If you plan on majoring in visual & performing arts, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #10 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 641 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 150,273 degrees in visual & performing arts annually.
Your choice of visual & performing arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Visual & Performing Arts School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
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 Visual & Performing Arts in the United States
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the visual & performing arts degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
New York University is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.
There were about 1834 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make around $26,826 in the first couple years of working.
FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in visual & performing arts. FIDM Los Angeles is a small private for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.
There were about 298 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at FIDM Los Angeles in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make about $24,724 for their early career.
Cornell University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in visual & performing arts. Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.
There were about 87 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Cornell University make $3,213 more than the typical visual & performing arts student.
Fashion Institute of Technology is a great decision for students pursuing a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of New York, FIT SUNY is a public school with a medium-sized student population. This school ranks 4th out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 1475 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at FIT SUNY in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program state that they receive average early career earnings of $23,973.
USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 1089 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program report average early career wages of $29,335.
U-M is a very large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were about 545 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program earn an average of $24,194 in their early career salary.
Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 422 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. After graduation, visual & performing arts degree recipients generally earn around $28,104 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #8 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were approximately 314 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent year we have data available. Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from Carnegie Mellon University get an earnings boost of around $20,141 over the typical income of visual & performing arts majors.
Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Nashville. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were about 84 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Ames, Iowa State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were roughly 272 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Iowa State University receive $9,668 more than the average visual & performing arts student.
Chapman is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Orange. This university ranks 24th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 548 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Chapman in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Chapman University receive $2,962 more than the standard visual & performing arts student.
Belmont is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Nashville. This university ranks 3rd out of 41 colleges for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.
There were approximately 656 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Belmont in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, visual & performing arts degree recipients typically earn an average of $29,332 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 41 colleges for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 119 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from University of Notre Dame make $12,682 more than the standard visual & performing arts grad.
Located in the city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 9 colleges for overall quality in the state of Rhode Island.
There were roughly 115 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, visual & performing arts degree recipients generally make an average of $23,180 in their early careers.
American Musical and Dramatic Academy is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
There were approximately 781 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at American Musical and Dramatic Academy in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make around $17,382 in their early career salary.
Located in the large suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means WUSTL is a great university overall.
There were approximately 164 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Washington University in St Louis earn $5,755 more than the standard visual & performing arts grad.
Located in the large city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 50 colleges for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 372 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from University of Washington - Seattle Campus earn $4,194 more than the average visual & performing arts student.
Located in the city of Baltimore, MICA is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
There were roughly 507.00000000000006 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at MICA in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program earn around $27,203 for their early career.
Located in the city of Brooklyn, Pratt Institute is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
There were about 643 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Pratt Institute in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Pratt Institute - Main receive $5,656 more than the typical visual & performing arts student.
RISD is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Providence.
There were about 277 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at RISD in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, visual & performing arts degree recipients typically earn about $24,603 at the beginning of their careers.
Boston U is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston. This university ranks 4th out of 63 schools for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were approximately 364 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Boston U in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts degree program at Boston University earn $3,506 more than the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Boston, Emerson is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 16th out of 63 schools for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were approximately 507 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Emerson in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program report average early career earnings of $25,382.
SCAD is a large private not-for-profit college located in the city of Savannah.
There were about 1728 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at SCAD in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, visual & performing arts degree recipients typically earn an average of $25,739 in the first five years of their career.
American Academy of Dramatic Arts - New York is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.
There were roughly 99 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at American Academy of Dramatic Arts - New York in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program report average early career wages of $12,456.
Located in the city of Boston, Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a public college with a small student population.
There were roughly 332 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make around $24,930 in their early career salary.
This list shows the remainder of the schools awarded a Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools badge.
Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 20% of the 641 different United States visual & performing arts schools we analyzed.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Bonnielou2013.
Your choice of visual & performing arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Visual & Performing Arts School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
