Does a Music Degree Pay Off? Earnings, Debt & Schools

Other degree levels for this field: Associate degrees · Master's degrees

This page shows what graduates with a bachelor's degree in Music 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 259 reporting units (schools, or groups of campuses that report together) with these figures.

Median earnings, 4 years after graduation

$42,892

All graduates nationally

Middle half of graduates nationally

$26,048–$58,755

25th to 75th percentile

Typical federal debt of graduates

$26,000

Median across reporting units

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 $42,892 is 27% below that. The middle half of its graduates differ by $32,707 (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 61% 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 Music 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 (127 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
Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$41,610	44
Baldwin Wallace University	OH	$37,682	43
Baylor University	TX	$40,017	33
Belmont University	TN	$36,866	111
Berklee College of Music	MA	$38,617	561
Biola University	CA	$50,781	37
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus	OH	$44,037	37
Brigham Young University	UT	$29,483	50
California Institute of the Arts	CA	$40,294	33
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$44,910	41
California State University-Chico	CA	$42,269	63
California State University-Fullerton	CA	$39,590	38
California State University-Long Beach	CA	$47,831	71
California State University-Northridge	CA	$40,669	101
California State University-Sacramento	CA	$42,774	42
Capital University	OH	$43,125	74
Castleton University (reported together with 2 other campuses under one federal school ID)	VT	$49,438	33
Catawba College	NC	$39,633	49
Central Michigan University	MI	$43,089	33
Central Washington University	WA	$51,008	30
Columbia College Chicago	IL	$40,734	103
Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania	PA	$42,481	37
CUNY City College	NY	$44,058	39
DePaul University	IL	$44,756	42
Duquesne University	PA	$46,217	37
East Tennessee State University	TN	$35,707	32
East Texas A&M University	TX	$55,438	37
Florida International University	FL	$50,677	41
Florida State University	FL	$44,454	75
Full Sail University	FL	$39,466	427
George Mason University	VA	$46,765	50
Georgia State University	GA	$35,963	40
Grand Valley State University	MI	$49,111	49
Illinois State University	IL	$54,767	32
Indiana State University	IN	$49,711	35
Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus	PA	$48,630	41
Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$28,727	77
Ithaca College	NY	$51,338	57
Jacksonville State University	AL	$47,582	30
James Madison University	VA	$51,882	59
Johns Hopkins University	MD	$29,849	34
Kent State University at Kent (reported together with 1 other campus under one federal school ID)	OH	$43,222	35
Lawrence University	WI	$43,385	42
Liberty University	VA	$42,960	67
Luther College	IA	$50,947	64
Manhattan School of Music	NY	$27,952	39
Michigan State University	MI	$52,132	69
Middle Tennessee State University	TN	$43,999	72
Millersville University of Pennsylvania	PA	$40,713	57
Millikin University	IL	$43,388	36
Monmouth University	NJ	$55,526	47
Montclair State University	NJ	$50,418	76
Morehead State University	KY	$40,768	33
New York University	NY	$52,841	74
Northeastern University (reported together with 1 other campus under one federal school ID)	MA	$60,974	42
Northwestern University	IL	$53,875	58
Oberlin College	OH	$43,343	40
Ohio University-Chillicothe Campus (reported together with 5 other campuses under one federal school ID)	OH	$44,593	45
Oklahoma City University	OK	$35,621	61
Portland State University	OR	$34,160	30
Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music	PR	$29,940	44
Ramapo College of New Jersey	NJ	$41,659	34
Rider University	NJ	$43,753	95
Rollins College	FL	$45,910	31
Rowan University	NJ	$47,208	81
Rutgers University-Camden (reported together with 2 other campuses under one federal school ID)	NJ	$56,008	64
Sam Houston State University	TX	$58,743	65
San Diego State University	CA	$42,090	50
Shenandoah University	VA	$30,758	32
St Olaf College	MN	$42,439	38
Stephen F Austin State University	TX	$52,341	89
Stetson University	FL	$41,298	37
SUNY at Fredonia	NY	$45,794	47
SUNY at Purchase College	NY	$41,926	60
Temple University	PA	$40,387	52
Tennessee Technological University	TN	$46,253	32
Texas State University	TX	$52,320	86
Texas Tech University	TX	$57,043	75
The Catholic University of America	DC	$46,123	42
The Juilliard School	NY	$32,842	49
The New England Conservatory of Music	MA	$26,985	35
The New School	NY	$32,930	81
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	TN	$46,701	39
The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$59,198	53
The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$47,164	71
The University of Texas at El Paso	TX	$60,172	36
The University of Texas at San Antonio	TX	$53,878	62
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	$59,218	68
University of Arkansas	AR	$46,352	31
University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$47,779	41
University of California-San Diego	CA	$58,071	32
University of Central Oklahoma	OK	$42,355	52
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	$46,532	117
University of Connecticut	CT	$56,104	32
University of Hartford	CT	$43,700	77
University of Houston	TX	$56,667	59
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$50,544	45
University of Louisiana at Lafayette	LA	$29,175	33
University of Massachusetts-Lowell	MA	$53,384	102
University of Memphis	TN	$45,321	46
University of Miami	FL	$29,090	44
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$43,777	83
University of New Hampshire-Main Campus	NH	$47,448	38
University of New Haven	CT	$47,057	39
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$58,127	60
University of North Carolina at Greensboro	NC	$40,778	42
University of North Florida	FL	$33,841	40
University of North Texas	TX	$55,705	169
University of Northern Colorado	CO	$37,749	40
University of Oregon	OR	$39,928	52
University of Rochester	NY	$34,888	95
University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	$45,181	42
University of Southern California	CA	$34,124	68
University of Utah	UT	$49,240	36
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire	WI	$47,079	46
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater	WI	$45,306	31
Virginia Commonwealth University	VA	$38,278	59
Wayne State University	MI	$50,340	37
West Texas A & M University	TX	$48,656	41
West Virginia University	WV	$48,226	35
Western Carolina University	NC	$44,014	37
Western Connecticut State University	CT	$35,889	39
Western Illinois University	IL	$39,609	33
Western Kentucky University	KY	$38,377	36
Western Michigan University	MI	$36,254	65
Wheaton College	IL	$40,329	35
William Paterson University of New Jersey	NJ	$39,553	56

See every school that awarded bachelor's degrees in Music 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 Music 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
Musicians and Singers	–	+0.3%	17,400
Music Directors and Composers	$73,710	+1.2%	4,200
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	$72,040	-0.2%	63,500
Disc Jockeys, Except Radio	–	+3.8%	1,700
Sound Engineering Technicians	$73,130	-3.1%	1,000

Frequently asked questions

Does a Music degree pay off?

Graduates with a bachelor's degree in Music earn a median of $42,892 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 Music 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 Music, and a job outside the field is not a bad outcome by itself.

Closely relatedSomewhat relatedNot related

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.