida $45,830 and Texas $36,140.

Music teacher pay

How Much Do Music Teachers Make?

Q: How much do music teachers make?

It depends on who pays you. BLS reports a median of $46,800 a year for employed private teachers in code 25-3021. School teachers of all subjects, music included, have a median of $63,970 (elementary) to $72,040 (secondary). Private teachers who are self-employed are not in any official pay figure.

A school music teacher is on a salary. A private music teacher is paid by the lesson. The official figures count the two separately, so this page keeps them apart and shows each with its own source.

BLS files private music, art, dance and craft teachers together in one code, 25-3021, and its figure covers employees only. School teachers have separate codes. We found no full-year books from a teacher who is not also selling teaching programs, so this page uses official pay and published prices.

$46,800 a year

Median for employed private music, art, dance and craft teachers, BLS May 2025[1]

The self-employed teachers BLS does not survey.

$63,970 a year

Elementary school teachers' median, school teachers of all subjects, BLS does not split out music[1]

Music teachers are not counted separately.

$92,840 a year

Where the top-paid tenth of employed self-enrichment teachers start, BLS May 2025[1]

The other 90% of employees and everyone self-employed.

Which of these applies to you depends on whether a school pays you a salary or you are paid by the lesson.

Music teacher pay near you

Employed private teachers in Seattle earn a median of $48,530, against $46,800 nationally

Every US ZIP code is matched. 467 of 528 BLS areas publish a median for this code; the other 61 show the state figure, and the tool tells you which one you are seeing. The code holds private music, art, dance and craft teachers together.

Your ZIP code

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue pays employed private teachers a median of $48,530, 4% above the national median

BLS May 2025: $48,530 a year in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area, against $46,800 nationally. The area has 8,560 employed teachers in this code. Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed.

New York-Newark-Jersey City pays employed private teachers a median of $59,600, 27% above the national median

BLS May 2025: $59,600 a year in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, against $46,800 nationally. Its 33,380 employed teachers in this code are the most of the three examples. Employees only.

Employed private teachers in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos earn a median of $38,510, 18% below the national median

Employees only, BLS May 2025: $38,510 a year in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area, against $46,800 nationally. The area has 2,490 employed teachers in this code.

Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 25-3021, by area; Census ZIP-to-county file; USDA rural-urban codes. County figures are not shown because NAICS 611 is a catch-all. No agency publishes self-employed pay by area, so the calculator applies the employed pay level of your area to the price you enter. 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.

Music teacher pay by state

The District of Columbia pays employed private teachers a median of $66,430; Arkansas pays $30,810

The table shows the national figure, the five highest and five lowest state medians, and six more states. Each state has two figures from two sources, and they measure different things.

State	Employed private music, art, dance and craft teachers, median a year (BLS May 2025)	Educational services businesses with no employees, all kinds, average gross (Census 2024)
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 May 2025 state medians for SOC 25-3021, employees only. Second column: Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 611 Educational services, one-person businesses. That code is a catch-all that holds tutors, driving schools, test prep, and music and art teachers together, so it is the closest published figure and not a count of music teachers. Receipts are gross, before expenses.

Music teacher salary at a school, or pay by the lesson

School teachers of all subjects earn a median of $63,970 to $72,040; private teachers' median is $46,800

BLS reports a median of $63,970 for elementary and $72,040 for secondary school teachers of all subjects. BLS does not split out music teachers. The NEA puts the average salary of US public school teachers of all subjects at $74,495 in 2024-25. The private teacher median of $46,800 counts employees only.

Choose one

ASchool music teacher, on a salary

+A set annual salary. The BLS medians above are $63,970 for elementary and $72,040 for secondary school teachers of all subjects.

+The school finds the students.

−Those figures cover all subjects, so no official figure shows a music teacher's own pay.

−You need a teaching license (see below).

BPrivate teacher, paid by the lesson

+You set the price and the lesson length. The four published price lists below charge from $20 for 30 minutes to $85 for 60 minutes.

+You choose where you teach: at home, online or through a music school.

−You are not paid for the time between lessons or for weeks with no lessons.

−No agency publishes pay for self-employed music teachers.

−Census reports average gross receipts of $18,746 for one-person educational services businesses. That code is a catch-all for tutors, driving schools, test prep, and music and art teachers, and the figure is before expenses.

−We found no music school we could read that publishes teacher pay, a revenue split or per-lesson rates.

Online lessons: we found no official or survey figure that separates online lessons from in-person lessons, so this page does not give one.

Music teacher income calculator

Work out what you would take home before tax

Choose a price, the lessons you teach a week and the weeks you work. The result is a year before tax. Subtract your own rent and costs.

Price per lesson$35No national price survey is public. $35 is only an example, taken from one published price list.Lessons a week25An example. Count the lessons you really teach in a normal week.Weeks worked a year48Music Lovers Studio's price list assumes 48 lessons a year. Change it to match your own year.

Lessons you teach in a year$42,000
Your share$42,000
Card fees− $1,260

Before tax, a year$40,740about $783 a week

Checked November 2026. Studio rent, instruments, insurance and unpaid hours are not deducted, so subtract your own. The lesson counts are examples. With a ZIP code, the price follows that area's pay level.

Do music teachers get tips

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

This section gives the IRS facts only. It is not tax advice, and what applies to you depends on your own situation.

Piano teachers are named in entry 702, self-enrichment teachers, SOC 25-3021[5]

Entry 702 reads "Self-enrichment teachers. Teach individuals/groups for self-enrichment (non-occupational). Knitting instructor, piano teacher, art instructor, dance teacher 25-3021". It is on the IRS list of occupations that customarily and regularly received tips.

