Best programs to become an entertainer
You do not need a college degree to become an entertainer. BLS lists no formal educational credential as the typical entry-level education. The fields of study that lead most directly to this job are Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts; Sports Communication; and Dramatic/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Other (IPEDS completions).
5 college programs at 901 schools train for this job, graduating 12,006 people a year (IPEDS completions). The job pays a median of $18.82/hr (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other
All entertainers and performers, sports and related workers not listed separately.
Best programs to study to become an entertainer
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 50.0501 | 9,838 | 81.9% | 813 | $20,667 | $24,994 |
| 2 | CIP 09.0906 | 1,470 | 12.2% | 88 | $39,658 | $24,500 |
| 3 | CIP 50.0599 | 404 | 3.4% | 45 | $20,667 | $24,994 |
| 4 | CIP 50.0507 | 197 | 1.6% | 35 | $20,667 | $24,994 |
| 5 | CIP 50.0512 | 97 | 0.8% | 11 | $20,667 | $24,994 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
What entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other earn
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.
States with the most of these jobs
BLS publishes no annual wage for this occupation, so these are ranked by employment.
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | — | 4,320 | 2.23× | 123 | 1,905 |
| New York | — | 360 | 0.35× | 67 | 1,711 |
| Florida | — | 3,090 | 2.92× | 27 | 623 |
| Illinois | — | 430 | 0.66× | 31 | 497 |
| Pennsylvania | — | 860 | 1.33× | 46 | 430 |
| New Jersey | — | 110 | 0.24× | 12 | 359 |
| North Carolina | — | 240 | 0.45× | 28 | 341 |
| Georgia | — | 620 | 1.20× | 20 | 334 |
| Virginia | — | 160 | 0.36× | 26 | 306 |
| Wisconsin | — | 50 | 0.17× | 19 | 305 |
| Massachusetts | — | 140 | 0.36× | 35 | 292 |
| Arizona | — | 140 | 0.42× | 14 | 288 |
| Ohio | — | 400 | 0.67× | 31 | 258 |
| Utah | — | 120 | 0.67× | 9 | 212 |
| Michigan | — | 70 | 0.15× | 22 | 182 |
| South Carolina | — | — | — | 14 | 173 |
| Missouri | — | 410 | 1.32× | 21 | 150 |
| Colorado | — | 400 | 1.31× | 11 | 146 |
| Minnesota | — | 90 | 0.30× | 24 | 142 |
| Oklahoma | — | 60 | 0.34× | 12 | 138 |
| Tennessee | — | 280 | 0.81× | 15 | 128 |
| Washington | — | 180 | 0.47× | 11 | 123 |
| Kentucky | — | 50 | 0.22× | 14 | 120 |
| Nebraska | — | 70 | 0.68× | 10 | 119 |
| Louisiana | — | 770 | 3.76× | 8 | 118 |
| Oregon | — | — | — | 12 | 113 |
| Iowa | — | 80 | 0.50× | 15 | 67 |
| Kansas | — | 40 | 0.28× | 13 | 67 |
| Nevadamoderate | — | 1,680 | 10.14× | 3 | 49 |
| New Hampshire | — | — | — | 5 | 47 |
| Vermont | — | 30 | 1.00× | 5 | 38 |
| Montanalimited | — | 100 | 1.88× | 1 | 32 |
| Hawaiilimited | — | 180 | 2.67× | 2 | 21 |
Skills and knowledge
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
How to get in
How to become an entertainer
- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 5 majors mapped to Entertainers and Performers, Sports and Related Workers, All Other5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 09.0906Sports Communication
- 50.0501Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General
- 50.0507Directing and Theatrical Production
- 50.0512Theatre and Dance
- 50.0599Dramatic/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Other
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become an entertainer?+
You do not need a college degree to become an entertainer. BLS lists no formal educational credential as the typical entry-level education. The fields of study that lead most directly to this job are Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts; Sports Communication; and Dramatic/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Other (IPEDS completions).
Which college majors lead to becoming an entertainer?+
The fields of study that lead most directly to this job are Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts; Sports Communication; and Dramatic/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Other (IPEDS completions). In all, the NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this job, which together graduate about 12,006 people a year.
How much do entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other earn?+
The median is $18.82 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 entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other growing?+
BLS projects a +6.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 4,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
901 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 5 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
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