Audio engineering spans a specialized U.S. occupation, recording and media industries, global music revenues, and sound-exposure guidance. The measures below distinguish observed employment and pay from industry scale indicators and official recommendations.
Key Audio Engineering Statistics
The most useful figures across employment, markets, and hearing safety include:
- In May 2023, 14,600 sound engineering technicians held U.S. jobs.
- In May 2023, the U.S. mean annual wage for sound engineering technicians was $74,100.
- In May 2024, 13,050 sound engineering technicians were employed nationally in the United States.
- In May 2024, the median hourly wage for U.S. sound engineering technicians was $31.94.
- In May 2024, 70,080 audio and video technicians were employed in the United States, a broader occupation than sound engineering technicians.
- In May 2023, motion picture and video industries employed 3,980 U.S. sound engineering technicians.
- In May 2023, California employed 6,060 sound engineering technicians, with a 3.52 location quotient.
- In May 2023, Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim had 4,780 sound engineering technician jobs, with an 8.04 location quotient.
- In 2025, global recorded-music revenue reached US$31.7 billion.
- In 2025, paid streaming represented 52.4% of global recorded-music revenue.
- In 2025, paid streaming subscription accounts reached 837 million globally.
- NIOSH recommends 85 dBA as an 8-hour occupational time-weighted average.
- Under the NIOSH dose table, 100 dBA reaches a 100% daily dose in 15 minutes.
- OSHA sets 90 dBA as an 8-hour permissible exposure limit for general industry.
- WHO guidance gives 90 dB as 4 hours of safe listening per week for general listening.
- WHO estimates more than 1 billion young people globally are at risk of hearing loss from recreational sound exposure.
Contents
- Key Audio Engineering Statistics
- Audio Engineering Employment and Pay Statistics
- Where Sound Engineering Technicians Work
- U.S. Geographic Audio Engineering Data
- Audio Engineering Industry Scale and Recording-Market Trends
- Sound Exposure Limits Used in Audio Engineering
- Safe Listening Statistics for Music and Events
Audio Engineering Employment and Pay Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines sound engineering technicians as a narrower occupation than audio and video technicians. Its Occupational Employment and Wages estimate for the United States counted 14,600 jobs in May 2023, with mean pay of $35.62 per hour and $74,100 per year.
The estimate comes from an employer survey and excludes audio and video technicians (BLS, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023).
The detailed May 2023 wage distribution shows how widely pay varied:
| May 2023 U.S. wage measure | Hourly wage | Annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $17.38 | $36,160 |
| 25th percentile | $22.03 | — |
| Median | $28.57 | $59,430 |
| 75th percentile | $45.46 | — |
| 90th percentile | $63.91 | $132,940 |
These are OEWS percentile and annualized wage estimates, not a guarantee for an individual job. The 2023 source reports the 25th and 75th percentiles hourly, while the annual figures shown above are the supplied 10th, median, and 90th percentile values (BLS, May 2023).
The later BLS cross-industry table counted 13,050 sound engineering technicians in May 2024, with mean pay of $38.12 per hour and $79,280 annually; the median hourly wage was $31.94. The same table counted 70,080 audio and video technicians, whose mean annual pay was $61,370, and 21,080 broadcast technicians, whose mean annual pay was $64,220 (BLS, Occupational Employment and Wages—May 2024).
The broader combined category of broadcast, sound and lighting technicians numbered 114,340 in May 2024, with mean annual pay of $64,710. Because these occupations have different definitions, the figures should not be combined into one audio-engineering workforce total.
Where Sound Engineering Technicians Work
The May 2023 BLS industry table shows that sound engineering employment is distributed across production, recording, live events, broadcasting, and education. The largest listed industry employer was motion picture and video, while sound recording had the highest listed concentration within its own industry.
| U.S. industry, May 2023 | Sound engineering technician jobs | Pay measure |
|---|---|---|
| Motion picture and video | 3,980 | Mean $48.07/hour; $99,990/year |
| Sound recording | 2,400 | Mean $28.38/hour; $59,040/year |
| Performing-arts, sports and similar-event promoters | 770 | — |
| Radio and television broadcasting stations | 650 | — |
| Colleges, universities and professional schools | 510 | — |
Sound recording industries reported a 11.32% concentration of industry employment, meaning the share is measured within that industry rather than as a percentage of all sound engineers. Motion-picture pay is an industry mean, not an individual wage (BLS, May 2023).
Software publishers paid sound engineering technicians a mean of $61.76 per hour, or $128,470 annually, in the supplied May 2023 industry table. The source notes that the software-publisher employment base is small, so this mean is not necessarily typical (BLS, May 2023).
