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Highest Paying Arts Majors

Top 50 Arts college majors by estimated median 5-year earnings

# College Major Degrees Accept Earnings ROI Employ Debt-to-Earn Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl SAT p25 SAT p50 SAT p75 Submit %
1 Carnegie Mellon Design 35 11% $135,376 99 93% — 29% 20% 31% 0% 9% 20% 1500 1530 1560 84%
2 Stanford Product Design 27 4% $129,548 99 — — 52% 26% 30% 7% 19% 7% 1520 1550 1570 77%
3 California College of the Arts Interaction Design 23 91% $127,872 99 100% — 26% 0% 17% 0% 9% 70% — — — —
4 Georgia Tech Industrial Design 12 13% $126,068 99 95% — 92% 75% 0% 17% 8% 0% 1370 1460 1530 100%
5 Savannah College of Art and Design Human Computer Interaction 48 83% $114,145 99 100% — 46% 33% 17% 4% 8% 38% 1030 1150 1270 28%
6 Brigham Young Housing and Interior Design 14 68% $109,487 99 91% — 79% 64% 7% 0% 7% 7% 1290 1360 1430 54%
7 MIT Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science (Course 11-6) 17 5% $103,036 95 94% — 35% 24% 41% 0% 29% 6% 1520 1550 1570 100%
8 U. of Pennsylvania Design 22 5% $92,787 87 — — 32% 27% 27% 18% 9% 5% 1500 1530 1560 70%
9 U. of California, Berkeley Urban Studies 36 11% $91,917 93 89% — 31% 25% 25% 3% 36% 6% — — — —
10 Wellesley Media Arts and Sciences 29 15% $91,004 86 100% — 0% 7% 31% 14% 28% 17% 1460 1500 1540 62%
11 Northeastern Graphic Design 65 17% $89,338 85 96% — 28% 46% 25% 5% 6% 11% 1440 1480 1510 28%
12 Brigham Young Animation 25 68% $88,928 97 83% — 32% 72% 4% 0% 4% 16% 1290 1360 1430 54%
13 Cornell Apparel and Textiles 26 8% $88,823 82 100% — 15% 31% 12% 8% 23% 15% 1490 1520 1550 56%
14 Vanderbilt Studio Art 11 5% $88,458 82 95% — 36% 9% 27% 27% 9% 9% 1510 1540 1560 52%
15 U. of Texas at Austin Design 50 27% $88,431 89 92% — 26% 24% 34% 8% 28% 2% 1320 1450 1530 74%
16 U. of Texas at Austin Interior Design 17 27% $88,431 89 92% — 0% 35% 6% 12% 47% 0% 1320 1450 1530 74%
17 Iowa State Architecture 86 85% $88,106 92 96% — 40% 65% 8% 0% 6% 5% 1120 1240 1360 59%
18 U. of Massachusetts - Amherst Architecture 118 60% $87,892 91 100% — 73% 61% 5% 6% 13% 3% 1310 1410 1500 25%
19 Rochester Institute of Technology New Media Design 47 67% $87,272 86 100% — 34% 60% 13% 9% 6% 2% 1310 1380 1440 49%
20 Art Center College of Design Entertainment Design 116 76% $85,772 87 93% — 32% 9% 27% 2% 9% 52% — — — —
21 Pennsylvania State Landscape Architecture 27 55% $85,518 88 100% — 59% 70% 7% 4% 11% 4% 1280 1350 1410 34%
22 Yale Architecture 19 3% $85,345 78 94% — 21% 37% 11% 11% 32% 0% 1480 1520 1560 92%
23 U. of Dayton Music Therapy 10 60% $84,863 85 98% — 0% 80% 0% 10% 10% 0% 1200 1290 1380 36%
24 U. of Notre Dame Design and Visual Communications 20 9% $84,813 77 95% — 25% 40% 5% 10% 25% 5% 1460 1500 1540 67%
25 Vanderbilt Stringed Instruments 16 5% $84,465 77 92% — 31% 50% 44% 0% 0% 0% 1510 1540 1560 52%
26 Art Center College of Design Interaction Design 27 76% $84,139 85 — — 37% 0% 26% 0% 0% 74% — — — —
27 San Jose State Design and Applied Arts 170 80% $84,071 94 98% — 38% 13% 40% 3% 29% 5% 1010 1140 1270 10%
28 San Jose State Graphic Design 23 80% $84,071 94 98% — 35% 30% 48% 0% 13% 0% 1010 1140 1270 10%
29 San Jose State Industrial Design 23 80% $84,071 94 98% — 70% 13% 39% 4% 17% 4% 1010 1140 1270 10%
30 San Jose State Interior Design 12 80% $84,071 94 98% — 17% 0% 42% 0% 50% 8% 1010 1140 1270 10%
31 U. of Arizona Urban Planning 65 85% $83,894 87 98% 7.9% 78% 69% 3% 2% 18% 2% 1150 1290 1420 29%
32 Cleveland State Music Therapy 10 88% $82,771 91 94% — 10% 90% 0% 0% 0% 0% — — — —
33 MIT Architecture (Course 4) 10 5% $82,634 82 94% — 30% 0% 20% 20% 30% 30% 1520 1550 1570 100%
34 Miami University - Ohio Interactive Media and Design 91 74% $82,609 85 95% — 43% 86% 2% 4% 0% 5% 1220 1310 1390 32%
35 Virginia Tech Architecture 131 55% $82,291 88 96% — 41% 53% 11% 7% 11% 9% 1270 1360 1440 50%
36 Yale Urban Studies 11 3% $82,277 74 — — 27% 45% 18% 0% 27% 0% 1480 1520 1560 92%
37 Baylor Fashion Merchandising 26 52% $81,042 78 98% — 0% 73% 0% 4% 15% 0% 1190 1280 1370 69%
38 Vanderbilt Cinema and Media Arts 12 5% $81,037 72 — — 33% 33% 8% 17% 0% 33% 1510 1540 1560 52%
39 Belmont Music Therapy 11 94% $80,879 84 99% — 0% 91% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1160 1260 1350 55%
40 U. of Notre Dame Architecture 38 9% $80,631 71 100% — 21% 53% 11% 3% 13% 8% 1460 1500 1540 67%
41 Auburn Architecture 65 47% $80,562 85 100% — 38% 74% 5% 0% 6% 14% 1260 1330 1390 90%
42 Mississippi State Architecture 45 84% $80,529 87 100% — 56% 69% 7% 13% 4% 0% 1000 1120 1230 88%
43 Art Center College of Design Product Design 54 76% $79,842 82 100% — 65% 2% 28% 0% 2% 69% — — — —
44 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo Art and Design 44 30% $79,312 87 86% — 30% 64% 7% 0% 23% 0% 1240 1330 1420 23%
45 CUNY Hunter Urban Studies/Affairs 21 28% $78,992 92 94% — 43% 19% 24% 29% 14% 5% 1100 1270 1420 11%
46 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo Graphic Communication 81 30% $78,643 87 94% — 14% 48% 26% 0% 12% 0% 1240 1330 1420 23%
47 U. of Miami Music Engineering Technology 10 18% $78,411 74 100% — 50% 60% 10% 10% 0% 10% 1350 1400 1450 51%
48 Columbia Architecture 20 5% $78,207 70 90% — 40% 20% 20% 20% 25% 5% 1510 1540 1560 67%
49 Rhode Island School of Design Architecture 45 23% $78,193 73 91% — 53% 4% 27% 2% 13% 51% 1090 1200 1310 24%
50 Art Center College of Design Transportation Design 44 76% $78,021 80 92% — 91% 11% 23% 0% 5% 59% — — — —