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Outside of equity - so when you are first starting - you will get paid barely enough to pay your bills. If you are worried about "making a living" doing theatre, please consider the entire picture. The business is brutal, filled with long stretches of unemployment and temp jobs. People do this because they love what they do. The question you ask is perfectly legit, and should absolutely be asked. But the statistics of equity actors do not relate to the number of people who are trying to be working actors. Please understand, many people make a living in the theatre, fewer make a living acting.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics paints an interesting picture...
"The most successful actors, producers, and directors may have extraordinarily high earnings but for others, because earnings may be erratic, many supplement their income by holding jobs in other fields."
"Median hourly earnings of actors were $11.61 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $8.47 and $22.51. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $7.31, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $51.02. Median hourly earnings were $16.82 in performing arts companies and $10.69 in the motion picture and video industry. Annual earnings data for actors were not available because of the wide variation in the number of hours worked by actors and the short-term nature of many jobs, which may last for 1 day or 1 week; it is extremely rare for actors to have guaranteed employment that exceeded 3 to 6 months."
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