Utah·Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations·SOC 27-2041

Best Music Director programs in Utah, ranked by enrollment

Conduct, direct, plan, and lead instrumental or vocal performances by musical artists or groups, such as orchestras, bands, choirs, and glee clubs; or create original works of.

7 schools in Utah run programs that feed this job, graduating 191 people a year. The job pays a median of $82,570 in Utah across about 150 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledConductorChoir DirectorMusic ComposerMusic DirectorMaestroArrangerComposerConceptor
Graduates / yr
191
in Utah
Median pay · Utah
$82,570
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
150
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
52%
across those schools
Median net price
$13,712
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Utah that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

8 programs in Utah that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Utah (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 Utah page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 50.0913In Utah
113
59.2%
5$25,929$25,980
2
CIP 50.0903In Utah
41
21.5%
5$25,929$25,980
3
CIP 50.0999In Utah
13
6.8%
2$25,929$25,980
4
CIP 50.0509In Utah
11
5.8%
2$20,667$24,994
5
CIP 50.0904In Utah
5
2.6%
1$25,929$25,980
6
CIP 50.0908In Utah
5
2.6%
1$25,929$25,980
7
CIP 50.0906In Utah
2
1.0%
1$25,929$25,980
8
CIP 50.0917In Utah
1
0.5%
1$25,929$25,980

Top 7 schools in Utah

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 7 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Southern Utah University
Cedar City, UT Public · 3 feeder programs
105Music Technology61%82%
2Brigham Young University
Provo, UT Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs
42Music Performance, General$22,62581%$13,71268%
3Utah Valley University
Orem, UT Public · 3 feeder programs
25Music Technology$24,95245%
4Weber State University
Ogden, UT Public · 2 feeder programs
9Musical Theatre46%
5Utah Tech University
Saint George, UT Public · 3 feeder programs
7Music Performance, General38%
6Salt Lake Community College
Salt Lake City, UT Public · 1 feeder programs
2Music Technology29%
7University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT Public · 1 feeder programs
1Music Technology$42,54865%86%

All 7 schools in Utah

Every school in Utah 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.

All schools in Utah that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Southern Utah UniversityCedar CityPublic1053
Brigham Young UniversityProvoPrivate not-for-profit425
Utah Valley UniversityOremPublic253
Weber State UniversityOgdenPublic92
Utah Tech UniversitySaint GeorgePublic73
Salt Lake Community CollegeSalt Lake CityPublic21
University of UtahSalt Lake CityPublic11

What music directors and composers earn in Utah

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Utah
$82,570
Mean annual
$83,970
Jobs in state
150
What the range looks like
10th pct$65,110Median$82,57090th pct$86,410
Versus the national median
+12.0%

U.S. median $73,710. Utah pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.06×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Utah

Salt Lake City-Murray, UT
$82,570median
100 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-0.3%
Little or no change
Openings per year
4,300
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-100
47,300 → 47,200
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

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 Music Directors and Composers page.

How to become a Music Director

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

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

Active ListeningSpeakingReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingActive LearningWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Utah

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 12 majors mapped to Music Directors and Composers12 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 39.0501Religious/Sacred Music
  • 39.0502Worship Ministry
  • 50.0509Musical Theatre
  • 50.0903Music Performance, General
  • 50.0904Music Theory and Composition
  • 50.0905Musicology and Ethnomusicology
  • 50.0906Conducting
  • 50.0908Voice and Opera
  • 50.0913Music Technology
  • 50.0917Sound Arts
  • 50.0999Music, Other
  • 50.1003Music Management

Common questions

Answers for people weighing music directors and composers programs in Utah.

What degree do you need to become a Music Director?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Music Technology, which awarded 113 degrees in Utah in 2024-25, 59.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Music Director?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 8 programs to this occupation. The largest are Music, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft. Together they graduate about 191 people a year in Utah.

How much do music directors and composers earn in Utah?+

The median is $82,570 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 12.0% above the U.S. median of $73,710. 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 music directors and composers growing?+

BLS projects a -0.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 4,300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Utah?+

7 institutions in Utah reported graduates from at least one of the 8 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 music directors and composers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Conductor, Choir Director, Music Composer, Music Director among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-2041.

Music Directors and Composers in other statesCaliforniaNew YorkMassachusettsFloridaTexasOhioTennesseeIllinois

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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