Seattle, WA (population: 614,214) has three fashion design schools within its city limits. The Art Institute of Seattle, the highest ranked school in the city with a fashion design program, has a total student population of 2,282. It is the 2958th highest ranked school in the USA and the 56th highest in the state of Washington (#1 is University of Washington-Seattle Campus). To learn more about fashion design programs in Seattle, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of fashion design professors at The Art Institute of Seattle such as Rayne Beaudoin, Belle Bezdicek, Scott Carnz, Nan Cauthorn, Paul Clark, and Tony Dattilo.
Fashion Design students from Seattle 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. In fact, in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan area alone, there are 430 employed designers earning an average salary of $73,900. Fashion designers in this area earn $70,910/yr and there are 240 employed.
Seattle lies in King county, which is one of the 24 counties in Washington. Overall, the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan area has 1,404,710 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.7% unemployment rate, $25.60/hr average worker wage, and a $53,240 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.172 out of every 1000 jobs in Seattle are held by fashion designers, and 0.309/1000 are held by designers.
Of the 3 fashion design schools in Seattle, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Seattle comes out as the most expensive ($28,174/yr) for fashion design students, with Seattle Central Community College as the lowest, reported at only $7,598/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Seattle |
| Kirkland | WA | 48,153 | 2 | 17.9541 | 117 | 8.5 miles |
| Bellevue | WA | 128,225 | 4 | 10.794 | 140 | 9.0 miles |
| Tukwila | WA | - | 1 | 9.30665 | 25 | 10.9 miles |
| Bothell | WA | - | 2 | 28.3486 | 26 | 11.9 miles |
| Renton | WA | 66,884 | 4 | 19.959 | 76 | 12.0 miles |
| Lynnwood | WA | - | 1 | 17.534 | 76 | 14.0 miles |
| Edmonds | WA | 40,568 | 0 | - | 0 | 14.6 miles |
| Kent | WA | 84,987 | 1 | 34.1348 | 6 | 16.7 miles |
| Federal Way | WA | 84,659 | 2 | 22.1387 | 18 | 21.4 miles |
| Everett | WA | 99,092 | 6 | 27.2101 | 95 | 24.5 miles |
| Tacoma | WA | 200,855 | 9 | 34.3764 | 293 | 26.1 miles |
| Fife | WA | - | 1 | 33.1119 | 4 | 26.3 miles |
| Puyallup | WA | - | 1 | 10.872 | 24 | 30.2 miles |
| South Hill | WA | 63,243 | 0 | - | 0 | 33.4 miles |
| Olympia | WA | 46,257 | 2 | 20.9056 | 57 | 47.4 miles |
| Bellingham | WA | 82,173 | 5 | 30.4386 | 275 | 77.7 miles |
| Aberdeen | WA | - | 3 | 19.6431 | 151 | 82.0 miles |