Columbus, OH (population: 768,662) has two industrial design schools within its city limits. Ohio State University-Main Campus, the highest ranked school in the city with an industrial design program, has a total student population of 55,014. It is the 33rd highest ranked school in the USA and the highest in the state of Ohio. To learn more about industrial design programs in Columbus, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of industrial design professors at Ohio State University such as Annie Abell, Jim Arnold, Andrew Barrow, Francie Buschur, Reinhart Butter, and Gabriel Esquivel.
Industrial Design students from Columbus 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 Columbus area alone, there are 1,770 employed graphic designers earning an average salary of $44,460. Industrial engineering technicians in this area earn $49,690/yr and there are 760 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 0.834 out of every 1000 jobs in Columbus are held by industrial engineering technicians, and 1.945/1000 are held by graphic designers.
Of the 2 industrial design schools in Columbus, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Columbus College of Art and Design comes out as the most expensive ($22,225/yr) for industrial design students, with Ohio State University-Main Campus as the lowest, reported at only $16,868/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 |