Portland, OR (population: 573,530) has thirteen art and design schools within its city limits. Reed College, the highest ranked school in the city with an art and design program, has a total student population of 1,481. It is the 100th highest ranked school in the USA and the highest in the state of Oregon.
Art and Design students from Portland schools who go on to become designers, ad designers, advertising designers, commercial designers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 8,900 people working as fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $50,630. Also, Electrical and electronics drafters make on average $54,800 per year and there are about 30,590 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton-WA area alone, there are 290 employed electrical and electronics drafters earning an average salary of $50,690. Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in this area earn $43,480/yr and there are 80 employed.
Portland lies in Clackamas county, which is one of the 16 counties in Oregon. Overall, the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton-WA area has 993,470 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.6% unemployment rate, $22.15/hr average worker wage, and a $46,080 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.084 out of every 1000 jobs in Portland are held by fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, and 0.294/1000 are held by electrical and electronics drafters.
Of the 13 art and design schools in Portland, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Western Culinary Institute comes out as the most expensive ($48,778/yr) for art and design students, with Portland Community College as the lowest, reported at only $6,829/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Portland |
| Vancouver | WA | 169,603 | 5 | 29.2795 | 91 | 6.3 miles |
| Beaverton | OR | 94,639 | 1 | 27.5128 | 6 | 8.8 miles |
| Aloha | OR | 48,328 | 1 | 25.9507 | 7 | 10.8 miles |
| Gresham | OR | 104,562 | 1 | 12.9715 | 88 | 11.0 miles |
| Oregon City | OR | - | 1 | 13.6089 | 75 | 12.9 miles |
| McMinnville | OR | - | 3 | 33.009 | 71 | 34.7 miles |
| Salem | OR | 157,890 | 12 | 32.4146 | 406 | 46.3 miles |
| The Dalles | OR | - | 1 | 11.3829 | 21 | 71.8 miles |
| Astoria | OR | - | 2 | 18.4622 | 36 | 72.0 miles |
| Corvallis | OR | 51,582 | 1 | 28.8426 | 8 | 73.6 miles |