San Jose, CA (population: 977,893) has six interactive media design schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Stanford University, the highest ranked school in this group with an interactive media design program, has a total student population of 18,498. It is the 3rd highest ranked school in the USA and one of the highest in the state .
Interactive Media Design students from San Jose schools who go on to become interactive media designers, media designers, multimedia designers, digital media designers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. Also, Graphic designers make on average $47,820 per year and there are about 200,870 of them employed in the US today.
San Jose lies in Santa Clara county, which is one of the 57 counties in California. Overall, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area has 888,960 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $32/hr average worker wage, and a $66,780 average annual salary.
Of the 6 interactive media design schools with a 100-mile radius of San Jose, only 3 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, California College of the Arts comes out as the most expensive ($30,933/yr) for interactive media design students, with California State University-East Bay as the lowest, reported at only $7,105/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from San Jose |
| Santa Clara | CA | 112,889 | 4 | 29.9373 | 188 | 8.2 miles |
| Milpitas | CA | 69,900 | 1 | 18.2292 | 19 | 9.3 miles |
| Sunnyvale | CA | 135,564 | 4 | 17.5213 | 21 | 11.7 miles |
| Fremont | CA | 207,431 | 5 | 26.457 | 262 | 17.9 miles |
| Union City | CA | 76,462 | 1 | 13.7752 | 0 | 22.8 miles |
| Santa Cruz | CA | 57,690 | 2 | 37.6705 | 80 | 25.1 miles |
| Hayward | CA | 145,517 | 6 | 17.5402 | 239 | 26.6 miles |
| Dublin | CA | 46,208 | 3 | 13.8145 | 117 | 29.2 miles |
| Castro Valley | CA | 65,952 | 0 | - | 0 | 30.6 miles |
| San Mateo | CA | 93,990 | 1 | 15.1982 | 101 | 31.0 miles |
| San Leandro | CA | 78,904 | 1 | 29.9223 | 11 | 32.8 miles |
| Oakland | CA | 412,612 | 12 | 26.3295 | 321 | 38.3 miles |
| Alameda | CA | 71,628 | 3 | 11.6549 | 62 | 39.5 miles |
| South San Francisco | CA | 64,345 | 0 | - | 0 | 40.0 miles |
| Walnut Creek | CA | 64,055 | 0 | - | 0 | 42.8 miles |
| Berkeley | CA | 102,237 | 13 | 2.98519 | 59 | 45.7 miles |
| San Francisco | CA | 817,411 | 21 | 17.5697 | 455 | 46.3 miles |
| Concord | CA | 122,338 | 7 | 21.1076 | 136 | 47.1 miles |
| Antioch | CA | 102,439 | 2 | 25.0238 | 14 | 47.8 miles |
| Pittsburg | CA | 67,613 | 2 | 20.7913 | 157 | 49.9 miles |
| Salida | CA | - | 2 | 26.0837 | 19 | 50.5 miles |
| Ceres | CA | 43,443 | 0 | - | 0 | 53.1 miles |
| Modesto | CA | 203,882 | 4 | 24.9737 | 137 | 53.4 miles |
| Stockton | CA | 291,422 | 7 | 28.794 | 278 | 55.0 miles |
| Vallejo | CA | 114,029 | 1 | 31.5233 | 11 | 60.4 miles |
| Fairfield | CA | 104,184 | 9 | 23.8893 | 386 | 66.5 miles |
| Napa | CA | 75,759 | 1 | 15.1485 | 56 | 73.4 miles |
| Merced | CA | 78,579 | 3 | 29.789 | 150 | 75.4 miles |
| Laguna | CA | 60,976 | 0 | - | 0 | 81.0 miles |
| West Sacramento | CA | 50,542 | 1 | 29.8049 | 4 | 88.7 miles |