Colorado Springs, CO (population: 388,306) has three industrial design schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. The Art Institute of Colorado, the highest ranked school in this group with an industrial design program, has a total student population of 2,320. It is the 2999th highest ranked school in the USA and the 40th highest in the state of Colorado (#1 is Colorado College). To learn more about industrial design programs in Colorado Springs, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of industrial design professors at The Art Institute of Colorado such as Ellen Long, and Jason Samson.
Industrial Design students from Colorado Springs schools who go on to become industrial designers, commercial designers, architecture designers, designers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 65,460 people working as industrial engineering technicians alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $49,030. Also, Graphic designers make on average $47,820 per year and there are about 200,870 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Colorado Springs area alone, there are 490 employed graphic designers earning an average salary of $41,020. Industrial engineering technicians in this area earn $53,500/yr and there are 170 employed.
Colorado Springs lies in El Paso county, which is one of the 55 counties in Colorado. Overall, the Colorado Springs area has 246,560 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $21/hr average worker wage, and a $43,790 average annual salary. Thus, about 1 out of every 1000 jobs in Colorado Springs are held by industrial engineering technicians, and 2/1000 are held by graphic designers.
Of the 3 industrial design schools with a 100-mile radius of Colorado Springs, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Colorado comes out as the most expensive ($38,252/yr) for industrial design students, with Metropolitan State College of Denver as the lowest, reported at only $11,829/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Colorado Springs |
| Castle Rock | CO | 49,815 | 0 | - | 0 | 36.3 miles |
| Pueblo | CO | 107,496 | 2 | 15.7548 | 107 | 41.5 miles |
| Parker | CO | 47,600 | 0 | - | 0 | 45.0 miles |
| Lone Tree | CO | - | 1 | 9.20591 | 39 | 47.3 miles |
| Highlands Ranch | CO | 129,817 | 0 | - | 0 | 49.0 miles |
| Greenwood Village | CO | - | 2 | 15.5036 | 87 | 53.4 miles |
| Aurora | CO | 334,924 | 11 | 27.59 | 204 | 58.8 miles |
| Lakewood | CO | 142,294 | 13 | 20.2254 | 326 | 61.1 miles |
| Denver | CO | 609,651 | 24 | 21.7296 | 554 | 63.2 miles |
| Commerce City | CO | 46,807 | 0 | - | 0 | 70.1 miles |
| Thornton | CO | 120,487 | 4 | 21.9949 | 44 | 72.0 miles |
| Westminster | CO | 109,334 | 7 | 21.6728 | 184 | 72.2 miles |
| Boulder | CO | 95,721 | 5 | 25.2105 | 131 | 85.1 miles |
| Longmont | CO | 88,962 | 0 | - | 0 | 92.5 miles |