Indianapolis, IN (population: 803,930) has three industrial design schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Purdue University-Main Campus, the highest ranked school in this group with an industrial design program, has a total student population of 41,052. It is the 81st highest ranked school in the USA and the 2nd highest in the state of Indiana (#1 is Indiana University-Bloomington). To learn more about industrial design programs in Indianapolis, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of industrial design professors at Purdue University such as Tolga Benli, Laura Drake, Sally Harmon, Otie Kilmer, Mary Jane Matranga, and Stacey Schetzle.
Industrial Design students from Indianapolis 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 Indianapolis-Carmel area alone, there are 1,220 employed graphic designers earning an average salary of $42,050. Industrial engineering technicians in this area earn $47,360/yr and there are 360 employed.
Indianapolis lies in Marion county, which is one of the 39 counties in Indiana. Overall, the Indianapolis-Carmel area has 870,660 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1.5% unemployment rate, $20.15/hr average worker wage, and a $41,900 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.416 out of every 1000 jobs in Indianapolis are held by industrial engineering technicians, and 1.397/1000 are held by graphic designers.
Of the 3 industrial design schools with a 100-mile radius of Indianapolis, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, University of Cincinnati-Main Campus comes out as the most expensive ($17,997/yr) for industrial design students, with Danville Area Community College as the lowest, reported at only $3,570/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Indianapolis |
| Greenwood | IN | 50,562 | 2 | 33.0452 | 104 | 11.3 miles |
| Carmel | IN | 71,355 | 0 | - | 0 | 13.3 miles |
| Fishers | IN | 75,408 | 0 | - | 0 | 13.6 miles |
| Noblesville | IN | 43,991 | 1 | 25.8098 | 4 | 20.4 miles |
| Anderson | IN | 57,207 | 4 | 25.3197 | 163 | 32.5 miles |
| Greencastle | IN | - | 1 | 73.3275 | 64 | 39.2 miles |
| Crawfordsville | IN | - | 1 | 65.7607 | 29 | 42.5 miles |
| Kokomo | IN | 45,373 | 3 | 27.6981 | 91 | 48.4 miles |
| Muncie | IN | 64,234 | 3 | 31.2358 | 217 | 49.7 miles |
| West Lafayette | IN | - | 1 | 78.6553 | 122 | 60.0 miles |
| Terre Haute | IN | 60,269 | 5 | 28.5376 | 204 | 68.9 miles |
| Oxford | OH | - | 1 | 41.8383 | 150 | 77.2 miles |
| Hanover | IN | - | 1 | 62.3933 | 55 | 82.1 miles |
| North Manchester | IN | - | 1 | 55.0629 | 70 | 86.8 miles |
| Middletown | OH | 51,674 | 7 | 25.6111 | 228 | 96.6 miles |
| Florence | KY | - | 8 | 23.3148 | 213 | 97.7 miles |
| Cincinnati | OH | 332,807 | 36 | 23.3732 | 744 | 98.1 miles |
| Crestview Hills | KY | - | 1 | 24.073 | 65 | 98.5 miles |