Best Artist programs in Kentucky, ranked by enrollment
All artists and related workers not listed.
23 schools in Kentucky run programs that feed this job, graduating 464 people a year. The job pays a median of — in Kentucky across about 120 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Kentucky that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
4 programs in Kentucky that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Kentucky (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 Kentucky page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 50.0702In Kentucky → | 337 | 72.6% | 18 | $24,447 | $25,294 |
| 2 | CIP 50.0409In Kentucky → | 81 | 17.5% | 7 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
| 3 | CIP 50.0102In Kentucky → | 45 | 9.7% | 3 | $24,752 | $25,963 |
| 4 | CIP 50.0101In Kentucky → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | $24,752 | $25,963 |
Top 23 schools in Kentucky
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 8 of the 23 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Kentucky Lexington, KY Public · 2 feeder programs | 68 | Digital Arts | $26,343 | 71% | — | 93% |
| 2 | University of Louisville Louisville, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 67 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | $28,485 | 61% | — | 79% |
| 3 | Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY Public · 2 feeder programs | 54 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | $28,291 | 56% | — | 94% |
| 4 | Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 51 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | $31,448 | 52% | — | 68% |
| 5 | Morehead State University Morehead, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 28 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | $17,301 | 52% | — | 77% |
| 6 | Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 26 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | $25,596 | 50% | — | 78% |
| 7 | Big Sandy Community and Technical College Prestonsburg, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 24 | Graphic Design | — | 38% | — | — |
| 8 | Bellarmine University Louisville, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | — | 64% | $22,542 | 86% |
| 9 | Murray State University Murray, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | $21,715 | 61% | — | 86% |
| 10 | West Kentucky Community and Technical College Paducah, KY Public · 2 feeder programs | 14 | Graphic Design | — | 50% | — | — |
| 11 | Kentucky Wesleyan College Owensboro, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Graphic Design | — | 47% | $36,525 | 72% |
| 12 | Georgetown College Georgetown, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | — | 49% | $12,666 | 91% |
| 13 | Somerset Community College Somerset, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Graphic Design | — | 43% | — | — |
| 14 | Centre College Danville, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | — | 81% | $18,407 | 54% |
| 15 | Campbellsville University Campbellsville, KY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 8 | Digital Arts | — | 42% | $18,824 | 80% |
| 16 | Asbury University Wilmore, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | — | 65% | $19,816 | 63% |
| 17 | Hazard Community and Technical College Hazard, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Graphic Design | — | 48% | — | — |
| 18 | Transylvania University Lexington, KY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 6 | Digital Arts | — | 71% | $21,881 | 87% |
| 19 | Thomas More University Crestview Hills, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | — | 40% | $18,902 | 90% |
| 20 | University of the Cumberlands Williamsburg, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | — | 50% | $11,672 | 99% |
| 21 | Owensboro Community and Technical College Owensboro, KY Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | — | 54% | — | — |
| 22 | Spalding University Louisville, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Fine/Studio Arts, General | $14,940 | 52% | $23,661 | 99% |
| 23 | University of Pikeville Pikeville, KY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Visual and Performing Arts, General | — | 42% | $13,886 | — |
All 23 schools in Kentucky
Every school in Kentucky 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Kentucky | Lexington | Public | 68 | 2 |
| University of Louisville | Louisville | Public | 67 | 1 |
| Western Kentucky University | Bowling Green | Public | 54 | 2 |
| Northern Kentucky University | Highland Heights | Public | 51 | 1 |
| Morehead State University | Morehead | Public | 28 | 1 |
| Eastern Kentucky University | Richmond | Public | 26 | 1 |
| Big Sandy Community and Technical College | Prestonsburg | Public | 24 | 1 |
| Bellarmine University | Louisville | Private not-for-profit | 23 | 1 |
| Murray State University | Murray | Public | 23 | 1 |
| West Kentucky Community and Technical College | Paducah | Public | 14 | 2 |
| Kentucky Wesleyan College | Owensboro | Private not-for-profit | 13 | 1 |
| Georgetown College | Georgetown | Private not-for-profit | 12 | 1 |
| Somerset Community College | Somerset | Public | 12 | 1 |
| Centre College | Danville | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| Campbellsville University | Campbellsville | Private not-for-profit | 8 | 3 |
What artists and related workers, all other earn in Kentucky
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Concentrated here: Kentucky employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Artists and Related Workers, All Other page.
How to become a Artist
- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Long-term on-the-job training
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Kentucky
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 9 majors mapped to Artists and Related Workers, All Other9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 50.0101Visual and Performing Arts, General
- 50.0102Digital Arts
- 50.0201Crafts/Craft Design, Folk Art and Artisanry
- 50.0402Commercial and Advertising Art
- 50.0409Graphic Design
- 50.0410Illustration
- 50.0702Fine/Studio Arts, General
- 50.0799Fine Arts and Art Studies, Other
- 50.1101Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged Art
Common questions
Answers for people weighing artists and related workers, all other programs in Kentucky.
What degree do you need to become an Artist?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Fine/Studio Arts, General, which awarded 337 degrees in Kentucky in 2024-25, 72.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Artist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Fine and Studio Arts, Design and Applied Arts, Visual and Performing Arts. Together they graduate about 464 people a year in Kentucky.
Is demand for artists and related workers, all other growing?+
BLS projects a +0.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 1,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Kentucky?+
23 institutions in Kentucky reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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.
Do you need training or experience beyond a degree?+
BLS lists 'None' for related work experience and 'Long-term on-the-job training' for on-the-job training typically needed to reach competency.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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