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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 $135,376 99 93% 35 11% 1530
2 Stanford Product Design $129,548 99 — 27 4% 1550
3 Georgia Tech Industrial Design $126,068 99 95% 12 13% 1460
4 Brigham Young Housing and Interior Design $109,487 99 91% 14 69% 1360
5 MIT Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science (Course 11-6) $103,036 95 94% 17 5% 1550
6 U. of Pennsylvania Design $92,787 87 — 22 5% 1540
7 U. of California, Berkeley Urban Studies $91,917 93 89% 36 11% —
8 Wellesley Media Arts and Sciences $91,004 86 100% 29 15% 1500
9 Northeastern Graphic Design $89,338 85 96% 65 22% 1480
10 Brigham Young Animation $88,928 97 83% 25 69% 1360
11 Cornell Apparel and Textiles $88,823 82 100% 26 8% 1520
12 Vanderbilt Studio Art $88,458 82 95% 11 5% 1540
13 U. of Texas at Austin Interior Design $88,431 89 92% 17 22% 1450
14 U. of Texas at Austin Design $88,431 89 92% 50 22% 1450
15 Iowa State Architecture $88,106 92 96% 86 85% 1240
16 U. of Massachusetts - Amherst Architecture $87,892 91 100% 118 60% 1410
17 Rochester Institute of Technology New Media Design $87,272 86 100% 47 71% 1380
18 Art Center College of Design Entertainment Design $85,772 87 93% 116 76% —
19 Pennsylvania State Landscape Architecture $85,518 88 100% 27 55% 1350
20 Yale Architecture $85,345 78 94% 19 3% 1520
21 U. of Dayton Music Therapy $84,863 85 98% 10 60% 1290
22 U. of Notre Dame Design and Visual Communications $84,813 77 95% 20 9% 1500
23 Vanderbilt Stringed Instruments $84,465 77 92% 16 5% 1540
24 San Jose State Design and Applied Arts $84,071 94 98% 170 80% 1140
25 San Jose State Interior Design $84,071 94 98% 12 80% 1140
26 San Jose State Graphic Design $84,071 94 98% 23 80% 1140
27 San Jose State Industrial Design $84,071 94 98% 23 80% 1140
28 U. of Arizona Urban Planning $83,894 87 98% 65 85% 1290
29 Cleveland State Music Therapy $82,771 92 94% 10 72% —
30 MIT Architecture (Course 4) $82,634 82 94% 10 5% 1550
31 Miami University - Ohio Interactive Media and Design $82,609 85 95% 91 74% 1310
32 Virginia Tech Architecture $82,291 88 96% 131 55% 1360
33 Yale Urban Studies $82,277 75 — 11 3% 1520
34 Baylor Fashion Merchandising $81,042 79 98% 26 52% 1280
35 Vanderbilt Cinema and Media Arts $81,037 72 — 12 5% 1540
36 Belmont Music Therapy $80,879 84 99% 11 94% 1260
37 U. of Notre Dame Architecture $80,631 71 100% 38 9% 1500
38 Auburn Architecture $80,562 85 100% 65 47% 1330
39 Mississippi State Architecture $80,529 87 100% 45 84% 1120
40 Art Center College of Design Product Design $79,842 82 100% 54 76% —
41 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo Art and Design $79,312 87 86% 44 30% 1330
42 CUNY Hunter Urban Studies/Affairs $78,992 92 94% 21 28% 1270
43 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo Graphic Communication $78,643 87 94% 81 30% 1330
44 U. of Miami Music Engineering Technology $78,411 74 100% 10 17% 1400
45 Columbia Architecture $78,207 70 90% 20 4% 1540
46 Rhode Island School of Design Architecture $78,193 73 91% 45 23% 1200
47 Art Center College of Design Transportation Design $78,021 80 92% 44 76% —
48 U. of Washington Industrial Design $77,545 83 98% 19 42% 1410
49 U. of Washington Visual Communication Design $77,545 83 98% 22 42% 1410
50 Texas A&M University - College Station Landscape Architecture $77,151 82 87% 30 52% 1280