Denver, CO (population: 609,651) has ten design schools within its city limits. University of Denver, the highest ranked school in the city with a design program, has a total student population of 11,644. It is the 148th highest ranked school in the USA and the 2nd highest in the state of Colorado (#1 is Colorado College). To learn more about design programs in Denver, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of design professors at University of Denver such as Rafael Fajardo, and Daemian McGill.
Design students from Denver schools who go on to become interior designers, architecture designers, designers, graphic designers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 46,010 people working as interior designers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $51,990. Also, Floral designers make on average $24,940 per year and there are about 51,470 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Denver-Aurora area alone, there are 440 employed floral designers earning an average salary of $27,480. Interior designers in this area earn $46,300/yr and there are 710 employed.
Denver lies in Denver county, which is one of the 55 counties in Colorado. Overall, the Denver-Aurora area has 1,218,790 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $23/hr average worker wage, and a $48,560 average annual salary. Thus, about 1 out of every 1000 jobs in Denver are held by interior designers, and 0/1000 are held by floral designers.
Of the 10 design schools in Denver, only 3 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Colorado comes out as the most expensive ($38,252/yr) for design students, with Community College of Denver as the lowest, reported at only $9,358/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Denver |
| Commerce City | CO | 46,807 | 0 | - | 0 | 6.9 miles |
| Aurora | CO | 334,924 | 11 | 27.59 | 204 | 8.5 miles |
| Thornton | CO | 120,487 | 4 | 21.9949 | 44 | 9.6 miles |
| Greenwood Village | CO | - | 2 | 15.5036 | 87 | 11.4 miles |
| Westminster | CO | 109,334 | 7 | 21.6728 | 184 | 12.2 miles |
| Lakewood | CO | 142,294 | 13 | 20.2254 | 326 | 13.7 miles |
| Highlands Ranch | CO | 129,817 | 0 | - | 0 | 16.1 miles |
| Lone Tree | CO | - | 1 | 9.20591 | 39 | 16.2 miles |
| Parker | CO | 47,600 | 0 | - | 0 | 18.9 miles |
| Castle Rock | CO | 49,815 | 0 | - | 0 | 27.0 miles |
| Boulder | CO | 95,721 | 5 | 25.2105 | 131 | 27.0 miles |
| Longmont | CO | 88,962 | 0 | - | 0 | 30.5 miles |
| Greeley | CO | 94,780 | 4 | 31.0251 | 125 | 45.5 miles |
| Loveland | CO | 68,614 | 0 | - | 0 | 46.2 miles |
| Fort Collins | CO | 141,921 | 5 | 27.6422 | 154 | 55.7 miles |
| Colorado Springs | CO | 388,306 | 17 | 23.417 | 343 | 63.2 miles |
| Cheyenne | WY | 58,067 | 4 | 11.724 | 116 | 95.5 miles |