Salary
Average Salary: $44,130
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,842,000
The official average salary for choreographers is around $16.00 an hour, but that really doesn't mean doodley squat. There's no guarantee that you'll ever even make that much, or anything at all, really. When you first start out, you'll almost certainly be working for free while you build up you resume and your YouTube reel.
If you do manage to get your foot in the door, know that beginning choreographers tend to make somewhere around $20,000 a year (source). Yeah, not so great. What's worse is you'll probably be living in an outrageously-priced metropolitan area like NYC, where at best you'll pay $2,500 a month for a shoebox bedroom.
Be ready to skimp, struggle, and save without ever having anything to show for it. There's no doubt you'll have to get another job. The good news is that all that dancer training will help you move with grace through whatever crowded restaurant you work in to actually pay your bills.
The middle range of choreographers make somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000 (source). Yeah, still not all that great—and these are the ones who've been at it a few years. They've landed positions in studios, universities, or companies. You'll find the closest thing to job security in these kinds of positions, but with pay like this, do you want it to stick?
Then, there are the glorious few who "make it." The highest-paid choreographers grind it in the pop music scene, in commercials, on Broadway, or in the top dog touring companies. On the very high end, these high steppers manage to crack $80,000, but most hover somewhere around $65,000.
So no matter how hard you work as a choreographer, you're never going to be Bill Gates rich. You probably won't even be as rich as a moderately successful accountant. Of course, if you've made it this far in the world of choreography, we're guessing being an accountant is your idea of Hell.