Mesa, AZ (population: 474,115) has four video game design schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. The Art Institute of Phoenix, the highest ranked school in this group with a video game design program, has a total student population of 1,243. It is the 3128th highest ranked school in the USA and the 42nd highest in the state of Arizona (#1 is Northern Arizona University). To learn more about video game design programs in Mesa, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of video game design professors at The Art Institute of Phoenix such as Tom Dicosola, and Geoff Mellon.
Video Game Design students from Mesa schools who go on to become video game designers, game developers, video game developers, video game engineers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 495,500 people working as computer software engineers, applications alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $90,170. Also, Computer software engineers, systems software make on average $96,620 per year and there are about 385,200 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area alone, there are 3,530 employed computer software engineers, systems software earning an average salary of $83,740. Computer software engineers, applications in this area earn $84,070/yr and there are 5,550 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 3 out of every 1000 jobs in Mesa are held by computer software engineers, applications, and 2/1000 are held by computer software engineers, systems software.
Of the 4 video game design schools with a 100-mile radius of Mesa, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Collins College comes out as the most expensive ($43,351/yr) for video game design students, with Glendale Community College as the lowest, reported at only $7,676/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 |