2025 Best Music Schools in the Far Western US Region
60Colleges in the Far Western US Region
4,297Music Degrees Awarded
$29,590Avg Early-Career Salary
Music is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #43 most popular degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual reviewed 60 schools in the Far Western US Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of music. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,297 degrees in music annually.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
The music program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Music rankings. We derive our Best Overall Music School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Music Schools in the Far Western US Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Best Schools for Music in the Far Western US Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the music degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
University of Southern California is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in music. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 228 music students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the music program make an average of $21,246 in the first couple years of working.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in music. Located in the city of San Francisco, SFCM is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
There were approximately 134 music students who graduated with this degree at SFCM in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the music major at San Francisco Conservatory of Music make $5,336 more than the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
University of California - Los Angeles is a good choice for students interested in a degree in music. UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were about 115 music students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, music degree recipients typically make an average of $21,758 at the beginning of their careers.
University of Oregon is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in music. Located in the city of Eugene, UO is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 29 schools for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were roughly 90 music students who graduated with this degree at UO in the most recent data year. After graduating, music degree recipients usually earn around $20,707 in their early careers.
UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the large city of Seattle. A Best Colleges rank of #44 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW Seattle is a great university overall.
There were approximately 50 music students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 24th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 38 music students who graduated with this degree at Chapman in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, music degree recipients generally make around $14,538 in their early careers.
Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #73 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Irvine is a great university overall.
There were about 27 music students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent year we have data available.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo. A Best Colleges rank of #165 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a great university overall.
There were approximately 12 music students who graduated with this degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the most recent data year.
University of Redlands is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Redlands. This university ranks 53rd out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 45 music students who graduated with this degree at University of Redlands in the most recent data year.
UCSB is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara. A Best Colleges rank of #47 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.
There were approximately 45 music students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available.
UC Davis is a very large public university located in the small suburb of Davis. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.
There were approximately 16 music students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the music program make around $24,630 for their early career.
CWU is a medium-sized public university located in the distant town of Ellensburg. This university ranks 6th out of 50 schools for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were approximately 55 music students who graduated with this degree at CWU in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the music program make about $28,503 in their early career salary.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Music Schools in the Far Western US Region award.
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).
The music program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Music rankings. We derive our Best Overall Music School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
