Northwestern University Music (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Music
- Private nonprofit university
- Evanston, IL
- About 77 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northwestern University music graduates earn more than graduates of most music programs nationally, $34,823 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $18,166 in federal loans, less than at 90% of music programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying music degrees in Illinois.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all music bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northwestern University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $9,554 more than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois music program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 39% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $9,856 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $193 a month, or 6.7% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
48% of graduates (24 of 50) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Chicago area are about 4% above the national average, so a $34,823 salary here buys what about $33,615 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to music, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$79,990Median pay in Illinois. 44,670 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Sound Engineering Technicians
$73,130Median pay in Illinois. 570 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
Music Directors and Composers
$49,270Median pay in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
About Northwestern University
Music ranks 25th of 29 bachelor's programs at Northwestern University by first-year earnings. The top three are Information Science ($102,998), Computer Science ($99,981), and Applied Mathematics ($94,684).
Other music bachelor's programs near Evanston
Common questions
The median graduate earns $34,823 one year after graduating and $48,276 five years after. The median across music bachelor's programs in Illinois is $28,137.
The median federal loan balance is $18,166, which ranks the lowest of 13 music bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $193 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 52% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 92%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less.
Many leave. 48% (24 of 50) were working in Illinois one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Illinois comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the music program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024