Best Massage Therapist programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Perform therapeutic massages of soft tissues and joints.
12 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 277 people a year. The job pays a median of $62,630 in New York across about 4,500 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.
2 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 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massagemain feeder CIP 51.3501In New York → | 239 | 86.3% | 11 | $20,079 | $8,792 |
| 2 | Asian Bodywork Therapymain feeder CIP 51.3502In New York → | 38 | 13.7% | 1 | $20,079 | $8,792 |
Top 12 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 12 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swedish Institute a College of Health Sciences New York, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 113 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | $25,015 | 57% | $32,384 | — |
| 2 | New York Institute of Massage Inc Williamsville, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 40 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | $22,476 | 87% | $29,467 | — |
| 3 | Pacific College of Health and Science New York, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 38 | Asian Bodywork Therapy | $17,304 | 56% | $46,003 | — |
| 4 | New York School for Medical and Dental Assistants Long Island City, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 26 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | — | 65% | $15,390 | — |
| 5 | CUNY Queensborough Community College Bayside, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | $18,762 | 24% | — | — |
| 6 | Mildred Elley School - Albany Campus Albany, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | — | 37% | $23,247 | — |
| 7 | Niagara County Community College Sanborn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | — | 32% | — | — |
| 8 | SUNY Morrisville Morrisville, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | — | 28% | — | 92% |
| 9 | North Country Community College Saranac Lake, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | — | 29% | — | — |
| 10 | Mildred Elley - New York Campus New York, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | — | 32% | $24,850 | — |
| 11 | New York College of Health Professions Syosset, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | $24,753 | 50% | $42,908 | — |
| 12 | Trocaire College Buffalo, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage | — | 31% | $23,572 | 97% |
All 12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swedish Institute a College of Health Sciences | New York | Private for-profit | 113 | 1 |
| New York Institute of Massage Inc | Williamsville | Private for-profit | 40 | 1 |
| Pacific College of Health and Science | New York | Private for-profit | 38 | 1 |
| New York School for Medical and Dental Assistants | Long Island City | Private for-profit | 26 | 1 |
| CUNY Queensborough Community College | Bayside | Public | 21 | 1 |
| Mildred Elley School - Albany Campus | Albany | Private for-profit | 17 | 1 |
| Niagara County Community College | Sanborn | Public | 6 | 1 |
| SUNY Morrisville | Morrisville | Public | 6 | 1 |
| North Country Community College | Saranac Lake | Public | 4 | 1 |
| Mildred Elley - New York Campus | New York | Private for-profit | 3 | 1 |
| New York College of Health Professions | Syosset | Private not-for-profit | 2 | 1 |
| Trocaire College | Buffalo | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
What massage therapists earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $58,450. 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 Massage Therapists page.
How to become a Massage Therapist
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- Postsecondary nondegree award
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
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 4 majors mapped to Massage Therapists4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.3501Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage
- 51.3502Asian Bodywork Therapy
- 51.3503Somatic Bodywork
- 51.3599Somatic Bodywork and Related Therapeutic Services, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing massage therapists programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Massage Therapist?+
Postsecondary nondegree award is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage, which awarded 239 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 86.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Massage Therapist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Somatic Bodywork and Related Therapeutic Services. Together they graduate about 277 people a year in New York.
How much do massage therapists earn in New York?+
The median is $62,630 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 7.2% above the U.S. median of $58,450. 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 massage therapists growing?+
BLS projects a +15.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 24,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
12 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 2 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 massage therapists work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Massage Therapist, Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT), Certified Massage Therapist (CMT), Licensed Massage Practitioner (LMP) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 31-9011.
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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