U.S. recording-studio employment spans a large base of very small businesses and a smaller group of higher-payroll establishments. The 2023 Census count for NAICS 512240 recorded 2,131 sound-recording-studio employer establishments and $480.717 million in annual payroll. The broader BLS sound-recording-industries occupation series counted 21,190 workers in May 2023, with a mean annual wage of $101,120. These measures cover related but different scopes: establishments and payroll in the Census table, and occupations across sound-recording industries in BLS data.
Contents
- How many recording studios operate in the United States
- Employment by business size and payroll
- Legal forms of recording-studio businesses
- Occupations across sound-recording industries
- Technical, management, and business jobs
- Pay, locations, and workforce outlook
How many recording studios operate in the United States
The Census Bureau’s 2023 County Business Patterns table identified 2,131 U.S. employer establishments in NAICS 512240, sound recording studios. Their combined annual payroll was $480.717 million. This is a count of employer establishments, so it describes businesses with paid employment rather than every individual working in music production or every home-based creative operation.
The establishment total is concentrated in the smallest size class. Studios with fewer than five employees numbered 1,856 and reported $149.231 million in annual payroll. The next class, studios with 5 to 9 employees, contained 159 establishments and $68.164 million in payroll. Together, these two classes accounted for 2,015 establishments in the 2023 table.
Larger studios were less numerous but still represented substantial payroll. The 10-to-19-employee class had 65 establishments and $52.362 million in annual payroll. There were 39 establishments with 20 to 49 employees, reporting $93.800 million. The 50-to-99-employee class contained 10 establishments and $59.139 million in payroll.
The Census categories show a recording-studio sector built mostly from small employers, with payroll distributed across a few larger groups. The 20-to-49 and 50-to-99 classes together contained 49 establishments, but their combined reported payroll was $152.939 million. That concentration makes business size important when interpreting employment statistics: a studio count alone does not show where payroll is concentrated.
Employment by business size and payroll
The 2023 Census figures can be read side by side to show how the sector’s employer base changes with size.
| Employee size class | Establishments | Annual payroll |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 5 | 1,856 | $149.231 million |
| 5 to 9 | 159 | $68.164 million |
| 10 to 19 | 65 | $52.362 million |
| 20 to 49 | 39 | $93.800 million |
| 50 to 99 | 10 | $59.139 million |
Source: CB2300CBP, County Business Patterns, 2023.
The fewer-than-five class included 1,856 of the 2,131 establishments in the table. Its $149.231 million payroll was therefore spread across a much larger number of businesses than the $93.800 million reported by the 39 establishments with 20 to 49 employees. The 10 establishments in the 50-to-99 class reported $59.139 million, illustrating how a small number of employers can account for a notable payroll total.
The 5-to-9 class added 159 establishments and $68.164 million, while 65 establishments with 10 to 19 employees added $52.362 million. These figures provide a business-level view of employment capacity, but they do not identify the precise number of workers in each class. The table reports establishments and annual payroll by employee-size category; it should not be treated as a direct headcount table.
Legal forms of recording-studio businesses
The same 2023 Census source also separates sound-recording-studio establishments by legal form. S-corporations represented 1,480 establishments and $265.968 million in annual payroll. C-corporations and other corporate legal forms accounted for 286 establishments and $152.117 million. Partnerships operated 207 establishments and reported $46.752 million, while individual proprietorships accounted for 142 establishments and $10.926 million.
The legal-form totals show how heavily the employer establishment count was concentrated among S-corporations. The payroll figures also show a different distribution from the establishment counts: the 286 corporate establishments reported more payroll per establishment in aggregate than the 142 individual-proprietorship establishments, while the 1,480 S-corporation establishments supplied the largest total payroll in the table.
The Census cross-tabulation provides more detail about the size of these organizations. S-corporation studios with fewer than five employees numbered 1,323 and reported $100.654 million in annual payroll. The S-corporation 5-to-9 class included 95 establishments and $38.813 million; the 10-to-19 class included 36 establishments and $27.477 million. There were 21 S-corporation studios with 20 to 49 employees, reporting $50.847 million, and four with 50 to 99 employees, reporting $9.934 million.
Other legal forms also appeared in the smallest categories. Individual-proprietorship studios with fewer than five employees numbered 133 and reported $7.587 million. Partnerships with fewer than five employees numbered 161 and reported $12.913 million; partnerships with 5 to 9 employees numbered 27 and reported $8.220 million; and partnerships with 10 to 19 employees numbered 10 and reported $6.919 million.
