Start with the answer
Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators pay in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators is $78,290 per year in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ. It is $126,470 per year in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ is 38.1% below San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 27-1013 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists Not published wage and salary jobs in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ and 450 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.
Evidence: bls-oews-may-2025 · Rule: same-soc-same-metric-pair · nominal-median-gap · employment-not-openings