Is a Music degree worth it?
Across 238 schools, graduates of Music earn a median $40,932 five years out on $25,000 of debt. Most go on to work as Musicians and Singers (11% of them, per Census ACS). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$40,932
Median debt
$25,000
Years to pay off
5.8
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
34%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
-1.5%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
-1.4%
$43,275 vs $43,875
Net price
$19,743/yr
Debt-test failures
40.3%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$22,924
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Music in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.