Media & Creative
What you can do with Theater Arts
Acting, directing, or the design and production side of live performance.
- Careers
- 4
- Early career
- $44,000
- Mid-career
- $75,000
- Growing fast
- 2 of 4
How these numbers work: A major does not have its own salary. Early and mid-career pay is what people who hold this degree earn at the start of their careers and midway through them. Career pay comes from the 4 careers a Theater Arts degree commonly leads to, and counts everyone in those jobs, including people who have been doing them for thirty years. The two answer different questions, which is why they do not match.
The New York Fed does not report Theater Arts on its own. Its early and mid-career figures here are for Performing Arts, the broader group it places this major in.
2 of 4 careers this degree leads to are projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034. Of those, Film / Video Producer has the most openings, about 12,800 a year.
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4 careers this degree leads to
Film / Video Producer
$90,360Plan and coordinate various aspects of film, television, or video production including budgeting, scheduling, and creative direction.
- Middle half of workers
- $62,670 to $134,800
- Growth
- Faster than average
- Openings a year
- 12,800
Work-life30Remote40Satisfaction72- Video Production
- Editing
- Storytelling
- Budgeting
Set / Exhibit Designer
$75,240Design the sets for stage, film and television, and the exhibits in museums and trade shows.
- Middle half of workers
- $52,830 to $104,030
- Growth
- Slower than average
- Openings a year
- 2,500
- Spatial Design
- Drafting
- Model Making
- Collaboration
Choreographer
$55,310Create and teach the dance movements for performances, productions and shows.
- Middle half of workers
- $41,600 to $75,710
- Growth
- Faster than average
- Openings a year
- 700
- Choreography
- Teaching
- Creativity
- Leadership
Actor
VariesPlay characters on stage, on screen and in voice work, from auditions through rehearsal and performance.
- Growth
- Slower than average
- Openings a year
- 6,300
- Acting Technique
- Memorization
- Improvisation
- Collaboration
Related majors
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Where these pay figures come from
Early and mid-career pay is the median annual wage of full-time workers who hold a bachelor's degree in that major, ages 22 to 27 and ages 35 to 45, from 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS). Published as Outcomes by Major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.