The purpose of this study was to survey and compare the characteristics and perceptions of randomly selected urban and suburban (N=20) secondary instrumental music teachers in the Chicago area. Descriptive analysis of the demographic data demonstrated the following: suburban participants had higher levels of educational attainment than their urban counterparts, urban participants were more diverse than suburban participants, suburban participants taught a greater variety of courses than did urban participants, suburban participants were slightly older with more corresponding teaching experience than their urban colleagues, and urban participants were more likely to be female than their suburban counterparts. A One-Way ANOVA of the survey items revealed the following significant differences between the groups: urban participants scored significantly lower on Perie & Baker's (1997) job satisfaction index, had significantly lower levels of educational attainment, were less satisfied with their urban teaching context, felt that the number of students they taught were less manageable, felt that their careers were less personally rewarding, felt that they had less parental support, felt that they have gained less from professional development, and felt that they spent more time on discipline than their suburban counterparts. Implications for the profession are discussed and recommendations for future research are included.