U.S. Geographic Audio Engineering Data
California was the largest state employment center in the detailed May 2023 BLS profile, with 6,060 sound engineering technician jobs and a 3.52 location quotient. A location quotient compares occupational concentration with the national occupation mix; it is not a percentage.
| Location, May 2023 | Jobs | Additional measure |
|---|---|---|
| California | 6,060 | Location quotient 3.52 |
| New York | 1,460 | Location quotient 1.61 |
| Florida | 770 | — |
| Maryland | 540 | Location quotient 2.10 |
| Tennessee | 460 | Location quotient 1.48 |
| Washington | 310 | Mean $53.01/hour; $110,270/year |
| District of Columbia | 80 | Mean $90,190/year |
Washington had the highest listed state mean wage in the source table, but that is not necessarily the highest median. The District of Columbia figure comes from a small employment base, so it should not be read as a broadly representative wage (BLS, May 2023).
At the metropolitan level, Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim had 4,780 jobs and an 8.04 location quotient in May 2023. New York–Newark–Jersey City had 1,370 jobs and a mean annual wage of $90,500; the metro area spans three states (BLS, May 2023).
A separate BLS May 2024 state employment chart listed 3,800 jobs in California, 1,690 in New York, 800 in Florida, and 500 in Tennessee. The source notes that the state-chart estimates differ in scope or year from the detailed 2023 profile, so the two sets should not be treated as a direct time series (BLS, Data tables for OEWS charts: State employment, May 2024).
Audio Engineering Industry Scale and Recording-Market Trends
Global recorded-music revenue is an adjacent scale indicator for audio engineering, not a direct measure of engineering employment or production-service income. IFPI reported US$31.7 billion in global recorded-music revenue in 2025, up 6.4%, marking the industry’s 11th consecutive year of growth (IFPI, Global Music Report 2026).
The 2025 format and subscription measures show where recorded-music activity was concentrated:
- Paid streaming revenue grew 8.8% in 2025, and paid streaming accounted for 52.4% of global recorded-music revenue.
- Paid streaming subscription accounts reached 837 million globally in 2025; accounts are not necessarily unique people.
- Physical-format revenue increased 8.0% in 2025, while vinyl revenue increased 13.7%.
- Performance-rights revenue reached US$2.9 billion globally in 2025.
- Latin America’s recorded-music revenue grew 17.1% in 2025.
- The USA and Canada held 38.7% of global recorded-music revenue in 2025.
These figures describe format revenue, rights revenue, and regional market share rather than the number of engineers, studios, or audio projects. They are useful for context on the commercial ecosystem surrounding audio work, but they are not interchangeable with BLS labor statistics (IFPI, Global Music Report 2026).
Sound Exposure Limits Used in Audio Engineering
Audio professionals may encounter occupational exposure during monitoring, live production, or repeated work around amplified sound. NIOSH recommends an occupational limit of 85 dBA as an 8-hour time-weighted average, using a 3-dB exchange rate; its dose table reaches 100% daily dose at the following exposure times (NIOSH, Understanding Noise Exposure Limits).
| Sound level | NIOSH 100% daily-dose time |
|---|---|
| 85 dBA | 8 hours |
| 88 dBA | 4 hours |
| 91 dBA | 2 hours |
| 94 dBA | 60 minutes |
| 97 dBA | 30 minutes |
| 100 dBA | 15 minutes |
OSHA’s general-industry permissible exposure limit uses a different regulatory model: 90 dBA as an 8-hour time-weighted average and a 5-dBA exchange rate. OSHA’s table gives permissible durations of 4 hours at 95 dBA, 2 hours at 100 dBA, and 1 hour at 105 dBA, while the cited table limits continuous steady-state noise to a maximum of 115 dBA for up to 15 minutes (OSHA, Technical Manual, Section III, Chapter 5).
OSHA also identifies 85 dBA TWA, or a 50% dose, as its hearing-conservation action level. NIOSH’s 3-dB recommended dose model and OSHA’s 5-dBA legal PEL serve different purposes and should not be treated as identical limits.
Safe Listening Statistics for Music and Events
WHO’s general safe-listening guidance gives weekly examples rather than observed behavior. It lists 90 dB as 4 hours of safe listening per week and 100 dB as 20 minutes per week; these values are guidance-table estimates for the general listening population (WHO, Deafness and hearing loss: Safe listening).
For venues and events, WHO’s 2022 standard recommends limiting average sound levels to 100 dB LAeq,15 min. That is a venue/event recommendation averaged over 15 minutes, not the same measurement as a personal weekly listening dose (WHO, Global standard for safe listening venues and events).
WHO also estimated in 2022 that more than 1 billion young people globally were at risk of hearing loss from recreational sound exposure. This is a population-risk estimate, not a count of diagnosed hearing-loss cases, and it should be kept separate from the occupational limits used for workplace noise.