Virginia Beach, VA (population: 439,564) has three fine arts schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Virginia Commonwealth University, the highest ranked school in this group with a fine arts program, has a total student population of 32,172. It is the 222nd highest ranked school in the USA and the 5th highest in the state of Virginia (#1 is Washington and Lee University). To learn more about fine arts programs in Virginia Beach, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of fine arts professors at Virginia Commonwealth University such as Tom Adair, Holly Alford, Angela Allen, Deidra Arrington, Kathryn Baines, and Peter Baldes.
Fine Arts students from Virginia Beach schools who go on to become artists, animation artists, fine artists, sculptors, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 8,900 people working as fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $50,630. Also, Craft artists make on average $33,070 per year and there are about 5,380 of them employed in the US today.
Virginia Beach lies in Virginia Beach county, which is one of the 61 counties in Virginia. Overall, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News-NC area has 735,390 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.9% unemployment rate, $19.28/hr average worker wage, and a $40,100 average annual salary.
Of the 3 fine arts schools with a 100-mile radius of Virginia Beach, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Virginia Commonwealth University comes out as the most expensive ($15,907/yr) for fine arts students, with Elizabeth City State University as the lowest, reported at only $3,335/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Virginia Beach |
| Chesapeake | VA | 223,315 | 5 | 26.9533 | 56 | 15.5 miles |
| Norfolk | VA | 234,477 | 11 | 21.2525 | 420 | 16.7 miles |
| Portsmouth | VA | 102,540 | 2 | 19.0088 | 64 | 19.6 miles |
| Hampton | VA | 147,560 | 2 | 15.4443 | 49 | 25.5 miles |
| Suffolk | VA | 84,501 | 2 | 10.9214 | 2 | 33.4 miles |
| Newport News | VA | 182,057 | 4 | 29.3064 | 58 | 35.1 miles |
| Petersburg | VA | - | 3 | 33.8633 | 70 | 82.5 miles |
| Weldon | NC | - | 1 | 13.6824 | 51 | 89.1 miles |
| Highland Springs | VA | - | 1 | 3.25189 | 0 | 90.3 miles |
| Richmond | VA | 198,179 | 22 | 25.9212 | 685 | 95.9 miles |