PlainCollege

Program ranking · CIP 50.07 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Art

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Art (CIP 50.07) bachelor's completers. Rankings use earnings only - not prestige, selectivity, or editorial judgment - and require at least 25 completers so tiny suppressed cohorts do not dominate the list.

$72,428
Highest art earnings
100
Colleges ranked
$43,804
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $43,804 median earnings for Art bachelor's (CIP 50.07) completers. University of Southern California leads at $72,428.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.

$72,428
#1 - University of Southern
$43,804
#100 - the cutoff to make this list
25+
completers required per school
1,071
US schools offering this CIP

Earnings are field-of-study medians for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled; see methodology for horizon and lag details.

Top 15 art programs by median completer earnings

Art bachelor's (CIP 50.07) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

What this shows Fine and studio arts medians mix teaching, studio, and creative-industry roles - debt still matters when arts-market pay varies sharply by metro.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study As of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

The full top 100

# School Name StateMedian EarningsMedian DebtCompleters
1 University of Southern California CA $72,428 $19,750 69
2 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI $66,846 $18,767 153
3 Brown University RI $60,985 $17,300 51
4 Fordham University NY $60,515 $25,250 57
5 Binghamton University NY $60,299 $17,750 54
6 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA $59,721 $17,886 54
7 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA $58,652 $26,000 59
8 Loyola Marymount University CA $58,468 $22,375 47
9 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus PA $57,705 $22,727 28
10 CUNY Hunter College NY $56,160 $10,300 90
11 University of Maryland-College Park MD $55,713 $19,417 92
12 Marist University NY $55,296 $23,437 37
13 Williams College MA $55,012 $11,850 37
14 University of Virginia-Main Campus VA $54,579 $19,500 72
15 James Madison University VA $54,093 $22,125 120
16 North Carolina State University at Raleigh NC $54,007 $23,625 28
17 University of Washington-Seattle Campus WA $53,805 $13,000 141
18 Carnegie Mellon University PA $53,726 $21,281 33
19 Skidmore College NY $53,602 $18,500 42
20 University of Georgia GA $53,300 $21,500 125
21 Rutgers University-New Brunswick NJ $52,450 $22,500 48
22 Rutgers University-Camden NJ $52,450 $22,500 39
23 Rutgers University-Newark NJ $52,450 $22,500 28
24 Oklahoma State University-Main Campus OK $52,405 $21,111 46
25 Texas Woman's University TX $52,306 $23,634 30
26 University of California-Berkeley CA $51,699 $12,464 94
27 Illinois State University IL $51,386 $17,750 90
28 University of Missouri-Columbia MO $51,254 $19,500 30
29 The College of New Jersey NJ $51,033 $25,000 58
30 University of Connecticut CT $50,952 $21,500 52
31 Texas Tech University TX $50,892 $27,000 45
32 Pace University NY $50,623 - 30
33 CUNY Lehman College NY $50,334 $10,065 48
34 Baylor University TX $50,253 $26,000 31
35 University of Utah UT $50,166 $22,500 78
36 Shepherd University WV $50,124 $21,500 28
37 University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus CO $49,842 $21,464 81
38 University of Massachusetts-Boston MA $49,722 - 31
39 Boston University MA $49,538 $20,475 35
40 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater WI $49,506 $21,602 29
41 New York University NY $49,478 $26,000 95
42 University of Wisconsin-Madison WI $48,684 $16,750 72
43 University of California-San Diego CA $48,506 $14,833 42
44 Towson University MD $48,238 $16,750 137
45 Utah State University UT $48,180 $17,125 61
46 University of Memphis TN $48,064 $28,750 54
47 Minnesota State University-Mankato MN $47,822 $26,125 37
48 The University of Texas at Austin TX $47,730 $21,875 106
49 University of North Texas TX $47,639 $22,040 211
50 University of Colorado Boulder CO $47,297 $19,500 57
