Disclaimer: The following could possibly be depressing information if you live in these areas and could cause you to question to move to another city. Carry on!
No one seems to pay attention to business facts and logistics when it comes to acting.
More and more I am seeing actors who have no retirement accounts (you should have one at least by 25), no savings, loads of debt, doing low paying jobs they don't have to do all for the sake of "living the dream". They think moving to New York and Los Angeles is all there is. They think that you HAVE to be poor to someday make it big. And yet, they haven't had an actual acting job that pays a living wage in 5 years. So is it that they aren't talented and are not working hard enough?
The answer to that is a big fat NO!
And let me tell you why.
How can you see someone's talent if there are literally thousands of actors in the same room that you have to choose for one role? How are those great odds? Sure there is that small chance that you MIGHT make it to Broadway or become a huge celebrity in LA, but to be honest it feels like someone is dangling bait, we bite, and we end up getting screwed. Here's a business minded example that you can think of when picking location to work. When choosing a location you are also choosing your competition. Say you own a salon business. You look at the map and you see there is a cluster of salons in this fancy neighborhood all competing for the same clients. You could charge those clients more, but you would be competing with an already established group of salons, who have clients, and are well liked in the neighborhood. You then look at a more middle class neighborhood but still nice area and you see that there is only one salon and it doesn't have the best reviews. While that location might not be peak for charging high prices, it's a great start to gaining experience, a reputation, and loyal clients. Who knows? You could even open up another location in your first choice neighborhood when you become more successful.
Acting. Is. No. Different. It is a business. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics Agree.
Did you know the highest paying states for actors are not New York or California? They actually don't even make the top five highest paying states for actors. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Colorado all take the lead paying an average of no less than $27/hour with Connecticut paying up to $46 an hour. It's extremely interesting that for places where the cost of living is high, their wages don't reflect that. At all surprised? Not really.
While Los Angeles takes the lead in most acting opportunities, highest employment level and location quotient, New York seriously lags behind. For location quotient (employment/thousand jobs) Savannah, Georgia and Salt Lake City all beat New York. New York actually offers almost 50% less employment opportunities than LA. LA offers 10,020 employment opportunities for actors while New York offers 5,969. If LA doesn't sound as good, Houston is doing amazing work with their employment opportunities. In May 2017 the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that of the metropolitan areas, Houston pays and employs a higher percentage of their actors with a higher living wage than both New York and Los Angeles in both TV, Film, and live entertainment. The only city ranked higher than Houston is Las Vegas. To find out more details you can go to https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes272011.htm to look more into it.
Here is another statistic that is frightening to consider should you choose to move to New York or Los Angeles and choose to do the actor struggle. According to New York City Patch, a family of two adults and two children need to make at least $10,777 a month living in Queens. You aren't even on the island and you have to make that amount of money according to the median rent, utilities, food, and healthcare. NY Curbed also shows that the cost of living in New York is 70% higher than the rest of the country. California as we all know is not much better although it is significantly lower than New York. LA is ranked number 4 while New York is ranked number 2 of the most expensive places to live. Meanwhile places that pay actors higher than both LA and New York like Houston, Detroit, Atlanta all have significantly lower costs of living.
Listen I get that we got into this business for the passion and not the money, but is it sustainable to keep doing what we love when bills are piling up and we are kind of wasting precious time not getting paid in rehearsals for a show that's not really benefitting your career? That does not make sense to me. Why be in a place where your odds of being successful are lower than being in a place that pays more, and you can live a better life? But still people go. Maybe it's the draw, the excitement and risk that takes you to these cities. The classic American Rom-Com dream of becoming a famous actor gives you a rush of excitement and determination. I get it. Regardless of you goals, be informed. At least you know it's going to be a challenge to live out your dream.
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