So for starters let's look at the minimum a soap star can expect to make on daytime television. For someone new to the business and what you could call an "unknown," the minimum would be around $700/per episode or even much less, depending on many different factors. This might initially sound like fairly good pay, however, a newcomer on a soap will be lucky if they work one or two days a week. Typically, all soap stars are only guaranteed 1-3 days of work per week, even for some of the veterans on the show. So some weeks may be good, others may not. Of course the longer they are on the show, the more money the actors may make per episode, and the more likely they will be guaranteed more days of steady work. So once a newcomer has been on a show for awhile, they can generally expect to make anywhere from $700 to $1300 per episode.
For soap stars who have been around the block a little longer, typically 5-10 years, their salaries can now be upwards of $1300 to $2500 per episode, which again may only be anywhere from 1-3 days a week of actual work guaranteed.
Lastly, for the soap star veterans, those who have been in the business for more than 10 years, the range of salaries can now be found around $1500 to $4000+ per episode. Only a small percentage of soap stars are actually in the $4000 or more range, but it's not unheard of for some of daytime's most popular actors or actresses. Plus, with the growing salaries of many primetime actors, there is no doubt that some daytime soap stars are most likely offered substantial incentives to stay put in daytime.
So for those of you who are considering a career in daytime television, here's a run-down of a typical annual salary for year one, five, and ten or more years.
1st Year Mark - $72,800 - $135,200/per year
5 Year Mark - $135,000 - $260,000/per year
10 Year Mark - $156,000 - $416,000/per year