Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between music composers and audio engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a music composer, becoming an audio engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an audio engineer has an average salary of $55,853, which is higher than the $54,646 average annual salary of a music composer.
The top three skills for a music composer include audio engineering, video games and music theory. The most important skills for an audio engineer are video production, audio systems, and audio visual.
| Music Composer | Audio Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $54,646 | $55,853 |
| Hourly rate | $26.27 | $26.85 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 3,788 | 1,750 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
Music composers and audio engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Music Composer | Audio Engineer | |
| Average salary | $54,646 | $55,853 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $106,000 | Between $30,000 And $102,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Novato, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Oregon |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Media | - |
There are a few differences between a music composer and an audio engineer in terms of educational background:
| Music Composer | Audio Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Most common major | Music | Music |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Johns Hopkins University |
Here are the differences between music composers' and audio engineers' demographics:
| Music Composer | Audio Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.8% Female, 13.2% | Male, 92.3% Female, 7.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 5.3% White, 74.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 5.1% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 30% | 8% |