2025 Best Music Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region
65Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region
4,667Music Degrees Awarded
$29,590Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in music, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #43 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 65 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Music Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,667 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. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for music schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
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 Middle Atlantic Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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 Middle Atlantic Region
The schools below may not offer all types of music degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It's difficult to beat New York University if you want to pursue a degree in music. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 277 music students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the music program report average early career wages of $29,111.
Carnegie Mellon University is a great option for students interested in a degree in music. Carnegie Mellon is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #8 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were approximately 104 music students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the music program report average early career wages of $23,278.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Johns Hopkins University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in music. Located in the city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #6 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.
There were approximately 215.00000000000003 music students who graduated with this degree at Johns Hopkins in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the music program report average early career earnings of $26,680.
University of Rochester is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in music. University of Rochester is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Rochester. A Best Colleges rank of #82 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means University of Rochester is a great university overall.
There were roughly 233 music students who graduated with this degree at University of Rochester in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the music program state that they receive average early career earnings of $23,844.
Located in the large city of New York, Juilliard is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
There were approximately 274 music students who graduated with this degree at Juilliard in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the music program make about $14,101 in their early career salary.
Located in the small suburb of Ithaca, Ithaca is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 23rd out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 66 music students who graduated with this degree at Ithaca in the most recent data year. After graduation, music degree recipients generally make around $23,119 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the city of New York, New School University is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population. This school ranks 22nd out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were about 211 music students who graduated with this degree at New School University in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, music degree recipients generally make around $14,577 at the beginning of their careers.
CUA is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington. This university ranks 4th out of 7 schools for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were approximately 36 music students who graduated with this degree at CUA in the most recent data year. After graduation, music degree recipients generally make about $23,856 in their early careers.
Located in the suburb of Mechanicsburg, Messiah is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 40th out of 103 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 42 music students who graduated with this degree at Messiah in the most recent year we have data available. Those music students who get their degree from Messiah University receive $36,519 more than the average music student.
Located in the city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #62 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Syracuse is a great university overall.
There were roughly 30 music students who graduated with this degree at Syracuse in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the music program state that they receive average early career wages of $18,574.
Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were about 38 music students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year. Music degree recipients from Columbia University in the City of New York receive an earnings boost of about $3,334 above the average income of music majors.
Temple is a very large public university located in the city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #97 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Temple is a great university overall.
There were approximately 116.00000000000001 music students who graduated with this degree at Temple in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the music program report average early career earnings of $20,453.
Located in the city of New York, Manhattan School of Music is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
There were approximately 318 music students who graduated with this degree at Manhattan School of Music in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, music degree recipients usually earn an average of $18,441 in their early careers.
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 Middle Atlantic 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. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for music schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
