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Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators pay in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Tucson, AZ
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators is $126,470 per year in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. It is $52,200 per year in Tucson, AZ. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 142.3% above Tucson, AZ 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 450 wage and salary jobs in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and 30 in Tucson, AZ. 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.