2025 Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Southwest Region
56Colleges in the Southwest Region
18,213Visual & Performing Arts Degrees Awarded
$27,860Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in visual & performing arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #10 out of 38 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 56 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 18,213 degrees in visual & performing arts to qualified students.
Your choice of visual & performing arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Visual & Performing Arts School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Southwest 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.
Best Schools for Visual & Performing Arts in the Southwest 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 visual & performing arts 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.
11 Top Southwest Region Schools in Visual & Performing Arts
The University of Texas at Austin is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #46 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were about 593 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts major at The University of Texas at Austin get $5,619 more than the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Every student who is interested in visual & performing arts needs to look into Arizona State University - Tempe. ASU - Tempe is a very large public university located in the city of Tempe. A Best Colleges rank of #108 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.
There were roughly 796 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent data year. Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from Arizona State University - Tempe receive an earnings boost of about $2,760 over the average earnings of visual & performing arts graduates.
It is difficult to beat Texas Christian University if you wish to pursue a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the city of Fort Worth, TCU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #112 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means TCU is a great university overall.
There were about 165 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at TCU in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make about $21,221 in their early career salary.
It is difficult to beat University of North Texas if you want to pursue a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the city of Denton, UNT is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #310 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UNT is a great university overall.
There were roughly 792 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UNT in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from University of North Texas earn $2,457 more than the standard visual & performing arts graduate.
Located in the suburb of Dallas, SMU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #142 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means SMU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 196 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at SMU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts program at Southern Methodist University make $2,450 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Richardson, UT Dallas is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #209 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UT Dallas is a great university overall.
There were roughly 353 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UT Dallas in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make an average of $26,972 in their early career salary.
Collin County Community College District is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of McKinney. This college ranks 15th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were roughly 242 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Collin County Community College District in the most recent year we have data available. Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from Collin County Community College District receive an earnings boost of approximately $5,596 over the typical earnings of visual & performing arts graduates.
Texas Tech is a very large public university located in the city of Lubbock. A Best Colleges rank of #161 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Texas Tech is a great university overall.
There were roughly 252 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Texas Tech in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Texas Tech University make $11,512 more than the average visual & performing arts student.
Located in the city of Tucson, University of Arizona is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #110 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means University of Arizona is a great university overall.
There were approximately 311 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at University of Arizona in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program report average early career wages of $27,973.
Located in the small city of San Marcos, Texas State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 16th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 540 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Texas State in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Texas State University earn $9,003 more than the typical visual & performing arts graduate.
Baylor is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Waco. A Best Colleges rank of #150 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Baylor is a great university overall.
There were about 184 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Baylor in the most recent data year. After graduation, visual & performing arts degree recipients typically make about $24,520 at the beginning of their careers.
Here are some additional great schools for Visual & Performing Arts students in the Southwest Region that almost earned our Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Southwest 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).
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. We derive our Best Overall Visual & Performing Arts School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
