Jacksonville, FL (population: 822,401) has nineteen video game design schools within a 500-mile radius of its city center. University of Miami, the highest ranked school in this group with a video game design program, has a total student population of 15,629. It is the 69th highest ranked school in the USA and the highest in the state of Florida.
Video Game Design students from Jacksonville 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 Jacksonville area alone, there are 830 employed computer software engineers, systems software earning an average salary of $96,040. Computer software engineers, applications in this area earn $85,450/yr and there are 1,940 employed.
Jacksonville lies in Duval county, which is one of the 49 counties in Florida. Overall, the Jacksonville area has 581,450 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1% unemployment rate, $19/hr average worker wage, and a $39,460 average annual salary. Thus, about 3 out of every 1000 jobs in Jacksonville are held by computer software engineers, applications, and 1/1000 are held by computer software engineers, systems software.
Of the 19 video game design schools with a 500-mile radius of Jacksonville, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, AI Miami International University of Art and Design comes out as the most expensive ($37,252/yr) for video game design students, with South Florida Institute of Technology as the lowest, reported at only $7,020/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Jacksonville |
| Orange Park | FL | - | 3 | 22.5405 | 26 | 11.7 miles |
| Saint Augustine | FL | - | 2 | 46.0117 | 74 | 36.6 miles |
| Palm Coast | FL | 76,000 | 0 | - | 0 | 59.1 miles |
| Gainesville | FL | 116,277 | 8 | 23.682 | 358 | 61.2 miles |
| Waycross | GA | - | 2 | 12.3956 | 59 | 73.7 miles |
| Ocala | FL | 57,520 | 3 | 20.3525 | 108 | 83.8 miles |
| Daytona Beach | FL | 63,815 | 4 | 31.0595 | 184 | 86.9 miles |
| South Daytona | FL | - | 1 | 30.9321 | 7 | 89.6 miles |
| Deland | FL | - | 2 | 24.7322 | 98 | 92.6 miles |