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Santa Monica, California has 5 accredited schools offering graphic design programs, with tuition ranging from $15,203 to $49,403 per year for indexed programs. Santa Monica has a population of about 91,535. Median household income is $109,739 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 68.9% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metro area, the top-earning graphic design-related role is Art Director at a median $137,560 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer graphic design programs near Santa Monica, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Santa Monica city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Santa Monica. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all California schools on the California graphic design page.
Santa Monica is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metro area (BLS area code 31080). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to California statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic Designer | $72,400 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $63,732 |
| Art Director | $137,560 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $121,092 |
| Web and Digital Interface Designer | $106,550 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $93,794 |
| Special Effects Artist and Animator | $124,590 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $109,674 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 91,535 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $109,739 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 68.9% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 113.6 (above U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 5 accredited schools offering graphic design programs near Santa Monica. The closest is Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, CA (0.7 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Otis College of Art and Design (5.9 miles). 4 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying graphic design-related roles near Santa Monica are: Art Director ($137,560), Special Effects Artist and Animator ($124,590), Web and Digital Interface Designer ($106,550). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with California statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Culver City, CA is 5.0 miles from Santa Monica and has its own set of local graphic design programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Santa Monica’s median household income of $109,739 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Santa Monica while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and California public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Santa Monica:
Data verified: July 30, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Online Graphic Design Programs in California (2026)
