2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Washington

If you pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #27 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual reviewed 8 schools in Washington to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of design & applied arts. Combined, these schools handed out 311 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to design & applied arts students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other design & applied arts students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt design & applied arts students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized design & applied arts related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for design & applied arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Washington list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in Washington

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts.

Top Washington Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

36 Annual Graduates

$63,449 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts has to look into University of Washington - Seattle Campus. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Seattle.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Washington - Seattle Campus earn $23,353 more than the typical design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

2

Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA

57 Annual Graduates

$31,078 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat Western Washington University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Bellingham, WWU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career income of $31,078.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Western Washington University

3

Seattle Pacific University
Seattle, WA

34 Annual Graduates

$39,248 Median Starting Salary

Seattle Pacific University is a wonderful decision for students interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Seattle, SPU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career wages of $39,248.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Seattle Pacific University

4

Washington State University
Pullman, WA

21 Annual Graduates

$44,823 Median Starting Salary

Washington State University is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Wazzu is a very large public university located in the town of Pullman.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts major at Washington State University get $4,727 above the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Washington State University

5

Seattle University
Seattle, WA

25 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Seattle, Seattle U is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Seattle University

6

Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA

39 Annual Graduates

CWU is a medium-sized public university located in the town of Ellensburg.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Central Washington University

7

Bellevue College
Bellevue, WA

29 Annual Graduates

$45,947 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Bellevue, BC is a public college with a large student population.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Bellevue College receive an earnings boost of about $5,851 above the average earnings of design & applied arts graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Bellevue College

8

Northwest College of Art & Design
Tacoma, WA

17 Annual Graduates

$27,694 Median Starting Salary

NCAD is a fairly small private for-profit college located in the midsize city of Tacoma.

Soon after graduation, design bachelor's recipients typically earn about $27,694 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Northwest College of Art & Design

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	262	2,446
Oregon	185	303
Nevada	129	61
Hawaii	112	10

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Design

One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, Design & Applied Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Design Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Visual Communications	124
Interior Design	62
Graphic Design	51
Industrial Design	34
Commercial & Advertising Art	25
Illustration	11
Fashion Design	3
Game & Interactive Media Design	1

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	338
Music	211
Drama & Theater Arts	170
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	164
Dance	45
Other Visual Art	17
General Visual & Performing Arts	7
Arts & Media Management	7

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.