51 Kennesaw State University GA $47,221 $22,312 56
52 Rowan University NJ $47,176 $18,906 61
53 The University of Texas at Arlington TX $47,106 $22,683 160
54 Ohio State University-Main Campus OH $46,899 $25,625 85
55 University of Central Florida FL $46,779 $20,000 139
56 Montana State University MT $46,741 $25,125 69
57 Florida Atlantic University FL $46,606 $13,867 90
58 University of Northern Colorado CO $46,502 $23,123 67
59 University of California-Santa Barbara CA $46,428 $15,459 133
60 University of Wyoming WY $46,371 $15,880 32
61 Old Dominion University VA $46,308 $28,808 56
62 University of California-Los Angeles CA $46,173 $13,977 129
63 California State University-East Bay CA $46,136 $16,625 116
64 University of Massachusetts-Amherst MA $46,027 $22,375 30
65 Sonoma State University CA $46,022 $19,200 46
66 Western Kentucky University KY $45,957 $27,000 63
67 East Carolina University NC $45,817 $25,718 77
68 Bridgewater State University MA $45,747 $24,681 56
69 CUNY City College NY $45,656 $12,994 116
70 University of West Georgia GA $45,644 $27,490 48
71 School of the Art Institute of Chicago IL $45,602 $27,000 589
72 California State University-Channel Islands CA $45,548 $13,038 55
73 University of Missouri-St Louis MO $45,491 $24,075 28
74 California State University-Chico CA $45,468 $14,990 58
75 University of Houston TX $45,446 $21,500 84
76 University of Louisville KY $45,429 $24,768 58
77 SUNY Buffalo State University NY $45,222 $19,000 27
78 University of Oregon OR $44,958 $20,500 131
79 Texas State University TX $44,934 $24,742 88
80 Southern Illinois University-Carbondale IL $44,902 $25,000 28
81 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN $44,850 $19,349 94
82 Millersville University of Pennsylvania PA $44,816 $25,000 28
83 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee WI $44,788 $26,000 104
84 Middle Tennessee State University TN $44,760 $20,500 62
85 University of Pennsylvania PA $44,735 - 40
86 University of Alaska Anchorage AK $44,569 $24,872 29
87 Salisbury University MD $44,514 $21,500 41
88 University of Nebraska at Omaha NE $44,386 $23,500 71
89 California State University-Fullerton CA $44,365 $15,917 422
90 University of Mary Washington VA $44,357 $22,908 29
91 Oberlin College OH $44,299 $20,500 35
92 William Paterson University of New Jersey NJ $44,298 $24,250 56
93 St Olaf College MN $44,287 $25,000 39
94 Northern Illinois University IL $44,202 $22,500 88
95 West Virginia University WV $44,180 $23,242 49
96 SUNY Brockport NY $44,092 $21,425 61
97 California College of the Arts CA $44,012 $27,000 61
98 Syracuse University NY $43,988 $26,950 43
99 Indiana University-Bloomington IN $43,816 $18,302 48
100 University of North Florida FL $43,804 $22,397 86

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Art (CIP 50.07) bachelor's completers. Only operating schools with at least 25 completers and a published median are included. Ties break toward larger completer cohorts. For the full program profile - including every reporting school and national distribution - see Art (bachelor's). Methodology lives on our methodology page.

Caveats and limitations

"Best" here means highest reported median earnings for the stated CIP scope - not teaching quality, licensure pass rates, clinical placement strength, or fit for any one student. College Scorecard's closest dedicated CIP for "art" / fine-arts search demand is Fine and Studio Arts (CIP 50.07) - this list ranks that bachelor's CIP. Design and applied arts (CIP 50.04) and graphic communications (CIP 10.03) are ranked on their own pages.

Figures cover federally aided completers only, use Treasury-linked earnings, and describe a lagged cohort. Regional pay scales and graduate-school paths both move the median without proving a causal school effect.

This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute academic or career advice. Earnings do not predict any individual graduate's outcome.

Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from College Scorecard field-of-study data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals.