Memphis, TN (population: 662,989) has two CAD schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. ITT Technical Institute-Cordova, the highest ranked school in this group with a CAD program, has a total student population of 1,009. It is the 4189th highest ranked school in the USA and the 114th highest in the state of Tennessee (#1 is Vanderbilt University).
CAD students from Memphis schools who go on to become drafters, architects, computer aided designers, project architects, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 18,290 people working as drafters alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $48,210. Also, Architectural and civil drafters make on average $47,710 per year and there are about 105,320 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Memphis-MS-AR area alone, there are 280 employed architectural and civil drafters earning an average salary of $47,400. Drafters in this area earn $54,020/yr and there are 200 employed.
Memphis lies in Shelby county, which is one of the 26 counties in Tennessee. Overall, the Memphis-MS-AR area has 605,630 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1.2% unemployment rate, $18.93/hr average worker wage, and a $39,380 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.336 out of every 1000 jobs in Memphis are held by drafters, and 0.458/1000 are held by architectural and civil drafters.
Of the 2 CAD schools with a 100-mile radius of Memphis, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, ITT Technical Institute-Cordova comes out as the most expensive ($22,206/yr) for CAD students, with East Arkansas Community College as the lowest, reported at only $2,502/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Memphis |
| Southaven | MS | 47,625 | 1 | 27.9087 | 11 | 9.7 miles |
| Bartlett | TN | 47,744 | 0 | - | 0 | 12.3 miles |
| Senatobia | MS | - | 1 | 17.4796 | 114 | 34.1 miles |
| Jonesboro | AR | 66,734 | 1 | 24.4204 | 8 | 62.3 miles |
| State University | AR | - | 1 | 57.8251 | 135 | 63.1 miles |