Which California design and applied arts program has the lowest debt?

San Diego State reports the lowest median federal debt, $13,716, with first-year pay of $31,459.

How much do design and applied arts graduates earn in California?

The median across 27 California design and applied arts bachelor's programs is $32,070 in the first year after graduating and $59,941 five years after.

How many design and applied arts bachelor's programs are in California?

27 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 26 of them also report federal debt.

Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's) Programs in California, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

27 programs report first-year pay
26 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Design and Applied Arts

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California design and applied arts bachelor's program pays its graduates $32,070 in their first year, $1,466 less than the national median. USC reports the highest first-year pay ($64,846), and San Diego State the lowest median debt ($13,716).

Median first-year pay$32,070National $33,536

Median pay after 5 years$59,941National $50,431

Median federal debt$23,705National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings70%National 77%

All 27 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	USCLos Angeles · private nonprofit	$64,846	$79,947	$18,262	28%
2	UCLALos Angeles · public	$57,615	$85,813	$20,000	35%
3	Interior Designers InstituteNewport Beach · private for-profit	$51,188	$32,702	$28,655	56%
4	Art Center College of DesignPasadena · private nonprofit	$47,053	$81,385	$31,050	66%
5	Chapman UniversityOrange · private nonprofit	$46,519	$77,615	$23,000	49%
6	Cal State Long BeachLong Beach · public	$37,395	$67,824	$17,215	46%
7	Newschool of Architecture and DesignSan Diego · private for-profit	$37,132	Not reported	$39,251	106%
8	CSUNNorthridge · public	$36,736	$49,713	Not reported	Not reported
9	San Francisco StateSan Francisco · public	$34,845	$71,008	$18,000	52%
10	Design Institute of San DiegoSan Diego · private for-profit	$34,589	Not reported	$45,687	132%
11	UC DavisDavis · public	$32,816	$67,513	$15,000	46%
12	Sacramento StateSacramento · public	$32,240	$56,723	$15,750	49%
13	Woodbury UniversityBurbank · private nonprofit	$32,175	Not reported	$26,980	84%
14	University of San FranciscoSan Francisco · private nonprofit	$32,070	$65,023	$26,500	83%
15	San Diego StateSan Diego · public	$31,459	$56,904	$13,716	44%
16	Otis College of Art and DesignLos Angeles · private nonprofit	$31,172	$63,969	$27,000	87%
17	Cal State Monterey BaySeaside · public	$30,378	$56,342	$14,827	49%
18	Cal Poly PomonaPomona · public	$30,065	$52,064	$21,160	70%
19	California College of the ArtsSan Francisco · private nonprofit	$28,673	$62,146	$27,000	94%
20	California Baptist UniversityRiverside · private nonprofit	$28,669	Not reported	$26,487	92%
21	Laguna College of Art and DesignLaguna Beach · private nonprofit	$27,785	$56,145	$27,000	97%
22	Chico StateChico · public	$27,573	$46,813	$19,047	69%
23	Los Angeles Film SchoolHollywood · private for-profit	$26,583	Not reported	$51,250	193%
24	Cal State San BernardinoSan Bernardino · public	$24,604	$42,348	$16,139	66%
25	Fresno StateFresno · public	$23,160	$46,255	$24,410	105%
26	University of Silicon ValleySan Jose · private for-profit	$22,656	Not reported	$31,000	137%
27	Academy of Art UniversitySan Francisco · private for-profit	$20,829	$57,948	$33,187	159%

CSUN reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. 2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every California design and applied arts program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 26 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to design and applied arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Graphic Designers

$75,130

Median pay in California. 27,390 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $46,190Top 10%: $129,560

Web and Digital Interface Designers

$136,110

Median pay in California. 27,090 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 8,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $68,090Top 10%: $219,750

Interior Designers

$80,230

Median pay in California. 8,500 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $50,940Top 10%: $131,770

Art Directors

$137,780

Median pay in California. 12,430 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $81,500Top 10%: $249,210

Common questions

USC in Los Angeles reports the highest median first-year pay, $64,846. Its median federal debt is $18,262.

Design and Applied Arts (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked297 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of California rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the design and applied arts bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024