Best Disc Jockey programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Play prerecorded music for live audiences at venues or events such as clubs, parties, or wedding receptions. May use techniques such as mixing, cutting, or sampling to manipulate recordings.
17 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 162 people a year. The job pays a median of $25.51/hr in New York across about 450 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in New York that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
3 programs in New York that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in New York (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 New York page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 10.0203In New York → | 81 | 50.0% | 9 | $21,634 | $20,000 |
| 2 | CIP 50.0913In New York → | 77 | 47.5% | 8 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 3 | CIP 15.0307In New York → | 4 | 2.5% | 1 | $59,859 | $15,372 |
Top 17 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 17 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Schenectady County Community College Schenectady, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 22 | Music Technology | — | 32% | — | — |
| 2 | Nassau Community College Garden City, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | — | 23% | — | — |
| 3 | CUNY LaGuardia Community College Long Island City, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | $29,299 | 24% | — | — |
| 4 | Finger Lakes Community College Canandaigua, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | — | 30% | — | — |
| 5 | CUNY Queensborough Community College Bayside, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 14 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | — | 24% | — | — |
| 6 | CUNY City College New York, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Music Technology | $19,145 | 57% | — | 60% |
| 7 | SUNY Broome Community College Binghamton, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Music Technology | — | 23% | — | — |
| 8 | Mercy University Dobbs Ferry, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Music Technology | — | 46% | $17,604 | 86% |
| 9 | CUNY Hostos Community College Bronx, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Music Technology | — | 16% | — | — |
| 10 | Ithaca College Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | — | 76% | $28,970 | 69% |
| 11 | Syracuse University Syracuse, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Music Technology | $18,574 | 84% | $28,851 | 46% |
| 12 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 6 | Music Technology | $14,310 | 85% | $25,874 | 40% |
| 13 | Five Towns College Dix Hills, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Audio Engineering Technology/Technician | — | 55% | $22,977 | 54% |
| 14 | Niagara County Community College Sanborn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | — | 32% | — | — |
| 15 | Cayuga County Community College Auburn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | — | 30% | — | — |
| 16 | Manhattanville University Purchase, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Music Technology | — | 58% | $23,949 | 87% |
| 17 | SUNY at Fredonia Fredonia, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | — | 50% | — | 78% |
All 17 schools in New York
Every school in New York 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schenectady County Community College | Schenectady | Public | 22 | 1 |
| Nassau Community College | Garden City | Public | 21 | 1 |
| CUNY LaGuardia Community College | Long Island City | Public | 17 | 1 |
| Finger Lakes Community College | Canandaigua | Public | 15 | 1 |
| CUNY Queensborough Community College | Bayside | Public | 14 | 1 |
| CUNY City College | New York | Public | 12 | 1 |
| SUNY Broome Community College | Binghamton | Public | 12 | 1 |
| Mercy University | Dobbs Ferry | Private not-for-profit | 11 | 1 |
| CUNY Hostos Community College | Bronx | Public | 7 | 1 |
| Ithaca College | Ithaca | Private not-for-profit | 7 | 1 |
| Syracuse University | Syracuse | Private not-for-profit | 7 | 1 |
| University of Rochester | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 6 | 2 |
| Five Towns College | Dix Hills | Private for-profit | 4 | 1 |
| Niagara County Community College | Sanborn | Public | 4 | 1 |
| Cayuga County Community College | Auburn | Public | 1 | 1 |
What disc jockeys earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
BLS publishes an hourly wage only for this occupation. The work is intermittent, so no annual figure is estimated.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in New York, by employment
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 Disc Jockeys page.
How to become a Disc Jockey
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of 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 New York
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 3 majors mapped to Disc Jockeys3 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 10.0203Recording Arts Technology/Technician
- 15.0307Audio Engineering Technology/Technician
- 50.0913Music Technology
Common questions
Answers for people weighing disc jockeys programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Disc Jockey?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Recording Arts Technology/Technician, which awarded 81 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 50.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Disc Jockey?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians, Music, Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 162 people a year in New York.
How much do disc jockeys earn in New York?+
The median is $25.51 an hour (BLS OEWS May 2025). 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 disc jockeys growing?+
BLS projects a +3.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 1,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
17 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 'Short-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
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card