Up to $25,000 of qualified tips can be deducted for tax years 2025 through 2028[6]

Employees and the self-employed can both claim it. The deduction phases out above $150,000 of modified AGI ($300,000 on a joint return). For the self-employed it cannot exceed the net income of the business, and the tips must be voluntary.

Employees report cash tips of $20 or more in a month by the 10th of the next month[7]

The IRS says the report goes to the employer.

No survey we could read gives tips as a share of music teacher pay

This page gives no tips figure and does not estimate one.

Piano and guitar teachers, and starting out

Four published price lists charge $40 to $85 for a 60-minute piano or guitar lesson

No agency publishes pay for piano or guitar teachers separately. BLS counts them in code 25-3021 with other private teachers. These are four teachers' or studios' own price lists, not a survey, and the pages do not show when the rates were set. We read them in November 2026.

Piano teachers list $20 to $35 for 30 minutes and $40 to $70 for 60 minutes[9][10][11]

Hannah Madsen in Sheridan County, Wyoming lists $20 for 30 minutes, $30 for 45 and $40 for 60. Dr. Natalya Hennings of Finger Lakes Piano Music in Canandaigua, New York lists $30 for a weekly 30-minute child lesson, $35 for 45 minutes for a child, and $50 for 60 minutes for teens and adults. Music Lovers Studio, which does not state a city, lists monthly tuition of $140 for 30 minutes, $210 for 45 and $280 for 60, calculated from $35 for a 30-minute lesson with 48 lessons per year. That works out to $35, $52.50 and $70 a lesson.

One guitar studio in California lists $50 for 30 minutes and $85 for 60 minutes[12]

Bullock Guitar, in Monrovia and the San Gabriel Valley, lists $50 for 30 minutes, $70 for 45 and $85 for 60. That is one studio's list, and the page does not say how many teachers it has. A Los Angeles-area price is not a national price.

The lowest-paid tenth of employed private teachers earn under $30,050[1][2]

BLS does not report pay for new teachers separately, so its lower percentiles are the nearest official guide to a first year. The 10th percentile is $30,050 and the 25th is $36,380. BLS gives a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry education for self-enrichment teachers, with less than 5 years of related work experience. These are employees only.

BLS projects 3 percent growth for self-enrichment teachers from 2025 to 2035[2]

The Occupational Outlook Handbook counts 419,100 self-enrichment teacher jobs in 2025, all workers, and projects 14,600 new jobs by 2035. Public school music teachers hold a state teaching license. We found no state license for teaching private music lessons.

What people ask about music 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

Guitar teachers

Piano teachers

School salary

Online lessons

Music schools and chains

Private and self-employed

Per hour

Per lesson

Is it worth it

By state or city

Domain and email

Guitar teachers is the most-asked row, with 95 phrasings

The control row, domain and email, drew none.

Piano teachers drew 79 phrasings

That is second to guitar teachers. This page gives published piano prices, because no agency publishes piano teacher pay separately.

School salary drew 61 phrasings

The BLS medians on this page cover school teachers of all subjects, since the codes do not separate music.

Measured by us in November 2026. Degree and certification drew 62 phrasings, plus 110 that name a place, measured but left off the chart.

Music teacher pay questions

Booking software for music teachersLet students book lessons and pay online.How much do art teachers makeArt, dance and craft teachers share the same BLS code, with their own page.Booking software for tutorsAnother one-to-one teaching business, with booking and payment in one place.

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

Put your lessons and prices on one booking page and share the link with students and parents.

A booking page that works as the link in your bio.
Each service with its own length and price, like a 30-minute lesson, a 60-minute lesson or an online lesson.
A deposit at booking, or a card on file for later.
Tap to Pay on iPhone, to take a card in person.

Free to start. No credit card needed.

A guitar teacher shows a student a chord.

A child's hands on piano keys beside a teacher.

A metronome and sheet music on a piano lid.

The kiwilaunch iPhone app showing today's bookings and payments

Services

Book now

Sources

Where every number on this page comes from.

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. The same release holds 25-2021 Elementary school teachers and 25-2031 Secondary school teachers.
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.
Educator Pay and Student Spending: How Does Your State Rank?, National Education Association, 2026-11-08 US public school teachers of all subjects, average salary $74,495 in 2024-25.
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 also holds tutors, driving schools and test prep; the closest published figure, not a count of music teachers. NAICS 611610 Fine arts schools is not published.
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 piano teacher.
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.
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.
Stripe pricing, standard US card rate, Stripe, 2026-10-25 the card processor kiwilaunch uses; quoted for the 3% card fee in the calculator
Private lesson rates, piano, Sheridan County, Wyoming, Hannah Madsen, 2026-11-08 30 minutes $20; 45 minutes $30; 60 minutes $40. One teacher's price list, not a survey; rate date not shown.
Tuition, piano, Canandaigua, New York, Dr. Natalya Hennings, Finger Lakes Piano Music, 2026-11-08 30 minutes $30 (child, weekly); 45 minutes $35 (child); 60 minutes $50 (teens and adults). One teacher's price list, not a survey; rate date not shown.
Private lessons, piano, city not stated, Music Lovers Studio, 2026-11-08 Monthly tuition $140 for 30 minutes, $210 for 45, $280 for 60, "calculated from $35 for a 30 minute lesson with 48 lessons per year". Works out to $35, $52.50 and $70 a lesson. One studio's price list; rate date not shown.
Lesson rates, guitar, Monrovia and the San Gabriel Valley, California, Bullock Guitar, 2026-11-08 30 minutes $50; 45 minutes $70; 60 minutes $85. One studio's price list; the page does not say how many teachers it has or when the rates were set.

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.