4. Commercial Art and Graphic Design
An experienced graduate-degree holder earns 16% more than a college graduate, and the unemployment rate is 10% lower.
Experienced college grads earn an average of $56,000 a year, while experienced graduate-degree holders earn $65,000 a year, on average.
7.1% of experienced college grads are unemployed. 6.4% of experienced graduate-degree holders are unemployed.
*Numbers from 2010-2011
I have a two year degree in Commercial Art from a community college. At one point (2010) I was approaching 6 figures, including my annual bonus. Layoffs (2 since 2010) have done their damage, but I’m still in the post-graduate income average range.
My son-in-law is a graphic designer for a phone company in Wyoming. He makes very good money.
Both my daughters have essentially the same degree you have. Both are working in the animation industry and doing very well. They have peers who went to fancy 4-year schools who have $120,000 in student loan debt. My daughters have none.
Commercial art took a hit back in the late 1960s when adventure magazines went to photo covers instead of painted cover art.
So, many of the best Yankee commercial artists went west, put on the big hat and became Cowboy Artists.
I was shocked to find that one of my favorite Western cowboy Artists had never been west of New Jersey.