College Rankings
Best Music Schools
The top 25 of 236 U.S. colleges offering an undergraduate Music degree, ranked by early-career earnings and return on investment — using each school's real, aid-adjusted net price rather than sticker tuition.
Is Music worth it?
It depends entirely on your ego and your career strategy. If you take out massive student loans to attend a prestigious private conservatory hoping to land a principal chair in a major symphony, the financial math is usually brutal. But if you treat a music degree pragmatically, the payoff is surprisingly strong. The secret is to attend a low-cost, regional public university with the intention of entering music education, commercial production, or a localized gig economy. For students who want to make a stable, middle-class living in the arts without drowning in debt, this degree is absolutely worth it—provided you pick the right school.
| # | School | State | Median earnings | Net price / yr | 10-yr net ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | TX | $56,373 | $4,831† | +$544K |
| 2 | Texas A&M University-Kingsville | TX | $56,072 | $12,090† | +$512K |
| 3 | The University of Texas at El Paso | TX | $56,062 | $9,403† | +$523K |
| 4 | University of Houston | TX | $52,799 | $14,276† | +$471K |
| 5 | The University of Texas at San Antonio | TX | $47,010 | $10,836† | +$427K |
| 6 | Lamar University | TX | $42,328 | $9,366† | +$386K |
| 7 | Stephen F Austin State University | TX | $47,318 | $14,260† | +$416K |
| 8 | East Texas A&M University | TX | $52,282 | $11,841† | +$475K |
| 9 | University of Nevada-Las Vegas | NV | $47,151 | $10,359† | +$430K |
| 10 | Texas State University | TX | $51,158 | $16,805† | +$444K |
| 11 | Texas Woman's University | TX | $44,058 | $11,963† | +$393K |
| 12 | Ohio University-Eastern Campus | OH | $36,252 | $3,925† | +$347K |
| 13 | Sam Houston State University | TX | $59,926 | $16,404† | +$534K |
| 14 | Ohio University-Chillicothe Campus | OH | $36,252 | $5,755† | +$340K |
| 15 | Ohio University-Southern Campus | OH | $36,252 | $5,993† | +$339K |
| 16 | Ohio University-Lancaster Campus | OH | $36,252 | $5,650† | +$340K |
| 17 | Ohio University-Zanesville Campus | OH | $36,252 | $5,746† | +$340K |
| 18 | Rhode Island College | RI | $34,549 | $9,478† | +$308K |
| 19 | Texas Tech University | TX | $49,906 | $19,070† | +$423K |
| 20 | Tennessee Technological University | TN | $44,635 | $14,246† | +$389K |
| 21 | University of Utah | UT | $42,548 | $16,200† | +$361K |
| 22 | Indiana State University | IN | $41,038 | $10,873† | +$367K |
| 23 | Austin Peay State University | TN | $39,008 | $9,735† | +$351K |
| 24 | Eastern Illinois University | IL | $37,163 | $12,786† | +$320K |
| 25 | The University of Texas at Arlington | TX | $37,020 | $13,951† | +$314K |
Top 10 programs by 10-year net ROI
Why these schools rank where they do
If you want to understand this ranking, you have to understand the Texas high school band machine. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley takes the #1 spot—closely followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville and UTEP—because they perfectly execute the most reliable playbook in the music business. Texas public school music programs are incredibly well-funded, and these universities offer rock-bottom tuition while feeding their graduates straight into salaried director roles in Texas Independent School Districts. These jobs come with state pensions, strong starting salaries, and a clear career ladder that freelance gigging simply cannot match. It is no accident that Texas public universities completely dominate the top tier of this list.
The most surprising outcome is the University of Nevada-Las Vegas sitting comfortably in the top 10. UNLV wins because its campus is just blocks from the Las Vegas Strip. Its graduates aren't just relying on teaching jobs; they are plugging directly into the city's insatiable, year-round demand for live entertainment, backing musicians, production crews, and casino residencies.
Meanwhile, the complete absence of elite, household-name conservatories is the elephant in the room. Schools like Juilliard or Berklee may produce Grammy winners, but their astronomical tuition costs and the erratic nature of early-career freelance earnings absolutely sink their financial viability in a strict cost-to-earnings analysis.
What is Music?
Music is the academic and practical study of performance, composition, theory, and education. Graduates spend their days doing everything from directing massive high school marching bands and mixing audio in commercial studios to gigging as freelance performers, scoring media, or managing arts organizations.
Frequently asked questions
Should I get a performance degree or a music education degree?
If you want financial stability right out of the gate, music education is the vastly safer bet. Education degrees lead directly to salaried jobs with benefits in public and private schools. Performance degrees usually require you to hustle as a freelancer, piece together private students, or endure years of brutal auditions. Remember: you can always gig on the weekends with an education degree, but it is much harder to teach in a public school with only a performance degree.
Why aren't famous music conservatories on this list?
Conservatories charge premium, private-school tuition, but their graduates enter a highly competitive freelance market where early-career earnings are often low and unpredictable. Because this ranking measures real-world financial outcomes versus the net cost of the degree, prestigious private arts schools almost always feature terrible debt-to-earnings ratios compared to regional public universities.
Does the local music scene matter when picking a college?
Absolutely. In the music industry, your college town is your first professional network. Schools in cities with heavy live entertainment demands (like Las Vegas) or massive public school band cultures (like Texas) provide built-in pipelines for gigs, student-teaching placements, and early-career jobs. Going to school in an isolated area makes breaking into the industry significantly harder.