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Highest Paying Arts Majors

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

# College Major Earnings ROI Employ Degrees Accept SAT
1 Carnegie Mellon Design $135,816 99 93% 36 11% 1530
2 Georgia Tech Industrial Design $125,345 99 95% 11 13% 1460
3 Brigham Young Housing and Interior Design $107,056 99 91% 13 35% 1360
4 U. of California, Berkeley Urban Studies $105,067 98 89% 26 11% —
5 Art Center College of Design Entertainment Design $97,165 94 93% 95 76% —
6 Wellesley Media Arts and Sciences $96,840 91 100% 25 14% 1510
7 Northeastern Graphic Design $95,088 90 96% 42 24% 1490
8 San Jose State Interior Design $93,917 97 98% 22 50% —
9 San Jose State Industrial Design $93,917 97 98% 12 50% —
10 San Jose State Design and Applied Arts $93,917 97 98% 161 50% —
11 San Jose State Graphic Design $93,917 97 98% 15 50% —
12 Cornell Apparel and Textiles $93,068 87 100% 23 8% 1530
13 U. of Massachusetts - Amherst Architecture $91,293 94 100% 95 60% 1410
14 Art Center College of Design Product Design $90,447 91 100% 60 76% —
15 Rochester Institute of Technology New Media Design $89,398 88 100% 43 71% 1380
16 Art Center College of Design Transportation Design $88,384 90 92% 37 76% —
17 U. of Texas at Austin Design $88,050 90 92% 49 22% 1380
18 U. of Texas at Austin Interior Design $88,050 90 92% 15 22% 1380
19 Yale Architecture $87,905 82 94% 19 4% 1520
20 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo Art and Design $87,876 94 86% 61 30% —
21 Brigham Young Animation $87,288 96 83% 27 35% 1360
22 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo Graphic Communication $87,135 93 94% 80 30% —
23 CUNY Hunter Urban Studies/Affairs $86,148 96 94% 19 28% 1260
24 U. of Arizona Urban Planning $85,914 90 98% 67 85% 1280
25 UCLA Design | Media Arts $85,813 88 91% 49 9% —
26 U. of Washington Industrial Design $85,351 90 98% 15 42% 1410
27 U. of Washington Visual Communication Design $85,351 90 98% 20 42% 1410
28 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo Architecture $85,047 92 97% 172 30% —
29 Columbia Architecture $84,800 80 90% 17 4% 1540
30 Iowa State Architecture $83,996 90 96% 78 85% 1240
31 Pacific Lutheran Music Education $83,640 86 100% 13 88% 1150
32 Pratt Institute Architecture $82,758 82 100% 143 73% 1270
33 Fordham New Media and Digital Design $82,679 81 100% 58 47% 1400
34 U. of Pennsylvania Design $82,394 79 — 16 5% 1540
35 Virginia Tech Architecture $82,356 89 96% 133 55% 1360
36 Pennsylvania State Landscape Architecture $82,300 87 100% 29 55% 1330
37 U. of Notre Dame Design and Visual Communications $81,608 74 95% 18 9% 1500
38 New York University Music Education $81,552 79 89% 12 9% 1520
39 Marist Fashion Merchandising $81,498 86 99% 102 40% —
40 Art Center College of Design Graphic Design $81,385 84 89% 52 76% —
41 Art Center College of Design Illustration $81,385 84 89% 140 76% —
42 Miami University - Ohio Interactive Media and Design $81,064 85 95% 84 74% 1300
43 Rhode Island School of Design Architecture $80,726 78 91% 54 19% 1450
44 Vanderbilt Stringed Instruments $79,962 72 92% 17 4% 1530
45 U. of California, Berkeley Architecture $79,951 86 92% 109 11% —
46 U. of Southern California Design $79,947 74 97% 50 12% 1500
47 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo City and Regional Planning $79,204 88 100% 30 30% —
48 U. of Washington Music Education $78,633 85 100% 10 42% 1410
49 The New School Strategic Design and Management $78,350 78 90% 221 63% —
50 U. of Notre Dame Architecture $78,022 68 100% 42 9% 1500