Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary · SOC 25-1121
Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondarys
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas
Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (1 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.
Top 25 of 149 metro areas
| # | Metro area | Median annual | Employment | Per 1,000 jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $163,750 | 560 | 0.3 |
| 2 | Fresno, CA | $135,970 | 170 | 0.4 |
| 3 | Visalia, CA | $128,910 | 40 | 0.2 |
| 4 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $127,800 | 1,050 | 0.4 |
| 5 | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $124,680 | 370 | 0.3 |
| 6 | Trenton-Princeton, NJ | $104,910 | Not published | Not published |
| 7 | Charlottesville, VA | $104,570 | 200 | 1.7 |
| 8 | Ithaca, NY | $102,910 | 670 | 14.0 |
| 9 | Eugene-Springfield, OR | $101,270 | Not published | Not published |
| 10 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $101,010 | 770 | 0.5 |
| 11 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $100,950 | 13,080 | 1.4 |
| 12 | Pittsfield, MA | $100,490 | Not published | Not published |
| 13 | Lincoln, NE | $98,800 | 130 | 0.7 |
| 14 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $96,170 | 3,820 | 1.4 |
| 15 | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $96,050 | 1,100 | 0.3 |
| 16 | Binghamton, NY | $95,160 | 140 | 1.5 |
| 17 | College Station-Bryan, TX | $94,740 | 210 | 1.6 |
| 18 | Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | $94,490 | 580 | 0.8 |
| 19 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $94,370 | 690 | 0.6 |
| 20 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $91,490 | 5,200 | 0.8 |
| 21 | Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC | $87,760 | 70 | 0.3 |
| 22 | Salem, OR | $86,800 | 40 | 0.2 |
| 23 | St. Cloud, MN | $85,820 | 80 | 0.8 |
| 24 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $85,590 | 860 | 0.6 |
| 25 | Bloomington, IN | $84,830 | 370 | 5.0 |
Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary overview.
About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.