Best Special Effects Artist programs in Virginia, 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.
15 schools in Virginia run programs that feed this job, graduating 477 people a year. The job pays a median of $81,510 in Virginia across about 380 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Virginia that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
6 programs in Virginia that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Virginia (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 Virginia page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 50.0409In Virginia → | 192 | 40.3% | 5 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
| 2 | CIP 10.0304In Virginia → | 113 | 23.7% | 3 | $25,121 | $26,958 |
| 3 | CIP 50.0102In Virginia → | 87 | 18.2% | 2 | $24,752 | $25,963 |
| 4 | CIP 11.0801In Virginia → | 50 | 10.5% | 6 | $33,504 | $27,000 |
| 5 | CIP 50.0708In Virginia → | 27 | 5.7% | 1 | $24,447 | $25,294 |
| 6 | CIP 11.0804In Virginia → | 8 | 1.7% | 1 | $33,504 | $27,000 |
Top 15 schools in Virginia
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 15 schools in this state.
All 15 schools in Virginia
Every school in Virginia 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty University | Lynchburg | Private not-for-profit | 176 | 2 |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | Richmond | Public | 98 | 2 |
| George Mason University | Fairfax | Public | 79 | 1 |
| Regent University | Virginia Beach | Private not-for-profit | 37 | 2 |
| Brightpoint Community College | Chester | Public | 19 | 1 |
| Northern Virginia Community College | Annandale | Public | 19 | 1 |
| Bridgewater College | Bridgewater | Private not-for-profit | 13 | 1 |
| Longwood University | Farmville | Public | 8 | 1 |
| Shenandoah University | Winchester | Private not-for-profit | 8 | 1 |
| Virginia Western Community College | Roanoke | Public | 7 | 1 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | Blacksburg | Public | 5 | 1 |
| Emory & Henry University | Emory | Private not-for-profit | 3 | 1 |
| Virginia Highlands Community College | Abingdon | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Virginia Peninsula Community College | Hampton | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Tidewater Community College | Norfolk | Public | 1 | 1 |
What special effects artists and animators earn in Virginia
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $102,030. Virginia pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Virginia
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 Virginia
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 Virginia.
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 Graphic Design, which awarded 192 degrees in Virginia in 2024-25, 40.3% 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 6 programs to this occupation. The largest are Design and Applied Arts, Graphic Communications, Visual and Performing Arts, Computer Software and Media Applications, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 477 people a year in Virginia.
How much do special effects artists and animators earn in Virginia?+
The median is $81,510 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 20.1% 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 Virginia?+
15 institutions in Virginia reported graduates from at least one of the 6 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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