Best Designer, All Other programs in California, ranked by enrollment
All designers not listed.
24 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,098 people a year. The job pays a median of $65,420 in California across about 3,110 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
3 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 50.0401In California → | 591 | 53.8% | 16 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
| 2 | CIP 50.0410In California → | 305 | 27.8% | 6 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
| 3 | CIP 50.0404In California → | 202 | 18.4% | 7 | $31,611 | $26,000 |
Top 24 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 14 of the 24 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California - Davis Davis, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 277 | Design and Visual Communications, General | $32,816 | 86% | — | 42% |
| 2 | Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 141 | Illustration | $47,053 | 79% | $48,578 | 75% |
| 3 | San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 116 | Design and Visual Communications, General | $34,845 | 50% | — | 96% |
| 4 | California State University - Fullerton Fullerton, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 80 | Industrial and Product Design | — | 70% | — | 91% |
| 5 | Academy of Art University San Francisco, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 78 | Illustration | $20,829 | 34% | $40,294 | — |
| 6 | California College of the Arts San Francisco, CA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 76 | Design and Visual Communications, General | $28,673 | 61% | $40,041 | 91% |
| 7 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 43 | Design and Visual Communications, General | $64,846 | 92% | $26,873 | 10% |
| 8 | Laguna College of Art and Design Laguna Beach, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 42 | Illustration | $27,785 | 52% | $41,341 | 94% |
| 9 | University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 37 | Design and Visual Communications, General | $32,070 | 70% | $37,121 | 62% |
| 10 | Otis College of Art and Design Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 35 | Illustration | $31,172 | 66% | $44,867 | 82% |
| 11 | University of California - San Diego La Jolla, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 34 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | 86% | — | 27% |
| 12 | California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 28 | Industrial and Product Design | $37,395 | 69% | — | 46% |
| 13 | California State University - Monterey Bay Seaside, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 27 | Design and Visual Communications, General | $30,378 | 59% | — | 97% |
| 14 | San Jose State University San Jose, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Industrial and Product Design | — | 69% | — | 85% |
| 15 | California State University - Chico Chico, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 22 | Design and Visual Communications, General | $27,573 | 63% | — | 93% |
| 16 | Biola University La Mirada, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | 68% | $26,727 | 74% |
| 17 | Azusa Pacific University Azusa, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | 62% | $20,686 | 88% |
| 18 | Platt College - Ontario Ontario, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | 58% | $28,453 | — |
| 19 | University of Redlands Redlands, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | 67% | $22,706 | 83% |
| 20 | Newschool of Architecture and Design San Diego, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Industrial and Product Design | $37,132 | 62% | $47,298 | 100% |
| 21 | California Baptist University Riverside, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Illustration | $28,669 | 62% | $26,940 | 85% |
| 22 | Chabot College Hayward, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | 47% | — | — |
| 23 | Los Angeles Pacific College Los Angeles, CA Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | MiraCosta College Oceanside, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Design and Visual Communications, General | — | 41% | — | — |
All 24 schools in California
Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California - Davis | Davis | Public | 277 | 1 |
| Art Center College of Design | Pasadena | Private not-for-profit | 141 | 1 |
| San Francisco State University | San Francisco | Public | 116 | 2 |
| California State University - Fullerton | Fullerton | Public | 80 | 1 |
| Academy of Art University | San Francisco | Private for-profit | 78 | 1 |
| California College of the Arts | San Francisco | Private not-for-profit | 76 | 3 |
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles | Private not-for-profit | 43 | 1 |
| Laguna College of Art and Design | Laguna Beach | Private not-for-profit | 42 | 1 |
| University of San Francisco | San Francisco | Private not-for-profit | 37 | 1 |
| Otis College of Art and Design | Los Angeles | Private not-for-profit | 35 | 3 |
| University of California - San Diego | La Jolla | Public | 34 | 1 |
| California State University - Long Beach | Long Beach | Public | 28 | 1 |
| California State University - Monterey Bay | Seaside | Public | 27 | 1 |
| San Jose State University | San Jose | Public | 23 | 1 |
| California State University - Chico | Chico | Public | 22 | 1 |
What designers, all other earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $64,950. California pays above the national figure.
Concentrated here: California employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Designers, All Other page.
How to become a Designer, All Other
- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 3 majors mapped to Designers, All Other3 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 50.0401Design and Visual Communications, General
- 50.0404Industrial and Product Design
- 50.0410Illustration
Common questions
Answers for people weighing designers, all other programs in California.
What degree do you need to become a Designer, All Other?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Design and Visual Communications, General, which awarded 591 degrees in California in 2024-25, 53.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Designer, All Other?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Design and Applied Arts. Together they graduate about 1,098 people a year in California.
How much do designers, all other earn in California?+
The median is $65,420 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.7% above the U.S. median of $64,950. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for designers, all other growing?+
BLS projects a +2.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 2,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
24 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
Do you need training or experience beyond a degree?+
BLS lists 'None' for related work experience and 'None' for on-the-job training typically needed to reach competency.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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