Milwaukee, WI (population: 606,508) has thirty-five multimedia design schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Northwestern University, the highest ranked school in this group with a multimedia design program, has a total student population of 19,853. It is the 11th highest ranked school in the USA and the highest in the state of Illinois.
Multimedia Design students from Milwaukee schools who go on to become multimedia designers, interactive media designers, media designers, digital media designers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 28,800 people working as multimedia artists and animators alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $62,810. 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 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis area alone, there are 1,540 employed graphic designers earning an average salary of $44,390. Multimedia artists and animators in this area earn $51,810/yr and there are 170 employed.
Milwaukee lies in Milwaukee county, which is one of the 34 counties in Wisconsin. Overall, the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis area has 817,060 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1.0% unemployment rate, $21.19/hr average worker wage, and a $44,080 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.208 out of every 1000 jobs in Milwaukee are held by multimedia artists and animators, and 1.882/1000 are held by graphic designers.
Of the 35 multimedia design schools with a 100-mile radius of Milwaukee, only 13 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago comes out as the most expensive ($28,726/yr) for multimedia design students, with Muskegon Community College as the lowest, reported at only $3,311/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Milwaukee |
| West Allis | WI | 59,345 | 1 | 16.5935 | 7 | 4.6 miles |
| Brookfield | WI | - | 3 | 7.49122 | 18 | 6.9 miles |
| Greenfield | WI | - | 4 | 24.3685 | 60 | 7.2 miles |
| Mequon | WI | - | 1 | 27.8739 | 102 | 12.2 miles |
| Waukesha | WI | 68,355 | 1 | 31.224 | 60 | 14.1 miles |
| Grafton | WI | - | 1 | 23.6124 | 2 | 18.0 miles |
| Racine | WI | 82,139 | 1 | 0.0127893 | 0 | 24.2 miles |
| Kenosha | WI | 98,714 | 3 | 21.7449 | 204 | 33.8 miles |
| Whitewater | WI | - | 1 | 65.2906 | 73 | 41.7 miles |
| Waukegan | IL | 91,248 | 0 | - | 0 | 48.0 miles |
| Sheboygan | WI | 47,594 | 0 | - | 0 | 49.2 miles |
| Fond du Lac | WI | 42,100 | 2 | 22.0044 | 202 | 54.7 miles |
| Janesville | WI | 63,311 | 2 | 22.9601 | 61 | 59.4 miles |
| Crystal Lake | IL | 42,672 | 3 | 24.3677 | 64 | 60.3 miles |
| Palatine | IL | 67,435 | 1 | 12.7765 | 87 | 65.8 miles |
| Beloit | WI | - | 2 | 31.9387 | 100 | 66.0 miles |
| Arlington Heights | IL | 73,268 | 1 | 24.4091 | 3 | 67.1 miles |
| Glenview | IL | 46,461 | 0 | - | 0 | 68.2 miles |
| West Dundee | IL | - | 1 | 23.2604 | 5 | 68.4 miles |
| Mount Prospect | IL | 52,994 | 2 | 36.9644 | 21 | 68.5 miles |
| Ripon | WI | - | 1 | 32.385 | 53 | 69.4 miles |
| Hoffman Estates | IL | 54,568 | 1 | 19.0736 | 10 | 69.7 miles |
| Evanston | IL | 78,672 | 5 | 24.133 | 202 | 71.3 miles |
| Des Plaines | IL | 57,512 | 1 | 11.0092 | 69 | 71.3 miles |
| Schaumburg | IL | 71,386 | 3 | 11.8364 | 30 | 71.5 miles |
| Skokie | IL | 66,692 | 6 | 22.9614 | 40 | 71.5 miles |
| Madison | WI | 237,838 | 17 | 27.3097 | 685 | 71.8 miles |
| Elgin | IL | 111,179 | 3 | 24.5629 | 139 | 72.4 miles |
| Oshkosh | WI | 63,983 | 2 | 34.1577 | 80 | 72.5 miles |
| Hanover Park | IL | - | 1 | 22.3828 | 2 | 73.9 miles |