Best Interpreter programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Interpret oral or sign language, or translate written text from one language into.
69 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,243 people a year. The job pays a median of $84,090 in New York across about 3,240 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.
26 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 | Spanish Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0905In New York → | 282 | 22.7% | 55 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 2 | Linguisticsmain feeder CIP 16.0102In New York → | 258 | 20.8% | 18 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 3 | CIP 16.1200In New York → | 121 | 9.7% | 16 | — | $22,560 |
| 4 | French Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0901In New York → | 106 | 8.5% | 28 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 5 | Language Interpretation and Translationmain feeder CIP 16.0103In New York → | 52 | 4.2% | 7 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 6 | Sign Language Interpretation and Translationmain feeder CIP 16.1603In New York → | 49 | 3.9% | 3 | $32,695 | $25,209 |
| 7 | German Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0501In New York → | 40 | 3.2% | 8 | $44,390 | $23,202 |
| 8 | CIP 16.0300In New York → | 39 | 3.1% | 2 | $27,331 | $20,685 |
| 9 | Chinese Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0301In New York → | 39 | 3.1% | 8 | $27,331 | $20,685 |
| 10 | Foreign Languages and Literatures, Generalmain feeder CIP 16.0101In New York → | 34 | 2.7% | 8 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 11 | CIP 16.1199In New York → | 31 | 2.5% | 1 | $48,355 | $15,526 |
| 12 | CIP 16.0400In New York → | 26 | 2.1% | 1 | $60,240 | $5,500 |
| 13 | Italian Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0902In New York → | 26 | 2.1% | 10 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 14 | Japanese Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0302In New York → | 21 | 1.7% | 7 | $27,331 | $20,685 |
| 15 | American Sign Language (ASL)main feeder CIP 16.1601In New York → | 21 | 1.7% | 5 | $32,695 | $25,209 |
| 16 | CIP 16.0900In New York → | 20 | 1.6% | 4 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 17 | CIP 13.1003In New York → | 19 | 1.5% | 3 | $44,139 | $26,675 |
| 18 | Russian Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0402In New York → | 13 | 1.0% | 3 | $60,240 | $5,500 |
| 19 | CIP 16.9999In New York → | 11 | 0.9% | 5 | $34,944 | $24,828 |
| 20 | CIP 16.0908In New York → | 10 | 0.8% | 1 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 21 | Hebrew Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.1102In New York → | 10 | 0.8% | 2 | $48,355 | $15,526 |
| 22 | Arabic Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.1101In New York → | 9 | 0.7% | 2 | $48,355 | $15,526 |
| 23 | Economics and Foreign Language/Literature CIP 30.4001 | 3 | 0.2% | 1 | — | — |
| 24 | CIP 16.0801In New York → | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | — | — |
| 25 | Portuguese Language and Literaturemain feeder CIP 16.0904In New York → | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 26 | CIP 16.1001In New York → | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | — | — |
Top 25 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 17 of the 69 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 10 feeder programs | 181 | Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | — | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 2 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 10 feeder programs | 99 | Spanish Language and Literature | — | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 3 | CUNY Hunter College New York, NY Public · 12 feeder programs | 82 | Spanish Language and Literature | $30,534 | 57% | — | 54% |
| 4 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 4 feeder programs | 82 | Linguistics | $24,407 | 76% | — | 49% |
| 5 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 7 feeder programs | 62 | Linguistics | — | 95% | $17,613 | 9% |
| 6 | Binghamton University Vestal, NY Public · 8 feeder programs | 56 | Linguistics | $26,353 | 82% | — | 39% |
| 7 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 4 feeder programs | 49 | Linguistics | $26,703 | 75% | — | 74% |
| 8 | United States Military Academy West Point, NY Public · 9 feeder programs | 44 | Russian Language and Literature | — | 87% | — | 12% |
| 9 | University at Albany Albany, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 41 | Linguistics | — | 61% | — | 69% |
| 10 | CUNY Graduate School and University Center New York, NY Public · 4 feeder programs | 36 | Linguistics | — | — | — | 68% |
| 11 | Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 34 | Sign Language Interpretation and Translation | $31,969 | 70% | $28,133 | 67% |
| 12 | Syracuse University Syracuse, NY Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 32 | Linguistics | — | 84% | $28,851 | 46% |
| 13 | CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College New York, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 31 | Foreign Languages and Literatures, General | — | 25% | — | — |
| 14 | Teachers College at Columbia University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 30 | Linguistics | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 8 feeder programs | 28 | Linguistics | — | 85% | $25,874 | 40% |
| 16 | Hamilton College Clinton, NY Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs | 27 | Hispanic and Latin American Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | $41,946 | 91% | $20,680 | 14% |
| 17 | CUNY Queens College Queens, NY Public · 4 feeder programs | 26 | Spanish Language and Literature | $37,654 | 53% | — | 64% |
