Music Directors and Composers Salary — Chicago, Illinois
The average Music Directors and Composers in Chicago, Illinois earns $62,840 a year.
$62,840/ year, mean
↓ 34.4% below national average100th percentile in Illinois
Chicago sits at the very top of the range for this role in Illinois — among the highest-paying cities in the state for this occupation. That's well below the national average for music directors and composers — one of the largest gaps in this dataset. Cost of living here is close to the national average — not a major factor either way. This is a reasonably reliable estimate, though the underlying sample is moderate in size.
Cost of living104#31 most expensive of 188 cities in this dataset100 = U.S. average · Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024
Crime index1770#92 safest of 188 cities in this datasetPer 100k residents · Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer
Median home value$353,998#78 priciest of 188 cities in this datasetSource: zillow_real
Median household income$88,850#28 highest of 188 cities in this datasetSource: Census Bureau ACS 5-year
Combining these four figures gives a fuller picture than salary alone:
Chicago ranks #31 for cost of living and #78 for home prices
among the 188 cities in this pilot dataset, which matters as much as the
headline salary number when comparing where to live.
This metro area spans more than one state — where you actually pay income tax depends
on where you work, not just where BLS assigns the area. Choose your work state:
Gross salary
62,840/yr
Estimated take-home
49,702/yr
Est. total withheld
20.9%
Single filer, federal + state tax (where the selected state levies one) + FICA,
2025 rates,
for whichever state you select above. Does not include state-specific payroll withholdings
beyond income tax (see Data transparency). Not tax advice — verify with a professional.
The salary figure is the mean annual wage reported by the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage
Statistics (OEWS) program for this occupation and metro area. Percentile and national-average
comparisons are calculated directly from the 188 cities currently in this dataset,
not from a fixed external benchmark. Cost of living, crime and housing figures come from BEA, FBI
and Zillow respectively — see "Data transparency" above for the exact sources and reference years
used on this specific page.
Confidence: the RSE (relative standard error) shown under Overview indicates
how reliable the salary estimate is for this metro — a lower RSE means a larger underlying sample.
