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2025 Best Dance Bachelor's Degree Schools

96 Colleges in the United States
2,711 Bachelor's Degrees
$22,513 Avg Early-Career Salary
a bachelor's degree in dance is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #115 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 96 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Dance Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,711 bachelor's degrees in dance during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Dance School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Dance Bachelor's Degree Schools Your choice of dance for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for dance students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Dance Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Dance Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Dance in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in dance. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

19 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Dance

1
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
43 Annual Graduates

New York University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in dance. Located in the city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from New York University

2
21 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in dance has to look into University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a very large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

3
13 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Wisconsin - Madison if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in dance. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Wisconsin - Madison

4
12 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat University of California - Riverside if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in dance. Located in the large city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of California - Riverside

5
14 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Dallas, SMU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from Southern Methodist University

6

UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine.

Bachelor's recipients from the dance degree program at University of California - Irvine get $5,599 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of California - Irvine

7
Temple crest
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA
13 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Philadelphia, Temple is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from Temple University

8

Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Columbus.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the dance program make an average of $21,167 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from Ohio State University - Main Campus

9

Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the dance program report average early career wages of $19,787.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of California - Los Angeles

10

USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Dance bachelor's degree recipients from University of Southern California receive an earnings boost of around $3,140 above the average earnings of dance majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Southern California

11
45 Annual Graduates
$21,275 Median Starting Salary
$65,964 Median Student Debt

Chapman is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Orange.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the dance program earn around $21,275 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from Chapman University

12
Iowa crest
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA

Iowa is a fairly large public university located in the city of Iowa City.

Dance bachelor's degree recipients from University of Iowa get an earnings boost of approximately $7,840 above the average earnings of dance graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Iowa

13
U of U crest
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT

U of U is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Salt Lake City.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the dance program report average early career earnings of $24,125.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Utah

14
9 Annual Graduates

UMCP is a very large public university located in the suburb of College Park.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Maryland - College Park

15
37 Annual Graduates
$21,880 Median Starting Salary
$100,159 Median Student Debt

MMC is a small private not-for-profit college located in the large city of New York.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the dance program earn around $21,880 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from Marymount Manhattan College

16
UF crest
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

Located in the city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the dance program earn about $16,639 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Florida

17
Conn College crest
Connecticut College
New London, CT
5 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of New London, Conn College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from Connecticut College

18
17 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from The University of Texas at Austin

19
19 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in dance from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

Rest of the Top Best Dance Bachelor's Degree Schools

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Dance Bachelor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
26 The University of the Arts Philadelphia, PA
27 Arizona State University - Tempe Tempe, AZ
28 American Musical and Dramatic Academy New York, NY
29 Purchase College Purchase, NY
30 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL
31 Ohio University - Athens Campus Athens, OH
32 California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA
20 Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX
21 University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA
22 Texas State University San Marcos, TX
23 Muhlenberg College Allentown, PA
24 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL

Dance by Region

View the Best Dance Bachelor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, Dance has other similar majors worth exploring.

Dance Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Dance 2,588
Other Dance 82
Ballet 41

Majors Similar to Dance

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 24,429
Design & Applied Arts 19,864
Music 15,545
Drama & Theater Arts 12,746
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 12,366
General Visual & Performing Arts 4,118
Arts & Media Management 2,916
Other Visual Art 479
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 46
Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged Art 4

Notes and References

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