Columbus, OH (population: 768,662) has two game design schools within its city limits. Bradford School, the highest ranked school in the city with a game design program, has a total student population of 657. It is the 2676th highest ranked school in the USA and the 149th highest in the state of Ohio (#1 is Ohio State University-Main Campus). To learn more about game design programs in Columbus, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of game design professors at Bradford School such as Donna Painter.
Game Design students from Columbus 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. In fact, in the Columbus area alone, there are 3,990 employed computer software engineers, systems software earning an average salary of $84,530. Computer software engineers, applications in this area earn $83,370/yr and there are 7,930 employed.
Columbus lies in Delaware county, which is one of the 36 counties in Ohio. Overall, the Columbus area has 908,190 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.9% unemployment rate, $20.70/hr average worker wage, and a $43,070 average annual salary. Thus, about 8.736 out of every 1000 jobs in Columbus are held by computer software engineers, applications, and 4.399/1000 are held by computer software engineers, systems software.
Of the 2 game design schools in Columbus, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Ohio Dominican University comes out as the most expensive ($19,880/yr) for game design students, with Bradford School as the lowest, reported at only $19,008/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Columbus |
| Hilliard | OH | - | 1 | 21.2344 | 13 | 9.4 miles |
| Canal Winchester | OH | - | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 13.7 miles |
| Concord Twp | OH | - | 1 | 37.8234 | 22 | 46.5 miles |
| Yellow Springs | OH | - | 2 | 0.482738 | 0 | 49.3 miles |
| Zanesville | OH | - | 4 | 22.0879 | 68 | 51.9 miles |
| Kettering | OH | 52,835 | 4 | 32.9219 | 30 | 64.8 miles |
| Dayton | OH | 151,594 | 15 | 24.3199 | 569 | 65.8 miles |
| Piqua | OH | - | 2 | 25.7036 | 76 | 67.2 miles |
| Saint Martin | OH | - | 1 | 11.3716 | 2 | 72.1 miles |
| Tiffin | OH | - | 3 | 36.5272 | 159 | 78.4 miles |
| Lima | OH | - | 5 | 21.8501 | 114 | 78.5 miles |
| Middletown | OH | 51,674 | 7 | 25.6111 | 228 | 80.5 miles |
| Findlay | OH | - | 4 | 17.9539 | 100 | 80.8 miles |
| Rio Grande | OH | - | 3 | 18.3873 | 146 | 83.4 miles |
| New Boston | OH | - | 1 | 21.3268 | 7 | 85.7 miles |
| New Philadelphia | OH | - | 2 | 20.6614 | 41 | 88.6 miles |
| Vienna | WV | - | 2 | 36.4588 | 41 | 89.4 miles |
| Milan | OH | - | 1 | 27.8478 | 15 | 92.7 miles |
| Medina | OH | - | 2 | 28.5662 | 14 | 99.1 miles |
| Oxford | OH | - | 1 | 41.8383 | 150 | 99.1 miles |