by our College Data Analytics TeamArt Center College of Design is a private not-for-profit institution in Pasadena, California enrolling 2,017 undergraduates. It accepts 74% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 79%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #749 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 15%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Art Center College of Design ranks #749 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 15%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Art Center College of Design was awarded 24 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Art Center College of Design is ranked #749 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.
Art Center College of Design is also ranked #95 on the Best Colleges in California list.
See all of the rankings for Art Center College of Design.
Art Center College of Design has an acceptance rate of 74%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
Learn more about Art Center College of Design admissions.
At Art Center College of Design, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 9 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.
In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Art Center College of Design is 19%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.
Art Center College of Design has a freshmen retention rate of 86%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Art Center College of Design the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 79%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Art Center College of Design.
In the current academic year, there are 2,017 undergraduates at Art Center College of Design.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Art Center College of Design.
The typical net cost at Art Center College of Design is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $39,645 | $42,161 | $44,738 | $45,677 | $61,144 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Art Center College of Design, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Art Center College of Design, approximately 33% of students took out student loans averaging $6,797 a year. That adds up to $27,188 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 5.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Art Center College of Design.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Art Center College of Design make around $71,958 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future Art Center College of Design graduates since it is 46% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Art Center College of Design make the most money.
Art Center College of Design is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Pasadena, California. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of Art Center College of Design.
Contact details for Art Center College of Design can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1700 Lida St, Pasadena, CA 91103 |
| Phone: | 6263962200 |
| Website: | www.artcenter.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/artcenteredu |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/artcenteredu |
In the latest year of available data, students from 7 majors graduated from Art Center College of Design. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 644 | NA |
| Design & Applied Arts | 230 | $40,017 |
| Graphic Communications | 116 | $63,126 |
| Engineering-Related Fields | 62 | $58,061 |
| Computer Software Applications | 57 | NA |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 55 | $21,685 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 53 | $60,973 |
| Architectural Sciences | 29 | $53,380 |
| Fine & Studio Arts | 29 | $21,772 |
| Other Business & Marketing | 13 | NA |
773 students took at least one online class at Art Center College of Design.
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
Learn more about online learning at Art Center College of Design.
Interested in comparing Art Center College of Design? Match them up using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
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