Oakland, CA (population: 412,612) has three music schools within its city limits. Mills College, the highest ranked school in the city with a music program, has a total student population of 1,501. It is the 303rd highest ranked school in the USA and the 23rd highest in the state of California (#1 is University of California-Los Angeles). To learn more about music programs in Oakland, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of music professors at Mills College such as David Bernstein, India Cooke, Fred Frith, and Nalini Ghuman.
Music students from Oakland schools who go on to become musicians, producers, vocalists, guitarists, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 47,260 people working as musicians and singers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $0.
Oakland lies in Alameda county, which is one of the 57 counties in California. Overall, the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward Metropolitan area has 990,570 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $26/hr average worker wage, and a $54,590 average annual salary.
Of the 3 music schools in Oakland, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Mills College comes out as the most expensive ($23,982/yr) for music students, with Laney College as the lowest, reported at only $7,253/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Oakland |
| Alameda | CA | 71,628 | 3 | 11.6549 | 62 | 2.2 miles |
| San Leandro | CA | 78,904 | 1 | 29.9223 | 11 | 5.6 miles |
| Berkeley | CA | 102,237 | 13 | 2.98519 | 59 | 7.4 miles |
| Castro Valley | CA | 65,952 | 0 | - | 0 | 9.7 miles |
| Hayward | CA | 145,517 | 6 | 17.5402 | 239 | 11.7 miles |
| San Francisco | CA | 817,411 | 21 | 17.5697 | 455 | 12.6 miles |
| Walnut Creek | CA | 64,055 | 0 | - | 0 | 13.3 miles |
| South San Francisco | CA | 64,345 | 0 | - | 0 | 13.3 miles |
| San Mateo | CA | 93,990 | 1 | 15.1982 | 101 | 15.3 miles |
| Union City | CA | 76,462 | 1 | 13.7752 | 0 | 16.1 miles |
| Dublin | CA | 46,208 | 3 | 13.8145 | 117 | 17.3 miles |
| Concord | CA | 122,338 | 7 | 21.1076 | 136 | 18.3 miles |
| Fremont | CA | 207,431 | 5 | 26.457 | 262 | 20.5 miles |
| Vallejo | CA | 114,029 | 1 | 31.5233 | 11 | 23.6 miles |
| Pittsburg | CA | 67,613 | 2 | 20.7913 | 157 | 25.0 miles |
| Antioch | CA | 102,439 | 2 | 25.0238 | 14 | 27.5 miles |
| Sunnyvale | CA | 135,564 | 4 | 17.5213 | 21 | 28.3 miles |
| Milpitas | CA | 69,900 | 1 | 18.2292 | 19 | 29.7 miles |
| Santa Clara | CA | 112,889 | 4 | 29.9373 | 188 | 30.9 miles |
| Fairfield | CA | 104,184 | 9 | 23.8893 | 386 | 34.6 miles |
| Napa | CA | 75,759 | 1 | 15.1485 | 56 | 36.9 miles |
| San Jose | CA | 977,893 | 9 | 20.6572 | 297 | 38.3 miles |
| Stockton | CA | 291,422 | 7 | 28.794 | 278 | 51.6 miles |
| Santa Cruz | CA | 57,690 | 2 | 37.6705 | 80 | 56.2 miles |
| Salida | CA | - | 2 | 26.0837 | 19 | 62.2 miles |
| Laguna | CA | 60,976 | 0 | - | 0 | 62.6 miles |
| West Sacramento | CA | 50,542 | 1 | 29.8049 | 4 | 65.7 miles |
| Woodland | CA | 56,758 | 0 | - | 0 | 67.5 miles |
| Modesto | CA | 203,882 | 4 | 24.9737 | 137 | 67.7 miles |
| Sacramento | CA | 475,452 | 20 | 22.3687 | 626 | 68.7 miles |