Arizona·Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations·SOC 27-2012

Best Producer programs in Arizona, ranked by enrollment

Produce or direct stage, television, radio, video, or film productions for entertainment, information, or instruction.

17 schools in Arizona run programs that feed this job, graduating 597 people a year. The job pays a median of $67,320 in Arizona across about 1,720 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledDirectorProducerCasting AgentNews DirectorNews ProducerProgram ManagerCasting DirectorArtistic Director
Graduates / yr
597
in Arizona
Median pay · Arizona
$67,320
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
1,720
people employed
Schools
17
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
33%
across those schools
Median net price
$21,535
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Arizona that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

5 programs in Arizona that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Arizona (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Arizona page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 50.0602In Arizona
310
51.9%
6$25,014$24,650
2
CIP 50.0501In Arizona
128
21.4%
14$20,667$24,994
3
CIP 50.0601In Arizona
88
14.7%
3$25,014$24,650
4
CIP 09.0701In Arizona
58
9.7%
1$29,112$23,836
5
Musical Theatremain feeder
CIP 50.0509In Arizona
13
2.2%
3$20,667$24,994

Top 17 schools in Arizona

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 17 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Arizona State University Campus Immersion
Tempe, AZ Public · 3 feeder programs
152Cinematography and Film/Video Production$31,14868%90%
2Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, AZ Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
104Cinematography and Film/Video Production$29,09443%$21,53579%
3University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ Public · 3 feeder programs
103Film/Cinema/Media Studies$26,05468%86%
4Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
82Cinematography and Film/Video Production17%
5Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
76Radio and Television$24,57861%90%
6Pima Community College
Tucson, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
36Cinematography and Film/Video Production28%
7Mesa Community College
Mesa, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
9Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General16%
8Eastern Arizona College
Thatcher, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
8Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General42%
9Paradise Valley Community College
Phoenix, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
5Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General19%
10Phoenix College
Phoenix, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
5Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General14%
11Yavapai College
Prescott, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
5Cinematography and Film/Video Production34%
12Arizona Western College
Yuma, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
4Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General20%
13Estrella Mountain Community College
Avondale, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
3Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General32%
14Glendale Community College
Glendale, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
2Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General16%
15Chandler - Gilbert Community College
Chandler, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General30%
16Sessions College
Tempe, AZ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Cinematography and Film/Video Production40%$17,833
17South Mountain Community College
Phoenix, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General16%

All 17 schools in Arizona

Every school in Arizona with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Arizona that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Arizona State University Campus ImmersionTempePublic1523
Grand Canyon UniversityPhoenixPrivate not-for-profit1042
University of ArizonaTucsonPublic1033
Scottsdale Community CollegeScottsdalePublic822
Northern Arizona UniversityFlagstaffPublic762
Pima Community CollegeTucsonPublic361
Mesa Community CollegeMesaPublic92
Eastern Arizona CollegeThatcherPublic82
Paradise Valley Community CollegePhoenixPublic51
Phoenix CollegePhoenixPublic51
Yavapai CollegePrescottPublic51
Arizona Western CollegeYumaPublic41
Estrella Mountain Community CollegeAvondalePublic31
Glendale Community CollegeGlendalePublic22
Chandler - Gilbert Community CollegeChandlerPublic11

What producers and directors earn in Arizona

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Arizona
$67,320
Mean annual
$94,670
Jobs in state
1,720
What the range looks like
10th pct$36,260Median$67,32090th pct$208,990
Versus the national median
-25.5%

U.S. median $90,360. Arizona pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.58×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Arizona

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
$72,740median
1,140 jobs
Tucson, AZ
$64,530median
280 jobs
Yuma, AZ
avg
30 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.9%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
12,800
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
8,300
167,000 → 175,200
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Producers and Directors page.

How to become a Producer

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Active ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionMonitoringWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Arizona

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 10 majors mapped to Producers and Directors10 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 09.0701Radio and Television
  • 50.0501Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General
  • 50.0507Directing and Theatrical Production
  • 50.0509Musical Theatre
  • 50.0512Theatre and Dance
  • 50.0599Dramatic/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Other
  • 50.0601Film/Cinema/Media Studies
  • 50.0602Cinematography and Film/Video Production
  • 50.0607Documentary Production
  • 50.1004Theatre/Theatre Arts Management

Common questions

Answers for people weighing producers and directors programs in Arizona.

What degree do you need to become a Producer?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Cinematography and Film/Video Production, which awarded 310 degrees in Arizona in 2024-25, 51.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Producer?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Film/Video and Photographic Arts, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Radio. Together they graduate about 597 people a year in Arizona.

How much do producers and directors earn in Arizona?+

The median is $67,320 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 25.5% below the U.S. median of $90,360. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for producers and directors growing?+

BLS projects a +4.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 12,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Arizona?+

17 institutions in Arizona reported graduates from at least one of the 5 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do producers and directors work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Director, Producer, Casting Agent, News Director, News Producer, Program Manager among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-2012.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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