This page shows what graduates with a bachelor's degree in Dance earn four years after graduating, what they typically owe, the schools that report these figures (listed alphabetically), and the occupations linked to this field by the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk. It covers 60 reporting units (schools, or groups of campuses that report together) with these figures.
In context: across the 132 bachelor's-degree fields with earnings reported by at least 30 schools or school groups, the typical field's median is $58,911; this field's median of $39,980 is 32% below that. The middle half of its graduates differ by $32,423 (25th to 75th percentile), narrower than the typical field's $36,476, so earnings within this field are more tightly grouped than usual. Typical federal debt of $26,000 is about 65% of one year of that median (debt and earnings cover different graduating years). These are group figures, not predictions for any graduate.
Schools reporting earnings for Dance graduates
Listed alphabetically to start; MajorPays does not rank schools. Click a column heading to sort; shift-click more headings to sort by several columns as a group. Median earnings four years after graduation, bachelor's degree, for programs with at least 30 graduates measured (19 reporting units; campuses that share one federal school ID report together and appear once). Schools with fewer graduates in the major, or whose figure the Department of Education withholds, are not listed.
| School | State | Median earnings, 4 years after | Graduates measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berklee College of Music | MA | $35,702 | 30 |
| Chapman University | CA | $50,612 | 31 |
| Columbia College Chicago | IL | $41,842 | 39 |
| Dean College | MA | $36,644 | 63 |
| Fordham University | NY | $47,036 | 32 |
| Marymount Manhattan College | NY | $38,227 | 50 |
| Montclair State University | NJ | $39,064 | 46 |
| New York University | NY | $38,571 | 33 |
| Oklahoma City University | OK | $34,105 | 39 |
| Pace University | NY | $39,716 | 43 |
| Point Park University | PA | $37,205 | 59 |
| Rutgers University-New Brunswick | NJ | $51,736 | 36 |
| SUNY at Purchase College | NY | $30,406 | 47 |
| Texas State University | TX | $53,057 | 55 |
| Texas Woman's University | TX | $53,072 | 31 |
| University of North Carolina at Greensboro | NC | $45,084 | 35 |
| University of North Carolina School of the Arts | NC | $32,463 | 40 |
| University of the Arts | PA | $38,520 | 35 |
| Western Michigan University | MI | $45,108 | 30 |
See every school that awarded bachelor's degrees in Dance in 2023-24, including schools that do not report earnings, with the number of degrees awarded (IPEDS Completions).
Occupations O*NET associates with this field
Occupations that U.S. Department of Labor O*NET data links to Dance programs, with each occupation's national median pay, projected job growth and yearly openings. They are listed in the order O*NET links them to this field; click a column heading to sort. This is a classification crosswalk, not evidence that graduates enter these jobs, and many of these occupations require more education, a license or experience beyond this credential. The figures describe the occupation, not the graduates of this major.
| Career | Median pay, 2025 | Projected growth, 2025–2035 | Openings per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary | $78,620 | +2.2% | 8,000 |
| Dancers | – | +2.2% | 1,600 |
| Choreographers | $55,310 | +3.1% | 600 |
Frequently asked questions
Does a Dance degree pay off?
Graduates with a bachelor's degree in Dance earn a median of $39,980 four years after graduating, and typically owe about $26,000 in federal loans. Earnings four years out are early-career pay, and they vary widely by school, job and place. Compare the pay with the cost of your own school on its graduate earnings page.
How much do college graduates earn overall?
See earnings by education level and by state.
Do Dance graduates work in their field?
The National Survey of College Graduates (2023) asked employed graduates whose highest degree is a bachelor's in art and humanities fields how closely their job relates to their degree. About 32% said closely related, 28% somewhat related and 40% not related (roughly 4.0 million graduates). This is a broad group of fields, not only Dance, and a job outside the field is not a bad outcome by itself.
Source: U.S. National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Survey of College Graduates, 2023 (Table 1-3, bachelor's level, all occupations). Survey estimates, rounded by NSF. MajorPays selected and reorganized these figures; NSF has not approved or endorsed them.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, College Scorecard field-of-study data (June 2026 release), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution; careers from O*NET 31.0 by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, ETA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Career pay, growth and openings: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025) and Employment Projections (2025-2035). MajorPays has selected and reorganized these figures; neither agency has approved or endorsed them. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. MajorPays has modified all or some of the O*NET information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Earnings are for graduates who received federal financial aid and were working and not enrolled four years after finishing (graduates of academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16, in 2021 dollars; the debt figures are for graduates of 2018-19 and 2019-20); the data says nothing about how much a school added to its graduates' earnings.