But once she got there, she discovered the discipline of music therapy and immediately switched her major. After finishing her degree in 2021, she started working as a music therapist full-time. While not everyone with a music therapy degree may be working as a therapist, everyone who is a board-certified music therapist has a music therapy degree, per the profession's requirements. Just 30% of current music therapists said they can live comfortably on their music therapy income alone, according to a 2022 survey by the American Music Therapy Association. In their first five years of working, music therapy degree-holders earn a median salary of $49,400, Payscale finds.

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Persons: Dannielle Caldwell, Payscale, Caldwell Organizations: Belmont University, CNBC, American Music Therapy Locations: Nashville