May 15, 2014
Analyzing data from the Cultural Data Project, we found that nonprofit arts organizations in Los Angeles County paid some $266.6 million in salaries to the equivalent of 4,650 full time employees in 2011. The average salary for a full time employee in a nonprofit arts organization was $57,345, up from $51,046 in 2007. By comparison, annual per capita income in LA County in the same time period was $27,900. Arts nonprofit salaries per full-time equivalent are higher in LA County than in California as a whole, but a larger share of arts nonprofits statewide have paid staff.