Best Special Effects Artist programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Create special effects or animations using film, video, computers, or other electronic tools and media for use in products, such as computer games, movies, music videos, and.
67 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,765 people a year. The job pays a median of $96,770 in New York across about 1,540 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.
9 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 11.0801In New York → | 944 | 34.1% | 15 | $33,504 | $27,000 |
| 2 | CIP 10.0304In New York → | 539 | 19.5% | 14 | $25,121 | $26,958 |
| 3 | CIP 50.0409In New York → | 400 | 14.5% | 28 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
| 4 | CIP 50.0102In New York → | 252 | 9.1% | 22 | $24,752 | $25,963 |
| 5 | CIP 11.0804In New York → | 238 | 8.6% | 1 | $33,504 | $27,000 |
| 6 | CIP 50.0708In New York → | 163 | 5.9% | 8 | $24,447 | $25,294 |
| 7 | CIP 50.0411In New York → | 151 | 5.5% | 9 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
| 8 | CIP 50.0706In New York → | 44 | 1.6% | 4 | $24,447 | $25,294 |
| 9 | CIP 50.0705In New York → | 34 | 1.2% | 3 | $24,447 | $25,294 |
Top 25 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 25 of the 67 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | School of Visual Arts New York, NY Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 336 | Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design | $36,272 | 76% | $58,518 | 93% |
| 2 | Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 318 | Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation | $69,052 | 70% | $28,133 | 67% |
| 3 | The New School New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 293 | Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design | $29,550 | 69% | $54,185 | 63% |
| 4 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 254 | Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design | $42,891 | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 5 | Pratt Institute - Main Brooklyn, NY Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs | 219 | Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special Effects | $20,048 | 74% | $49,088 | 73% |
| 6 | CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 129 | Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special Effects | $23,319 | 25% | — | — |
| 7 | CUNY Hostos Community College Bronx, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 71 | Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special Effects | $10,309 | 16% | — | — |
| 8 | Fashion Institute of Technology New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 62 | Graphic Design | $14,361 | 81% | — | 60% |
| 9 | CUNY Queensborough Community College Bayside, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 57 | Digital Arts | — | 24% | — | — |
| 10 | Marist University Poughkeepsie, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 53 | Intermedia/Multimedia | $31,907 | 80% | $33,867 | 57% |
| 11 | Suffolk County Community College Selden, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 51 | Digital Arts | $23,694 | 29% | — | — |
| 12 | New York Academy of Art New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 48 | Painting | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | SUNY at Purchase College Purchase, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 47 | Graphic Design | — | 63% | — | 74% |
| 14 | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred Alfred, NY Public · 5 feeder programs | 47 | Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special Effects | $21,373 | 55% | — | 76% |
| 15 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 46 | Game and Interactive Media Design | $36,191 | 84% | $28,900 | 63% |
| 16 | State University of New York at New Paltz New Paltz, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 45 | Graphic Design | $34,677 | 72% | — | 62% |
| 17 | Hudson Valley Community College Troy, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 37 | Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design | $24,099 | 35% | — | — |
| 18 | St. Francis College Brooklyn, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 37 | Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design | — | 55% | $26,091 | — |
| 19 | State University of New York at Oswego Oswego, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 37 | Graphic Design | $32,546 | 60% | — | 81% |
| 20 | Touro University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 37 | Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design | — | 72% | $27,110 | 61% |
| 21 | St. John's University - New York Queens, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 32 | Game and Interactive Media Design | — | 66% | $27,359 | 83% |
| 22 | Adelphi University Garden City, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 30 | Graphic Design | — | 67% | $27,326 | 66% |
| 23 | New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 29 | Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design | — | 59% | $22,158 | 81% |
| 24 | Monroe Community College Rochester, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 26 | Graphic Design | $27,718 | 27% | — | — |
| 25 | Rockland Community College Suffern, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 24 | Graphic Design | — | 29% | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| School of Visual Arts | New York | Private for-profit | 336 | 2 |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 318 | 3 |
| The New School | New York | Private not-for-profit | 293 | 2 |
| New York University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 254 | 2 |
| Pratt Institute - Main | Brooklyn | Private not-for-profit | 219 | 5 |
| CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College | New York | Public | 129 | 2 |
| CUNY Hostos Community College | Bronx | Public | 71 | 2 |
| Fashion Institute of Technology | New York | Public | 62 | 2 |
| CUNY Queensborough Community College | Bayside | Public | 57 | 1 |
| Marist University | Poughkeepsie | Private not-for-profit | 53 | 2 |
| Suffolk County Community College | Selden | Public | 51 | 2 |
| New York Academy of Art | New York | Private not-for-profit | 48 | 2 |
| SUNY at Purchase College | Purchase | Public | 47 | 2 |
| SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | Alfred | Public | 47 | 5 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Troy | Private not-for-profit | 46 | 1 |
What special effects artists and animators earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $102,030. New York pays below the national figure.
Concentrated here: New York employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
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 Special Effects Artists and Animators page.
How to become a Special Effects Artist
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 9 majors mapped to Special Effects Artists and Animators9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 10.0304Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special Effects
- 11.0801Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design
- 11.0804Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation
- 50.0102Digital Arts
- 50.0409Graphic Design
- 50.0411Game and Interactive Media Design
- 50.0705Drawing
- 50.0706Intermedia/Multimedia
- 50.0708Painting
Common questions
Answers for people weighing special effects artists and animators programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Special Effects Artist?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design, which awarded 944 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 34.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Special Effects Artist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Computer Software and Media Applications, Design and Applied Arts, Graphic Communications, Visual and Performing Arts, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 2,765 people a year in New York.
How much do special effects artists and animators earn in New York?+
The median is $96,770 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 5.2% below the U.S. median of $102,030. 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 special effects artists and animators growing?+
BLS projects a +1.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 5,000 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 9 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 special effects artists and animators work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Artist, Animator, Graphic Artist, 3D Artist (Three-Dimensional Artist) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-1014.
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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