Best Musician programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Play one or more musical instruments or sing.
67 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,327 people a year. The job pays a median of — in New York across about 5,470 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.
11 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 | Music Performance, Generalmain feeder CIP 50.0903In New York → | 737 | 31.7% | 30 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 2 | CIP 50.0509In New York → | 393 | 16.9% | 14 | $20,667 | $24,994 |
| 3 | Music, Generalmain feeder CIP 50.0901In New York → | 339 | 14.6% | 47 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 4 | Keyboard Instrumentsmain feeder CIP 50.0907In New York → | 188 | 8.1% | 4 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 5 | Jazz/Jazz Studiesmain feeder CIP 50.0910In New York → | 177 | 7.6% | 8 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 6 | Voice and Operamain feeder CIP 50.0908In New York → | 168 | 7.2% | 9 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 7 | Stringed Instrumentsmain feeder CIP 50.0911In New York → | 167 | 7.2% | 3 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 8 | Music, Othermain feeder CIP 50.0999In New York → | 80 | 3.4% | 4 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 9 | Woodwind Instrumentsmain feeder CIP 50.0915In New York → | 45 | 1.9% | 2 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 10 | Brass Instrumentsmain feeder CIP 50.0914In New York → | 26 | 1.1% | 2 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 11 | Percussion Instrumentsmain feeder CIP 50.0916In New York → | 7 | 0.3% | 2 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
Top 25 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 17 of the 67 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manhattan School of Music New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 9 feeder programs | 332 | Keyboard Instruments | — | 78% | $53,742 | 41% |
| 2 | The New School New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 250 | Music Performance, General | $12,109 | 69% | $54,185 | 63% |
| 3 | The Juilliard School New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 8 feeder programs | 234 | Stringed Instruments | — | 93% | $29,763 | 9% |
| 4 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 227 | Music Performance, General | $24,398 | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 5 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 200 | Music Performance, General | $14,310 | 85% | $25,874 | 40% |
| 6 | American Musical and Dramatic Academy New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 144 | Musical Theatre | $17,382 | 72% | $40,932 | 24% |
| 7 | SUNY at Purchase College Purchase, NY Public · 5 feeder programs | 71 | Musical Theatre | $18,090 | 63% | — | 74% |
| 8 | Ithaca College Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 60 | Music Performance, General | $23,119 | 76% | $28,970 | 69% |
| 9 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 59 | Music Performance, General | — | 76% | — | 49% |
| 10 | Bard College Annandale-On-Hudson, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 55 | Music Performance, General | — | 68% | $24,278 | 52% |
| 11 | Marymount Manhattan College New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 53 | Musical Theatre | $19,562 | 49% | $34,258 | 83% |
| 12 | SUNY at Fredonia Fredonia, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 52 | Music Performance, General | $21,524 | 50% | — | 78% |
| 13 | Long Island University Brookville, NY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 41 | Music, Other | — | 57% | $24,639 | 86% |
| 14 | CUNY Queens College Queens, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 40 | Music Performance, General | — | 53% | — | 64% |
| 15 | Syracuse University Syracuse, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 39 | Musical Theatre | $20,988 | 84% | $28,851 | 46% |
| 16 | CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College New York, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 27 | Music, General | — | 25% | — | — |
| 17 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 26 | Music, General | $32,924 | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 18 | CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 23 | Music, General | — | 54% | — | 58% |
| 19 | Pace University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Musical Theatre | $16,659 | 60% | $29,994 | 76% |
| 20 | CUNY City College New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 21 | Jazz/Jazz Studies | $19,145 | 57% | — | 60% |
| 21 | CUNY Graduate School and University Center New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 20 | Music, General | — | — | — | 68% |
| 22 | State University of New York at New Paltz New Paltz, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 20 | Music, General | $17,406 | 72% | — | 62% |
| 23 | Binghamton University Vestal, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 18 | Music Performance, General | — | 82% | — | 39% |
| 24 | Five Towns College Dix Hills, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Music Performance, General | $25,315 | 55% | $22,977 | 54% |
| 25 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 15 | Music Performance, General | — | 75% | — | 74% |
All 67 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manhattan School of Music | New York | Private not-for-profit | 332 | 9 |
| The New School | New York | Private not-for-profit | 250 | 6 |
| The Juilliard School | New York | Private not-for-profit | 234 | 8 |
| New York University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 227 | 4 |
| University of Rochester | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 200 | 4 |
| American Musical and Dramatic Academy | New York | Private not-for-profit | 144 | 1 |
| SUNY at Purchase College | Purchase | Public | 71 | 5 |
| Ithaca College | Ithaca | Private not-for-profit | 60 | 4 |
| Stony Brook University | Stony Brook | Public | 59 | 2 |
| Bard College | Annandale-On-Hudson | Private not-for-profit | 55 | 1 |
| Marymount Manhattan College | New York | Private not-for-profit | 53 | 1 |
| SUNY at Fredonia | Fredonia | Public | 52 | 2 |
| Long Island University | Brookville | Private not-for-profit | 41 | 3 |
| CUNY Queens College | Queens | Public | 40 | 2 |
| Syracuse University | Syracuse | Private not-for-profit | 39 | 4 |
What musicians and singers 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.
Concentrated here: New York employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
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 Musicians and Singers page.
How to become a Musician
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Long-term on-the-job training
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 12 majors mapped to Musicians and Singers12 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 50.0509Musical Theatre
- 50.0901Music, General
- 50.0903Music Performance, General
- 50.0907Keyboard Instruments
- 50.0908Voice and Opera
- 50.0910Jazz/Jazz Studies
- 50.0911Stringed Instruments
- 50.0912Music Pedagogy
- 50.0914Brass Instruments
- 50.0915Woodwind Instruments
- 50.0916Percussion Instruments
- 50.0999Music, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing musicians and singers programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Musician?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Music Performance, General, which awarded 737 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 31.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Musician?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 11 programs to this occupation. The largest are Music, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft. Together they graduate about 2,327 people a year in New York.
Is demand for musicians and singers growing?+
BLS projects a +1.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 19,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
67 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 11 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 musicians and singers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Singer, Musician, Violinist, Choir Member among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-2042.
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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