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.

Compiled by PlainCollege , College outcomes data analysis

$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.

University of Southern C…

$72,428
University of Michigan-A…

$66,846
Brown University

$60,985
Fordham University

$60,515
Binghamton University

$60,299
California Polytechnic S…

$59,721
Virginia Polytechnic Ins…

$58,652
Loyola Marymount Univers…

$58,468
University of Pittsburgh…

$57,705
CUNY Hunter College

$56,160
University of Maryland-C…

$55,713
Marist University

$55,296
Williams College

$55,012
University of Virginia-M…

$54,579
James Madison University

$54,093

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.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
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.