Also called: Lighting Designer (stage)
Designs the lighting for plays, concerts, dance, and events to create mood and focus.
They plan where hundreds of lights go, program cues on a lighting console, and sit in dark theaters during tech rehearsals adjusting every moment. Concert lighting designers tour with bands.
Estimate. Broadway and touring concert designers earn far more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's or MFA in lighting design.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Theatre Design & Technology, Lighting Design.
Growing about average. Tied to live entertainment.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps program cues and plot lights; designing mood for a live show with directors stays artistic human work.
Classes: Theater tech crew, Physics, Music.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-1027.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.