Boston, MA (population: 610,407) has ten music schools within its city limits. Boston University, the highest ranked school in the city with a music program, has a total student population of 31,960. It is the 32nd highest ranked school in the USA and the 5th highest in the state of Massachusetts (#1 is Harvard University). To learn more about music programs in Boston, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of music professors at Boston University such as Brett Abagana, Martin Amlin, Sarah Arneson, Edwin Barker, Daniel Bauch, and Paula Bishop.
Music students from Boston schools who go on to become musicians, producers, vocalists, guitarists, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 47,260 people working as musicians and singers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $0.
Boston lies in Suffolk county, which is one of the 12 counties in Massachusetts. Overall, the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy NECTA area has 1,685,900 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.6% unemployment rate, $28.04/hr average worker wage, and a $58,330 average annual salary.
Of the 10 music schools in Boston, only 3 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, North Bennet Street School comes out as the most expensive ($61,218/yr) for music students, with University of Massachusetts-Boston as the lowest, reported at only $11,506/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Boston |
| Chelsea | MA | 44,282 | 1 | 26.6747 | 5 | 4.2 miles |
| Somerville | MA | 75,604 | 1 | 21.9743 | 9 | 5.4 miles |
| Cambridge | MA | 108,135 | 7 | 39.5149 | 268 | 5.8 miles |
| Brookline | MA | 55,248 | 4 | 18.3285 | 60 | 6.3 miles |
| Malden | MA | 55,904 | 4 | 25.7416 | 22 | 6.6 miles |
| Milton | MA | - | 2 | 30.0286 | 66 | 6.7 miles |
| Brighton | MA | - | 3 | 22.1394 | 9 | 7.0 miles |
| Chestnut Hill | MA | - | 2 | 53.2355 | 134 | 7.8 miles |
| Watertown | MA | - | 4 | 19.8045 | 105 | 8.6 miles |
| Weymouth | MA | 55,115 | 0 | - | 0 | 9.7 miles |
| Needham | MA | - | 1 | 85.1852 | 4 | 11.6 miles |
| Waltham | MA | 60,722 | 3 | 63.6138 | 127 | 11.8 miles |
| Woburn | MA | - | 3 | 29.2811 | 25 | 11.8 miles |
| Peabody | MA | 51,672 | 0 | - | 0 | 13.4 miles |
| Wellesley | MA | - | 2 | 79.2832 | 74 | 14.2 miles |
| Brockton | MA | 92,742 | 6 | 30.966 | 101 | 18.0 miles |
| Billerica | MA | 40,949 | 1 | 35.5405 | 2 | 19.5 miles |
| Framingham | MA | 64,549 | 2 | 43.2155 | 61 | 21.6 miles |
| North Andover | MA | - | 1 | 30.19 | 56 | 25.5 miles |
| Lowell | MA | 104,063 | 4 | 27.7393 | 100 | 25.8 miles |
| North Attleborough | MA | 43,307 | 0 | - | 0 | 30.1 miles |
| Taunton | MA | 55,679 | 1 | 23.0007 | 3 | 30.6 miles |
| Attleboro | MA | 42,840 | 0 | - | 0 | 31.8 miles |
| Woonsocket | RI | 42,967 | 0 | - | 0 | 34.0 miles |
| Nashua | NH | 86,706 | 4 | 32.4184 | 139 | 37.1 miles |
| Pawtucket | RI | 71,155 | 3 | 14.7207 | 9 | 37.1 miles |
| Smithfield | RI | - | 2 | 41.9902 | 100 | 39.7 miles |
| Leominster | MA | 41,104 | 0 | - | 0 | 40.3 miles |
| Worcester | MA | 174,854 | 11 | 28.6428 | 380 | 40.7 miles |
| East Providence | RI | 48,249 | 1 | 29.3002 | 11 | 41.2 miles |