Want to Work in the Arts? Here’s Where You Should Live
Want to know where you are most likely to get a job in culture—and be paid well for it? A new report released yesterday by the National Endowment for the Arts and the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis can help. The report, “The Arts and Economic Growth,” breaks down cultural employment and compensation by state for the first time. (The report is based on data from 2014, the most recent available.)
Some 40 percent of US workers in the arts and cultural fields find themselves in five states: California, New York, Texas, Florida, and Illinois. Unsurprisingly, New York scores high thanks to its museums, performing arts companies, and architecture and design firms, while California rates well due to the concentration of the motion picture industry.
Combined, these states employ a total of 1.9 million cultural workers that bring home $167 billion in compensation. Here is the breakdown:
- California: 674,865 arts-related workers, $73.8 billion in compensation
- New York: 459,942 arts-related workers, $45.5 billion in compensation
- Texas: 350,643 arts-related workers, $21.2 billion in compensation
- Florida: 236,557 arts-related workers, $14 billion in compensation
- Illinois: 202,397 arts-related workers, $13 billion in compensation