| 18 | Colgate University Hamilton, NY Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 20 | Spanish Language and Literature | $53,541 | 91% | $22,903 | 14% |
| 19 | CUNY Lehman College Bronx, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 20 | Spanish Language and Literature | $35,941 | 51% | — | 57% |
| 20 | Hofstra University Hempstead, NY Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 19 | Linguistics | — | 69% | $34,539 | 68% |
| 21 | CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY Public · 4 feeder programs | 18 | Linguistics | — | 54% | — | 58% |
| 22 | Suffolk County Community College Selden, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 18 | Sign Language Interpretation and Translation | — | 29% | — | — |
| 23 | CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 15 | Language Interpretation and Translation | — | 56% | — | 57% |
| 24 | CUNY City College New York, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 13 | Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | $23,932 | 57% | — | 60% |
| 25 | Keuka College Keuka Park, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 12 | Sign Language Interpretation and Translation | $30,294 | 58% | $24,177 | 68% |
All 69 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia University in the City of New York | New York | Private not-for-profit | 181 | 10 |
| New York University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 99 | 10 |
| CUNY Hunter College | New York | Public | 82 | 12 |
| Stony Brook University | Stony Brook | Public | 82 | 4 |
| Cornell University | Ithaca | Private not-for-profit | 62 | 7 |
| Binghamton University | Vestal | Public | 56 | 8 |
| University at Buffalo | Buffalo | Public | 49 | 4 |
| United States Military Academy | West Point | Public | 44 | 9 |
| University at Albany | Albany | Public | 41 | 3 |
| CUNY Graduate School and University Center | New York | Public | 36 | 4 |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 34 | 2 |
| Syracuse University | Syracuse | Private not-for-profit | 32 | 6 |
| CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College | New York | Public | 31 | 3 |
| Teachers College at Columbia University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 30 | 2 |
| University of Rochester | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 28 | 8 |
What interpreters and translators earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $60,170. New York pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in New York
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 Interpreters and Translators page.
How to become a Interpreter
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
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
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 25 majors mapped to Interpreters and Translators17 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 05.0211Deaf Studies
- 13.1003Education/Teaching of Individuals with Hearing Impairments Including Deafness
- 16.0101Foreign Languages and Literatures, General
- 16.0102Linguistics
- 16.0103Language Interpretation and Translation
- 16.0105Applied Linguistics
- 16.0201African Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
- 16.0300East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
- 16.0301Chinese Language and Literature
- 16.0302Japanese Language and Literature
- 16.0303Korean Language and Literature
- 16.0304Tibetan Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0399East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other
- 16.0400Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
- 16.0401Baltic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics(no graduates reported)
- 16.0402Russian Language and Literature
- 16.0404Albanian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0405Bulgarian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0406Czech Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0407Polish Language and Literature
- 16.0408Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian Languages and Literatures(no graduates reported)
- 16.0409Slovak Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0410Ukrainian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0499Slavic, Baltic, and Albanian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other
- 16.0500Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
Common questions
Answers for people weighing interpreters and translators programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become an Interpreter?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Spanish Language and Literature, which awarded 282 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 22.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Interpreter?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 26 programs to this occupation. The largest are Romance Languages, Linguistic, Classics and Classical Languages, East Asian Languages, plus 9 more. Together they graduate about 1,243 people a year in New York.
How much do interpreters and translators earn in New York?+
The median is $84,090 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 39.8% above the U.S. median of $60,170. 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 interpreters and translators growing?+
BLS projects a +1.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 6,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
69 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 26 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 interpreters and translators work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Translator, Interpreter, Medical Interpreter, Sign Language Interpreter among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-3091.
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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