---
title: "Creative Careers That Pay Well"
description: "Occupations with a strong Artistic interest profile or high creative-thinking demands that pay at least 25% above the US median wage."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/creative-careers-that-pay-well"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Creative Careers That Pay Well

Occupations with a strong Artistic interest profile or high creative-thinking demands that pay at least 25% above the US median wage.

23 occupations, in the ranked order the career bank computed. Wages are BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth figures are BLS Employment Projections and education is the BLS "typical education needed for entry".

| # | Occupation | Median annual wage | Projected growth | Typical education |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Art Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/art-director) | $114,850 | +4.2% | Bachelor's |
| 2 | [Video Game Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/video-game-designer) | $104,000 | +7.0% | Bachelor's |
| 3 | [Special Effects Artist and Animator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-effects-artist-and-animator) | $102,030 | +1.6% | Bachelor's |
| 4 | [Makeup Artist, Theatrical and Performance](https://nuecareer.com/careers/makeup-artist-theatrical-and-performance) | $97,150 | +8.1% | Certificate |
| 5 | [Producer and Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/producer-and-director) | $90,360 | +4.9% | Bachelor's |
| 6 | [Media Programming Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/media-programming-director) | $90,360 | +4.9% | Bachelor's |
| 7 | [Talent Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/talent-director) | $90,360 | +4.9% | Bachelor's |
| 8 | [Commercial and Industrial Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/commercial-and-industrial-designer) | $83,910 | +3.2% | Bachelor's |
| 9 | [Fashion Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fashion-designer) | $80,960 | +2.0% | Bachelor's |
| 10 | [Landscape Architect](https://nuecareer.com/careers/landscape-architect) | $79,870 | +3.5% | Bachelor's |
| 11 | [Art, Drama, and Music Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/art-drama-and-music-teacher-postsecondary) | $78,620 | +1.7% | Master's |
| 12 | [Art Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/art-therapist) | $77,930 | +11.5% | Bachelor's |
| 13 | [Music Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/music-therapist) | $77,930 | +11.5% | Bachelor's |
| 14 | [Editor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/editor) | $77,920 | +0.6% | Bachelor's |
| 15 | [Writer and Author](https://nuecareer.com/careers/writer-and-author) | $76,910 | +3.6% | Bachelor's |
| 16 | [Poet, Lyricist and Creative Writer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/poet-lyricist-and-creative-writer) | $76,910 | +3.6% | Bachelor's |
| 17 | [Film and Video Editor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/film-and-video-editor) | $75,420 | +4.0% | Bachelor's |
| 18 | [Set and Exhibit Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/set-and-exhibit-designer) | $75,240 | +2.3% | Bachelor's |
| 19 | [Camera Operator, Television, Video, and Film](https://nuecareer.com/careers/camera-operator-television-video-and-film) | $74,990 | +1.2% | Bachelor's |
| 20 | [Public Relations Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-relations-specialist) | $74,750 | +4.8% | Bachelor's |
| 21 | [Music Director and Composer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/music-director-and-composer) | $73,710 | -0.3% | Bachelor's |
| 22 | [Sound Engineering Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sound-engineering-technician) | $73,130 | -1.7% | Certificate |
| 23 | [Interior Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/interior-designer) | $67,190 | +3.2% | Bachelor's |

Full record for any row, including wage percentiles and state-level pay: https://nuecareer.com/careers/{slug} or https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/{slug}.

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/collections/creative-careers-that-pay-well