Top Ranked Programs
Cornish College of the Arts is anchored in visual and performing arts, a program portfolio shaped by the institution's identity as a specialized arts conservatory. Design and Applied Arts is the largest program with 38 graduates, followed by Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft with 26 graduates, Fine and Studio Arts with 17 graduates, Music, and Dance. Across 0 ranked programs serving roughly 112 students annually, earnings vary considerably by discipline and career pathway. The highest-earning programs cluster in design and technology-adjacent fields. Design and Applied Arts leads with median earnings of $53,773 four years after enrollment across 38 graduates, while Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft graduates earn $43,576 and Fine and Studio Arts graduates earn $39,242. These fields reflect the intersection of creative practice with applied professional skills — areas where arts training translates directly into stable employment in Seattle's creative industries and broader design economy. Dance rounds out the top earners with graduates earning $34,503. The earnings pattern at Cornish College of the Arts reflects the reality of arts-focused institutions: some graduates pursue high-mobility creative and design careers with strong four-year earnings, while others enter grad-school-dependent pathways in fine arts, performance, and music where four-year earnings undercount lifetime trajectory because many continue to graduate study, artist residencies, or performance careers that build over time. The [supply and demand for college graduates](/analysis/supply-demand-map-college-degrees/) provides context for how creative-industry fields align with regional labor-market conditions in the Pacific Northwest.