How Much Do Camera Operators Make in 2021 (including Starting Salary)

Stan T.Career, SalaryLeave a Comment

2021 Annual Salary, Salary Range, and Highest Paying States

Television, Video and Motion Picture Camera Operators

operate television, video, or motion picture camera to record images or scenes for various purposes, such as TV broadcasts, advertising, video production, or motion pictures.

Salary: $67590
Salary Rank: B
Education: Associate's degree
Becoming One: Medium
Job Satisfaction:
Job Growth:
Suitable Personality: [extra href=”#example” title=”The Builder” info=”popover” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=”People with this personality type likes practical and hands-on work. They prefer working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery.”]The Builder[/extra]

Average salary

Annual salary
$67590 per year
Hourly wage
$32 per hour

Starting salary

Entry-level annual salary
$29,140 to $39,550 per year
Entry-level hourly wage
$14 to $19 per hour

Entry-level Television, Video and Motion Picture Camera Operators with little to no experience can expect to make anywhere between $29,140 to $39,550 per year or $14 to $19 per hour. Similar to any other job, their salary will increase as they gain experience.

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Salary rank

Salary rank
B

We wanted to make it easy for our readers to compare the salary of Television, Video and Motion Picture Camera Operators to all the other careers out there. So we created Salary Rank. We compared the salary of all careers then we gave them a rank of A, B, C, or D depending on where their average salary sit in comparison to other careers.

Salary range

Level Hourly Annual
Highest (Top 10%) $59 $123,220
Senior (Top 25%) $39 $81,580
Middle (Mid 50%) $28 $57,200
Junior (Bottom 25%) $19 $39,550
No experience (Bottom 10%) $14 $29,140

[custom_headline id=”states” class=”subheading” type=”left” level=”h3″] Highest paying states [/custom_headline]

State Hourly Annual
NY $53 $109,310
CA $39 $80,240
NJ $35 $72,620
DC $34 $70,440
MD $32 $66,270
OR $30 $62,260
WA $30 $61,500
HI $29 $60,300
VA $29 $59,810
RI $28 $58,000

Another simple way to increase your salary as a Television, Video and Motion Picture Camera Operator is to move to a higher paying state. However moving to a higher paying state like NY doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the expenses at NY might be much higher than where you are currently living at right now.

According to BLS, the highest paid Camera Operators are in the states of NY, CA, NJ, DC and MD.

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