Sacramento, CA (population: 475,452) has six game design schools within its city limits. California State University-Sacramento, the highest ranked school in the city with a game design program, has a total student population of 29,241. It is the 1886th highest ranked school in the USA and the 173rd highest in the state of California (#1 is University of California-Los Angeles). To learn more about game design programs in Sacramento, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of game design professors at California State University such as Andrew Anker, Andre Carli, Doug Dertinger, Carolynn Gibbs, Angela Jackson, and Sue Leith.
Game Design students from Sacramento schools who go on to become video game engineers, game designers, video game designers, game developers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 495,500 people working as computer software engineers, applications alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $90,170. Also, Computer software engineers, systems software make on average $96,620 per year and there are about 385,200 of them employed in the US today.
Of the 6 game design schools in Sacramento, only 4 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of California-Sacramento comes out as the most expensive ($31,815/yr) for game design students, with Cosumnes River College as the lowest, reported at only $5,940/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Sacramento |
| West Sacramento | CA | 50,542 | 1 | 29.8049 | 4 | 4.4 miles |
| Rancho Cordova | CA | 65,274 | 3 | 17.1477 | 50 | 9.4 miles |
| Laguna | CA | 60,976 | 0 | - | 0 | 10.7 miles |
| Roseville | CA | 121,485 | 4 | 20.0435 | 49 | 16.3 miles |
| Woodland | CA | 56,758 | 0 | - | 0 | 17.9 miles |
| Folsom | CA | 69,994 | 1 | 12.6843 | 55 | 18.9 miles |
| Rocklin | CA | 56,052 | 2 | 36.0056 | 125 | 20.2 miles |
| Fairfield | CA | 104,184 | 9 | 23.8893 | 386 | 38.0 miles |
| Yuba City | CA | 62,588 | 1 | 36.3939 | 5 | 40.2 miles |
| Stockton | CA | 291,422 | 7 | 28.794 | 278 | 42.4 miles |
| Antioch | CA | 102,439 | 2 | 25.0238 | 14 | 43.9 miles |
| Pittsburg | CA | 67,613 | 2 | 20.7913 | 157 | 44.4 miles |
| Napa | CA | 75,759 | 1 | 15.1485 | 56 | 48.7 miles |
| Concord | CA | 122,338 | 7 | 21.1076 | 136 | 50.5 miles |
| Vallejo | CA | 114,029 | 1 | 31.5233 | 11 | 53.4 miles |
| Walnut Creek | CA | 64,055 | 0 | - | 0 | 55.7 miles |
| Salida | CA | - | 2 | 26.0837 | 19 | 63.3 miles |
| Dublin | CA | 46,208 | 3 | 13.8145 | 117 | 63.5 miles |
| Berkeley | CA | 102,237 | 13 | 2.98519 | 59 | 65.1 miles |
| Castro Valley | CA | 65,952 | 0 | - | 0 | 67.6 miles |
| Modesto | CA | 203,882 | 4 | 24.9737 | 137 | 68.2 miles |
| Oakland | CA | 412,612 | 12 | 26.3295 | 321 | 68.7 miles |
| San Leandro | CA | 78,904 | 1 | 29.9223 | 11 | 70.1 miles |
| Alameda | CA | 71,628 | 3 | 11.6549 | 62 | 70.1 miles |
| Sonora | CA | - | 1 | 10.5858 | 57 | 71.6 miles |
| Ceres | CA | 43,443 | 0 | - | 0 | 72.6 miles |
| Union City | CA | 76,462 | 1 | 13.7752 | 0 | 73.5 miles |
| Hayward | CA | 145,517 | 6 | 17.5402 | 239 | 73.5 miles |
| San Francisco | CA | 817,411 | 21 | 17.5697 | 455 | 76.8 miles |
| Fremont | CA | 207,431 | 5 | 26.457 | 262 | 77.5 miles |