Best Music Director programs in Washington, 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.
11 schools in Washington run programs that feed this job, graduating 195 people a year. The job pays a median of $75,060 in Washington across about 260 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Washington that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
10 programs in Washington that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Washington (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 Washington page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 50.0913In Washington → | 118 | 60.5% | 3 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 2 | CIP 50.0903In Washington → | 21 | 10.8% | 5 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 3 | CIP 50.0904In Washington → | 17 | 8.7% | 5 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 4 | CIP 50.1003In Washington → | 10 | 5.1% | 3 | $28,050 | $25,468 |
| 5 | CIP 50.0908In Washington → | 8 | 4.1% | 2 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 6 | CIP 50.0905In Washington → | 6 | 3.1% | 1 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 7 | CIP 50.0906In Washington → | 6 | 3.1% | 1 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 8 | Religious/Sacred Musicmain feeder CIP 39.0501In Washington → | 4 | 2.1% | 1 | $30,092 | $27,000 |
| 9 | CIP 50.0509In Washington → | 3 | 1.5% | 1 | $20,667 | $24,994 |
| 10 | CIP 50.0999In Washington → | 2 | 1.0% | 1 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
Top 11 schools in Washington
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 11 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shoreline College Shoreline, WA Public · 2 feeder programs | 100 | Music Technology | — | 29% | — | — |
| 2 | University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA Public · 5 feeder programs | 26 | Music Theory and Composition | — | 85% | — | 39% |
| 3 | Western Washington University Bellingham, WA Public · 2 feeder programs | 16 | Music Performance, General | $15,834 | 65% | — | 93% |
| 4 | DigiPen Institute of Technology Redmond, WA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Music Technology | — | 61% | $39,863 | 64% |
| 5 | Northwest University Kirkland, WA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 9 | Religious/Sacred Music | — | 71% | $21,433 | 83% |
| 6 | Seattle Film Institute Seattle, WA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Music Technology | — | 57% | $41,903 | — |
| 7 | University of Puget Sound Tacoma, WA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 9 | Music Performance, General | $25,551 | 68% | $35,057 | 72% |
| 8 | Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Music Management | — | 43% | — | 91% |
| 9 | Central Washington University Ellensburg, WA Public · 2 feeder programs | 5 | Musical Theatre | $24,674 | 54% | — | 91% |
| 10 | Washington State University Pullman, WA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Music Performance, General | — | 60% | — | 87% |
| 11 | Gonzaga University Spokane, WA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Music Performance, General | — | 86% | $30,006 | 82% |
All 11 schools in Washington
Every school in Washington 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoreline College | Shoreline | Public | 100 | 2 |
| University of Washington - Seattle Campus | Seattle | Public | 26 | 5 |
| Western Washington University | Bellingham | Public | 16 | 2 |
| DigiPen Institute of Technology | Redmond | Private for-profit | 10 | 1 |
| Northwest University | Kirkland | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 4 |
| Seattle Film Institute | Seattle | Private for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| University of Puget Sound | Tacoma | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 3 |
| Eastern Washington University | Cheney | Public | 8 | 1 |
| Central Washington University | Ellensburg | Public | 5 | 2 |
| Washington State University | Pullman | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Gonzaga University | Spokane | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
What music directors and composers earn in Washington
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $73,710. Washington pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Washington
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 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
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Washington
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 Washington.
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 118 degrees in Washington in 2024-25, 60.5% 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 10 programs to this occupation. The largest are Music, Arts, Religious Music and Worship, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft. Together they graduate about 195 people a year in Washington.
How much do music directors and composers earn in Washington?+
The median is $75,060 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.8% 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 Washington?+
11 institutions in Washington reported graduates from at least one of the 10 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.
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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