Houston, TX (population: 2,307,883) has twelve design schools within its city limits. Texas Southern University, the highest ranked school in the city with a design program, has a total student population of 9,394. It is the 821st highest ranked school in the USA and the 36th highest in the state of Texas (#1 is Rice University). To learn more about design programs in Houston, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of design professors at Texas Southern University such as Mitchell Allen, and Jessie Horner.
Design students from Houston 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 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area alone, there are 700 employed floral designers earning an average salary of $23,160. Interior designers in this area earn $49,140/yr and there are 1,290 employed.
Houston lies in Harris county, which is one of the 154 counties in Texas. Overall, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area has 2,563,840 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.7% unemployment rate, $21.58/hr average worker wage, and a $44,880 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.503 out of every 1000 jobs in Houston are held by interior designers, and 0.275/1000 are held by floral designers.
Of the 12 design schools in Houston, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Houston comes out as the most expensive ($34,131/yr) for design students, with Texas Southern University as the lowest, reported at only $7,672/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Houston |
| South Houston | TX | - | 1 | 23.7623 | 5 | 11.9 miles |
| Pearland | TX | 94,215 | 0 | - | 0 | 16.0 miles |
| Pasadena | TX | 148,101 | 8 | 24.6579 | 264 | 16.3 miles |
| Missouri City | TX | 77,622 | 0 | - | 0 | 16.5 miles |
| Baytown | TX | 71,405 | 1 | 12.8813 | 98 | 25.3 miles |
| League City | TX | 78,312 | 0 | - | 0 | 25.7 miles |
| The Woodlands | TX | 101,065 | 1 | 14.626 | 77 | 27.6 miles |
| Texas City | TX | 44,907 | 1 | 8.31197 | 63 | 35.9 miles |
| Conroe | TX | 61,600 | 0 | - | 0 | 38.3 miles |
| Prairie View | TX | - | 1 | 50.8259 | 82 | 42.2 miles |
| Galveston | TX | 57,154 | 3 | 22.3727 | 45 | 47.7 miles |
| Beaumont | TX | 110,900 | 4 | 27.5152 | 152 | 78.1 miles |
| College Station | TX | 90,406 | 1 | 0.218495 | 0 | 79.5 miles |
| Bryan | TX | 73,832 | 2 | 27.1681 | 5 | 85.5 miles |