Colorado Springs, CO (population: 388,306) has four video game design schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. The Art Institute of Colorado, the highest ranked school in this group with a video game design program, has a total student population of 2,320. It is the 2999th highest ranked school in the USA and the 40th highest in the state of Colorado (#1 is Colorado College). To learn more about video game design programs in Colorado Springs, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of video game design professors at The Art Institute of Colorado such as Ellen Long, and Jason Samson.
Video Game Design students from Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs area alone, there are 2,950 employed computer software engineers, systems software earning an average salary of $95,720. Computer software engineers, applications in this area earn $95,760/yr and there are 1,960 employed.
Colorado Springs lies in El Paso county, which is one of the 55 counties in Colorado. Overall, the Colorado Springs area has 246,560 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $21/hr average worker wage, and a $43,790 average annual salary. Thus, about 8 out of every 1000 jobs in Colorado Springs are held by computer software engineers, applications, and 12/1000 are held by computer software engineers, systems software.
Of the 4 video game design schools with a 100-mile radius of Colorado Springs, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Colorado comes out as the most expensive ($38,252/yr) for video game design students, with Westwood College-Denver South as the lowest, reported at only $18,085/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Colorado Springs |
| Castle Rock | CO | 49,815 | 0 | - | 0 | 36.3 miles |
| Pueblo | CO | 107,496 | 2 | 15.7548 | 107 | 41.5 miles |
| Parker | CO | 47,600 | 0 | - | 0 | 45.0 miles |
| Lone Tree | CO | - | 1 | 9.20591 | 39 | 47.3 miles |
| Highlands Ranch | CO | 129,817 | 0 | - | 0 | 49.0 miles |
| Greenwood Village | CO | - | 2 | 15.5036 | 87 | 53.4 miles |
| Aurora | CO | 334,924 | 11 | 27.59 | 204 | 58.8 miles |
| Lakewood | CO | 142,294 | 13 | 20.2254 | 326 | 61.1 miles |
| Denver | CO | 609,651 | 24 | 21.7296 | 554 | 63.2 miles |
| Commerce City | CO | 46,807 | 0 | - | 0 | 70.1 miles |
| Thornton | CO | 120,487 | 4 | 21.9949 | 44 | 72.0 miles |
| Westminster | CO | 109,334 | 7 | 21.6728 | 184 | 72.2 miles |
| Boulder | CO | 95,721 | 5 | 25.2105 | 131 | 85.1 miles |
| Longmont | CO | 88,962 | 0 | - | 0 | 92.5 miles |