Mesa, AZ (population: 474,115) has nine information assurance schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. University of Phoenix-Online Campus, the highest ranked school in this group with an information assurance program, has a total student population of 380,232. It is the 636th highest ranked school in the USA and the 3rd highest in the state of Arizona (#1 is Northern Arizona University).
Information Assurance students from Mesa schools who go on to become information assurance specialists, computer security specialists, database administrators, computer and information scientists, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 26,130 people working as computer and information scientists, research alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $105,370. Also, Medical records and health information technicians make on average $33,880 per year and there are about 170,580 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area alone, there are 2,850 employed medical records and health information technicians earning an average salary of $35,850. Computer and information scientists, research in this area earn $109,080/yr and there are 150 employed.
Mesa lies in Maricopa county, which is one of the 15 counties in Arizona. Overall, the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area has 1,763,410 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $20/hr average worker wage, and a $41,930 average annual salary. Thus, about 0 out of every 1000 jobs in Mesa are held by computer and information scientists, research, and 2/1000 are held by medical records and health information technicians.
Of the 9 information assurance schools with a 100-mile radius of Mesa, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Anthem College-Phoenix comes out as the most expensive ($43,008/yr) for information assurance students, with South Mountain Community College as the lowest, reported at only $8,106/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Mesa |
| Gilbert | AZ | 243,090 | 0 | - | 0 | 6.3 miles |
| Tempe | AZ | 181,658 | 9 | 21.5079 | 137 | 11.2 miles |
| Chandler | AZ | 258,122 | 5 | 22.1433 | 88 | 11.2 miles |
| Scottsdale | AZ | 241,464 | 7 | 18.4016 | 124 | 20.1 miles |
| Phoenix | AZ | 1,635,783 | 32 | 17.3678 | 810 | 20.8 miles |
| Glendale | AZ | 255,662 | 10 | 18.0628 | 241 | 28.7 miles |
| Maricopa | AZ | 53,723 | 0 | - | 0 | 30.7 miles |
| Avondale | AZ | 89,387 | 5 | 24.8339 | 71 | 33.5 miles |
| Peoria | AZ | 168,424 | 5 | 16.2489 | 161 | 34.3 miles |
| Casa Grande | AZ | 47,388 | 1 | 16.7022 | 3 | 36.7 miles |
| Surprise | AZ | 104,876 | 0 | - | 0 | 45.2 miles |
| Buckeye | AZ | 61,572 | 0 | - | 0 | 49.1 miles |
| Prescott Valley | AZ | 41,046 | 1 | 8.12951 | 6 | 88.8 miles |
| Prescott | AZ | 44,035 | 4 | 31.39 | 279 | 90.0 miles |
| Tucson | AZ | 551,067 | 19 | 23.0062 | 495 | 97.8 miles |