According to a new report, the average salary of North American game composers and sound designers is $57,000 higher than their counterparts in the rest of the world.

This data is per the GameSoundCon Game Audio Industry Survey 2023, with a sample size of 602 working professionals.

North American game composers and sound designers earn an average of $128,500 annually. By comparison, their counterparts in the rest of the world make $71,300.

Meanwhile, freelancers in North America make $81,000 for game music and sound design. The yearly earnings average for freelancing audio professionals is $48,200 for the rest of the world.

The report also says that in North America, male salaried game audio designers earn, on average, $18,586 more than their female and nonbinary peers.

Regarding the survey’s respondents by race, 75% were white/Caucasian, 9% Hispanic/Latino, 7% Asian, 3% multiracial, 3% other, 2% Black, and 1% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.

Meanwhile, by gender, the surveyed audio professionals were 86% male, 12% female, and 3% nonbinary.