Boston, MA (population: 610,407) has four fashion design schools within its city limits. Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the highest ranked school in the city with a fashion design program, has a total student population of 2,422. It is the 237th highest ranked school in the USA and the 16th highest in the state of Massachusetts (#1 is Harvard University).
Fashion Design students from Boston schools who go on to become fashion designers, fashion merchandisers, fashion models, fashion marketers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 15,780 people working as fashion designers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $74,410. Also, Designers make on average $50,420 per year and there are about 10,510 of them employed in the US today.
Boston lies in Suffolk county, which is one of the 12 counties in Massachusetts. Overall, the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy NECTA area has 1,685,900 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.6% unemployment rate, $28.04/hr average worker wage, and a $58,330 average annual salary.
Of the 4 fashion design schools in Boston, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Bay State College comes out as the most expensive ($23,908/yr) for fashion design students, with Massachusetts College of Art and Design as the lowest, reported at only $15,161/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Boston |
| Chelsea | MA | 44,282 | 1 | 26.6747 | 5 | 4.2 miles |
| Somerville | MA | 75,604 | 1 | 21.9743 | 9 | 5.4 miles |
| Cambridge | MA | 108,135 | 7 | 39.5149 | 268 | 5.8 miles |
| Brookline | MA | 55,248 | 4 | 18.3285 | 60 | 6.3 miles |
| Malden | MA | 55,904 | 4 | 25.7416 | 22 | 6.6 miles |
| Milton | MA | - | 2 | 30.0286 | 66 | 6.7 miles |
| Brighton | MA | - | 3 | 22.1394 | 9 | 7.0 miles |
| Chestnut Hill | MA | - | 2 | 53.2355 | 134 | 7.8 miles |
| Watertown | MA | - | 4 | 19.8045 | 105 | 8.6 miles |
| Weymouth | MA | 55,115 | 0 | - | 0 | 9.7 miles |
| Needham | MA | - | 1 | 85.1852 | 4 | 11.6 miles |
| Waltham | MA | 60,722 | 3 | 63.6138 | 127 | 11.8 miles |
| Woburn | MA | - | 3 | 29.2811 | 25 | 11.8 miles |
| Peabody | MA | 51,672 | 0 | - | 0 | 13.4 miles |
| Wellesley | MA | - | 2 | 79.2832 | 74 | 14.2 miles |
| Brockton | MA | 92,742 | 6 | 30.966 | 101 | 18.0 miles |
| Billerica | MA | 40,949 | 1 | 35.5405 | 2 | 19.5 miles |
| Framingham | MA | 64,549 | 2 | 43.2155 | 61 | 21.6 miles |
| North Andover | MA | - | 1 | 30.19 | 56 | 25.5 miles |
| Lowell | MA | 104,063 | 4 | 27.7393 | 100 | 25.8 miles |
| North Attleborough | MA | 43,307 | 0 | - | 0 | 30.1 miles |
| Taunton | MA | 55,679 | 1 | 23.0007 | 3 | 30.6 miles |
| Attleboro | MA | 42,840 | 0 | - | 0 | 31.8 miles |
| Woonsocket | RI | 42,967 | 0 | - | 0 | 34.0 miles |
| Nashua | NH | 86,706 | 4 | 32.4184 | 139 | 37.1 miles |
| Pawtucket | RI | 71,155 | 3 | 14.7207 | 9 | 37.1 miles |
| Smithfield | RI | - | 2 | 41.9902 | 100 | 39.7 miles |
| Leominster | MA | 41,104 | 0 | - | 0 | 40.3 miles |
| Worcester | MA | 174,854 | 11 | 28.6428 | 380 | 40.7 miles |
| East Providence | RI | 48,249 | 1 | 29.3002 | 11 | 41.2 miles |