This post profiles America’s largest job markets for Fine Artists, including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators (Standard Occupation Code: 27-1013). It is part of a series that profiles the major job markets for content creation-related careers. The goal of this particular series is to help inform students to incorporate considerations of local job markets when crafting study and career plans. It can be of great benefit to study and live in areas in which there is a market for one’s chosen field.
The table below lists America’s 25 largest metro area job markets for Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators. It provides information on the total number of people in that occupation, the mean annual wage, the number of jobs per 1000, and the ‘location quotient.’ The location quotient is the ratio of the percentage of jobs in that occupation locally to the percentage nationally. A score above one denotes that more jobs in that occupation are present in the local area compared to the national average, while a score below one indicates fewer jobs in the local area relative to the national average. Click here for more details on the data and methods employed to produce this information.
| Rank | Metro Area | Total Employment | Jobs per 1k | Location Quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 2110 | 0.24 | 3.63 |
| 2 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 510 | 0.20 | 2.94 |
| 3 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 210 | 0.11 | 1.60 |
| 3 | Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH | 210 | 0.08 | 1.23 |
| 3 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 210 | 0.08 | 1.21 |
| 6 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 160 | 0.07 | 1.09 |
| 7 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 120 | 0.03 | 0.42 |
| 8 | New Orleans-Metairie, LA | 80 | 0.16 | 2.35 |
| 8 | Columbus, OH | 80 | 0.08 | 1.20 |
| 10 | Provo-Orem, UT | 70 | 0.26 | 3.90 |
| 10 | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | 70 | 0.06 | 0.98 |
| 10 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 70 | 0.04 | 0.59 |
| 10 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 70 | 0.03 | 0.49 |
| 14 | Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI | 60 | 0.08 | 1.13 |
| 14 | Cleveland-Elyria, OH | 60 | 0.06 | 0.97 |
| 14 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 60 | 0.04 | 0.61 |
| 14 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 60 | 0.02 | 0.29 |
| 18 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | 50 | 0.13 | 1.98 |
| 18 | Salt Lake City, UT | 50 | 0.06 | 0.91 |
| 18 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN | 50 | 0.05 | 0.81 |
| 21 | Asheville, NC | 40 | 0.20 | 3.03 |
| 21 | Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT | 40 | 0.12 | 1.76 |
| 21 | Boise City, ID | 40 | 0.11 | 1.64 |
| 21 | Baton Rouge, LA | 40 | 0.10 | 1.46 |
| 21 | Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA | 40 | 0.09 | 1.37 |
| 21 | Oklahoma City, OK | 40 | 0.06 | 0.91 |
Some observations:
- Data for Los Angeles was missing. We will revise this post with numbers from Los Angeles.
- The market is extremely concentrated in New York City, with more fine artists employed there as the next 16 cities on this list (recalling that Los Angeles is missing). The city has many galleries, museums, and art schools. It also has sizable media, marketing, and publishing industries.
- Atlanta is the second-largest job market in Fine Arts listed. Relative to the population, its Fine Arts market is as vibrant as New York City.
- Smaller towns with relatively vibrant local Fine Arts markets: New Orleans, Provo, and Ashville.
- Relative to population, the Fine Arts job market is small in Chicago, Washington, Minneapolis,
