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Sterling Heights, Michigan has 5 accredited schools offering graphic design programs. Sterling Heights has a population of about 133,473. Median household income is $78,429 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 31.2% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI metro area, the top-earning graphic design-related role is Web and Digital Interface Designer at a median $99,450 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer graphic design programs near Sterling Heights, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Sterling Heights 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 Sterling Heights. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:Accreditor: Higher Learning CommissionIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Higher Learning CommissionIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Michigan schools on the Michigan graphic design page.
Sterling Heights is part of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI metro area (BLS area code 19820). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Michigan statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic Designer | $60,210 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $60,030 |
| Art Director | $95,390 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $95,105 |
| Web and Digital Interface Designer | $99,450 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $99,153 |
| Special Effects Artist and Animator | $86,630 | MI statewide | $86,371 |
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 | 133,473 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $78,429 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 31.2% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 100.3 (above U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 5 accredited schools offering graphic design programs near Sterling Heights. The closest is Macomb Community College in Warren, MI (6.0 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Lawrence Technological University (13.4 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 Sterling Heights are: Web and Digital Interface Designer ($99,450), Art Director ($95,390), Special Effects Artist and Animator ($86,630). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Michigan statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Troy, MI is 5.9 miles from Sterling Heights 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.
Sterling Heights’s median household income of $78,429 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Sterling Heights while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Michigan 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 Sterling Heights:
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 Michigan (2026)
