San Francisco, CA (population: 817,411) has two video game design schools within its city limits. The Art Institute of California-San Francisco, the highest ranked school in the city with a video game design program, has a total student population of 1,462. It is the 3505th highest ranked school in the USA and the 335th highest in the state of California (#1 is University of California-Los Angeles). To learn more about video game design programs in San Francisco, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of video game design professors at The Art Institute of California such as Gary Acord, Harvey Bailey, Brandon Baron, Carol Brown, John Chester, and Cindy Chow.
Video Game Design students from San Francisco 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 San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City Metropolitan area alone, there are 7,280 employed computer software engineers, systems software earning an average salary of $114,150. Computer software engineers, applications in this area earn $105,650/yr and there are 10,820 employed.
San Francisco lies in San Francisco county, which is one of the 57 counties in California. Overall, the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City Metropolitan area has 982,930 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $30/hr average worker wage, and a $61,940 average annual salary. Thus, about 11 out of every 1000 jobs in San Francisco are held by computer software engineers, applications, and 7/1000 are held by computer software engineers, systems software.
Of the 2 video game design schools in San Francisco, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of California-San Francisco comes out as the most expensive ($30,077/yr) for video game design students, with Academy of Art University as the lowest, reported at only $25,960/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from San Francisco |
| South San Francisco | CA | 64,345 | 0 | - | 0 | 7.8 miles |
| Alameda | CA | 71,628 | 3 | 11.6549 | 62 | 10.4 miles |
| Berkeley | CA | 102,237 | 13 | 2.98519 | 59 | 12.0 miles |
| Oakland | CA | 412,612 | 12 | 26.3295 | 321 | 12.6 miles |
| San Mateo | CA | 93,990 | 1 | 15.1982 | 101 | 16.4 miles |
| San Leandro | CA | 78,904 | 1 | 29.9223 | 11 | 16.9 miles |
| Hayward | CA | 145,517 | 6 | 17.5402 | 239 | 21.5 miles |
| Castro Valley | CA | 65,952 | 0 | - | 0 | 21.7 miles |
| Walnut Creek | CA | 64,055 | 0 | - | 0 | 24.1 miles |
| Vallejo | CA | 114,029 | 1 | 31.5233 | 11 | 25.7 miles |
| Union City | CA | 76,462 | 1 | 13.7752 | 0 | 26.3 miles |
| Concord | CA | 122,338 | 7 | 21.1076 | 136 | 28.2 miles |
| Fremont | CA | 207,431 | 5 | 26.457 | 262 | 29.7 miles |
| Dublin | CA | 46,208 | 3 | 13.8145 | 117 | 29.7 miles |
| Sunnyvale | CA | 135,564 | 4 | 17.5213 | 21 | 34.9 miles |
| Pittsburg | CA | 67,613 | 2 | 20.7913 | 157 | 35.1 miles |
| Napa | CA | 75,759 | 1 | 15.1485 | 56 | 37.6 miles |
| Santa Clara | CA | 112,889 | 4 | 29.9373 | 188 | 38.2 miles |
| Antioch | CA | 102,439 | 2 | 25.0238 | 14 | 38.6 miles |
| Milpitas | CA | 69,900 | 1 | 18.2292 | 19 | 38.7 miles |
| Fairfield | CA | 104,184 | 9 | 23.8893 | 386 | 40.0 miles |
| San Jose | CA | 977,893 | 9 | 20.6572 | 297 | 46.3 miles |
| Santa Cruz | CA | 57,690 | 2 | 37.6705 | 80 | 59.8 miles |
| Stockton | CA | 291,422 | 7 | 28.794 | 278 | 63.8 miles |
| Laguna | CA | 60,976 | 0 | - | 0 | 71.9 miles |
| Woodland | CA | 56,758 | 0 | - | 0 | 73.0 miles |
| West Sacramento | CA | 50,542 | 1 | 29.8049 | 4 | 73.4 miles |
| Salida | CA | - | 2 | 26.0837 | 19 | 74.8 miles |
| Sacramento | CA | 475,452 | 20 | 22.3687 | 626 | 76.8 miles |
| Modesto | CA | 203,882 | 4 | 24.9737 | 137 | 80.2 miles |