Virginia Beach, VA (population: 439,564) has three jewelry design schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. College of the Albemarle, the highest ranked school in this group with a jewelry design program, has a total student population of 2,796. It is the 4791st highest ranked school in the USA and the 91st highest in the state of North Carolina (#1 is Duke University).
Jewelry Design students from Virginia Beach schools who go on to become jewelry designers, craft artists, jewelers, jewelry makers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 23,410 people working as jewelers and precious stone and metal workers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $36,620.
Virginia Beach lies in Virginia Beach county, which is one of the 61 counties in Virginia. Overall, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News-NC area has 735,390 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.9% unemployment rate, $19.28/hr average worker wage, and a $40,100 average annual salary.
Of the 3 jewelry design schools with a 100-mile radius of Virginia Beach, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, John Tyler Community College comes out as the most expensive ($4,710/yr) for jewelry design students, with Tidewater Community College as the lowest, reported at only $4,175/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Virginia Beach |
| Chesapeake | VA | 223,315 | 5 | 26.9533 | 56 | 15.5 miles |
| Norfolk | VA | 234,477 | 11 | 21.2525 | 420 | 16.7 miles |
| Portsmouth | VA | 102,540 | 2 | 19.0088 | 64 | 19.6 miles |
| Hampton | VA | 147,560 | 2 | 15.4443 | 49 | 25.5 miles |
| Suffolk | VA | 84,501 | 2 | 10.9214 | 2 | 33.4 miles |
| Newport News | VA | 182,057 | 4 | 29.3064 | 58 | 35.1 miles |
| Petersburg | VA | - | 3 | 33.8633 | 70 | 82.5 miles |
| Weldon | NC | - | 1 | 13.6824 | 51 | 89.1 miles |
| Highland Springs | VA | - | 1 | 3.25189 | 0 | 90.3 miles |
| Richmond | VA | 198,179 | 22 | 25.9212 | 685 | 95.9 miles |