Virginia Beach, VA (population: 439,564) has three illustration schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Virginia Commonwealth University, the highest ranked school in this group with an illustration 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).
Illustration students from Virginia Beach schools who go on to become illustration artists, animation artists, artists, graphic artists, 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, Artists and related workers make on average $57,470 per year and there are about 8,100 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News-NC area alone, there are 40 employed artists and related workers earning an average salary of $63,640. Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in this area earn $28,230/yr and there are 200 employed.
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. Thus, about 0.271 out of every 1000 jobs in Virginia Beach are held by fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, and 0.056/1000 are held by artists and related workers.
Of the 3 illustration 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 illustration 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 |