What are salary ranges for professional magicians?

How much you got?

Any where from very little for a part time magician to tons for the few who make it big.

Six figures...if you have something to sell (you) as well as good marketing skills..
http://louserranomarketing.com/

Six figures doesn't really sound unobtainable for an ambitious, motivated and skilled performer.

Who has real talent, real showmanship, a lot of business savvy, and a huge ton of luck. Otherwise like the actors in equity in New York, 90% of them make under 5,000 a year, and of the 10% who make more than that, 90% make their money in commercials.

Don't do magic for the money, if you do, you will never get the money. Do magic because you love magic, then you might actually make a few bob.

That is one of the best reply I ever saw in the green machine over all these years!

I mean no disrespect when I say that It doesn't take a huge ton of luck to make good money doing magic...

We should be very careful before attempting to define why someone should, or should not, do magic -if someone want to do magic specifically to make cold, hard, cash... Then they are feel free to make the attempt.

One of the great things about magic is that it's big enough to encompass everyone -from birthday clowns to David Copperfield, from the Masked Magician to back-room card sharps, and there's really nothing anyone can say about it.

Do those six figures include cents?

Folks,

Not sure what Caféinst is looking for, except that he/she may be thinking of performing for a living. The responses to this point seem fair and reasonable. But the questions I have are, how old are you and what is your peformance level? What is your goal? Not that age has a difference but business acumen does, and that usually come with experience.

So far, I haven't been paid a single dime for my magic shows. Not sure I want to earn money at it simply because of the the important business decisions involved, ie., insurance, taxes, travel, expenses, schedules, and you name it. OK, so I've only done about a dozen shows, and I'm retired and don't do it for income. And I only started with this a year ago after many years of magic as a hobby. And I'll never be good enough to make a living at it. But do I have fun? Yup! Do I make folks happy? Yup. Do I have goals? Yup, to learn cups and balls and linking rings this year so I can bring more smiles and applause. The folks I perform for will eventually figure out how much I'm worth by asking me to do another show for them. And that friends, is the key to the answering of the question asked: How much are you worth? Not how much you can earn, but how much are YOU worth?

If you are looking to make a living out of Magic, I suggest getting the Jim Snack Ebook. He is a member of these forums, you will see him lurking in the "Tricky Business" section.

If you are a beginner then you should be starting out doing shows for free for friends & family, then with confidence for charity shows (churches, nursing homes, etc).

With experience, you might want to start charging for your time. $50 - $100 to start with. Then with more confidence you could continue putting your charge up to $150, then $200. Add in travel expenses.

Generally speaking, if you are charging much more than $200 then you are up with the professionals. They are most often between $200 - $1000.

Then for the stars in the business, you are talking many thousands per show. It really depends on what level of expertise you are in the field.

I am currently charging $200 - $250 and been in it casually for 6 years. It's a part time professional gig for me. During the peak season I am doing 2 or 3 shows a week and it is a great extra source of income on top of my main job as a tradesman. And the main benefit for me is like Bob1Dog - the enjoyment of it!

"Salary"?? Most magicians I know of aren't on salary - they rarely even get paid an hourly wage.

We generally get paid by the job. And when that job's over, you're unemployed again.

Try using the Google-based http://www.searchthemagiccafe.com and look for "how much to charge". It's been discussed all over the place.

Ed

I am sure you can find this information in many statistical books and/or websites to get a general feel on what the "reported" average. The information already posted above is pretty good too.

Just from a general look you can see that the range is simple to see:

0 to Millions(think Copperfield, Angel, Blaine).

"You're only as good as your last show" -anon

To answer your question, it is possible to make a living at it. It just depends if you want to live good or not. Work harder and smater you'll make more $$. That's what I hear, anyways.

ROFL! Excellent response!

Many years ago a wise old pro told me, "If you're not worth $100 dollars, then you're not worth $25!" Adjust for inflation from 1975 and you have a ball park.

Like anything else, you’re worth what the market says you’re worth. You might need to look at other markets (locales) if your home turf won’t support you. How you present yourself is also a modifier. Past clients and referrals also help. In other words (and pretty much as has already been stated), it depends; $0 to $Millions.

I think you may be looking for concrete suggestions?

You're getting general answers because you haven't given us anything to go on. Do you do children's shows? Adult? Walkabout? Stage? Mentalism? Comedy magic? Where are you located? Maybe you might want to do some research with local performers doing what you'd like to do.

David

You can greatly increase the value of your cash by using a TT.

Ron
:)

You can greatly increase the value of your show by pickpocketing

I'm an amateur magician. I did shows for money as a teenager, $30 a show in the 1980s, but now I don't have time, because I have a fulltime government desk job and a wife and small children. I was just curious if I could make more as a professional magician than what I do now.