The corporate size breakdown included nine corporate studios with 20 to 49 employees and $25.910 million in payroll. Four corporate studios were in the 50-to-99 class and reported $44.410 million. These legal-form figures describe employer establishments and payroll in 2023, not a forecast of how a new studio should incorporate.
Occupations across sound-recording industries
For an occupation-based view, BLS’s May 2023 OEWS estimates for sound-recording industries counted 21,190 workers across all occupations. The mean annual wage was $101,120. The NAICS 512200 industry scope is broader than the Census NAICS 512240 sound-recording-studio establishment category, so these numbers should be used as industry context rather than substituted for the studio-establishment count.
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations accounted for 7,660 jobs, or 36.14% of employment. Media and communication equipment workers accounted for 3,760 jobs, or 17.75%. Management occupations accounted for 4,220 jobs, or 19.91%, while business and financial operations occupations accounted for 2,960 jobs, or 13.96%.
Office and administrative support occupations represented 3,550 jobs, or 16.75% of employment. Transportation and material-moving occupations accounted for 430 jobs, or 2.04%. These categories show that sound-recording-industry employment includes production and technical work alongside management, business, administrative, and logistics roles.
Several management categories were individually sizeable. Top executives numbered 1,860, representing 8.77% of employment. General and operations managers numbered 1,590, or 7.53%. Advertising, marketing, promotions, public-relations, and sales managers numbered 1,090, or 5.15%; marketing and sales managers alone numbered 860, or 4.08%; and operations-specialty managers numbered 650, or 3.09%.
Business-operations specialists numbered 2,400 and represented 11.35% of the industry workforce. The BLS figures therefore point to a sector in which business coordination and commercial activity sit alongside recording and post-production skills.
Technical, management, and business jobs
Technical roles formed a major part of the May 2023 sound-recording-industry profile. Broadcast, sound, and lighting technicians numbered 3,260, representing 15.37% of industry employment. Sound engineering technicians numbered 2,400, or 11.32%, with a $59,040 annual mean wage. Audio and video technicians numbered 700, or 3.28%, with a $54,270 annual mean wage. Broadcast technicians numbered 150 and had a $74,840 annual mean wage.
The occupation mix also included visual and editorial roles. Television, video, and film camera operators and editors numbered 410 and had a $78,750 annual mean wage. Film and video editors numbered 350 and had an $81,020 annual mean wage. Service sales representatives numbered 1,010 and had a $78,390 annual mean wage.
Administrative and financial work was another measurable part of the industry. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers numbered 350 and had a $65,540 annual mean wage. Financial clerks numbered 930 and had a $57,200 annual mean wage. These wage figures are BLS industry-specific May 2023 mean wages for the listed occupations, not a single average wage for every recording-studio worker.
Pay, locations, and workforce outlook
The later BLS occupational data provide updated context for sound engineering technicians. In the May 2024 national OEWS estimate, the occupation included 13,050 workers, with a $79,280 annual mean wage and a $31.94 median hourly wage. This occupation-wide estimate is not limited to recording studios, and its measurement year differs from the May 2023 industry-specific table.
Employment was concentrated in several states in the BLS May 2024 state employment chart. California had 3,800 sound engineering technicians, the highest state employment level shown. New York had 1,690. Florida had 800, while Illinois had 700.
BLS projections show limited net growth for musicians and singers. The 2024–2034 occupational projection lists 13.8 thousand musicians and singers in 2024 and 14.1 thousand in 2034, a projected increase of 0.3 thousand. Separately, the Occupational Outlook Handbook projects about 17,400 openings per year over 2025–2035 despite little or no net employment growth, and reports a $47.80 median hourly wage in May 2025.
The broader motion-picture and sound-recording subsector is still wider than recording studios. BLS reported 329.8 thousand seasonally adjusted employees in August 2026, marked preliminary, and 269.6 thousand production and nonsupervisory employees in July 2026, also marked preliminary, in its NAICS 512 workforce statistics. The unemployment rate for workers previously employed in that broader industry was 8.7% in August 2026, marked preliminary.
For workforce context, BLS reported 8.4% union membership and 10.2% union representation among wage-and-salary workers in the broader subsector in 2024. Its 2025 occupation listing included 8,960 audio and video equipment technicians and 39,270 producers and directors. Those broader-subsector figures help place studio careers within the larger production economy, but they should not be read as counts of recording-studio establishments alone.