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Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Trade Schools in California

2023 Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Trade Schools in California

63 Colleges
$51,250 Avg Salary
$62,483 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology School for You

In 2021-2022, 760 degrees and certificates were awarded to drafting & design engineering technology students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #20 most popular major in the state.

It's not easy to decide which trade school program to enroll in when you have so many options available. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Trade College Search has created the Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Trade Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 63 schools in California to see which programs were the most popular for trade school students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Drafting & Design Engineering Technology program at each school on the list.

The colleges and universities below are the most popular for design engineering tech majors pursuing a .

#1

Academy of Art University

San Francisco, CA

Our analysis found Academy of Art University to be the most popular school for drafting & design engineering technology students who want to pursue a degree in California. Located in the city of San Francisco, Academy of Art University is a private for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

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#2

The Fab School

Rancho Cucamonga, CA

The excellent programs at The Fab School helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best drafting & design engineering technology schools in California. Located in the large suburb of Rancho Cucamonga, The Fab School is a private for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

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#3

Butte College

Oroville, CA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Butte College. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Trade Schools in California list. Located in the rural area of Oroville, Butte College is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

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#4

Ventura College

Ventura, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ventura College. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Trade Schools in California list. Ventura College is a large public school located in the medium-sized city of Ventura.

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#5

Sacramento City College

Sacramento, CA

The excellent programs at Sacramento City College helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best drafting & design engineering technology schools in California. Located in the large city of Sacramento, Sacramento City is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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#6

Santa Ana College

Santa Ana, CA

Santa Ana College ranked #6 on this year’s Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Trade Schools in California list. SAC is a very large public school located in the city of Santa Ana.

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Mt. San Antonio College landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular drafting & design engineering technology programs. Mt. SAC is a very large public school located in the suburb of Walnut.

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#8

Sierra College

Rocklin, CA

With a ranking of #8, Sierra College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for drafting & design engineering technology students. Sierra College is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Rocklin.

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#9

Bakersfield College

Bakersfield, CA

With a ranking of #9, Bakersfield College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for drafting & design engineering technology students. Bakersfield College is a fairly large public school located in the city of Bakersfield.

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#10

Palomar College

San Marcos, CA

With a ranking of #10, Palomar College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for drafting & design engineering technology students. Palomar College is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of San Marcos.

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Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also popular but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Trade Schools in California award.

Rank College Location
11 MiraCosta College Oceanside, CA
12 East Los Angeles College Monterey Park, CA
12 Merced College Merced, CA

Best Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Most Popular Drafting & Design Engineering Technology Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 451
Oregon 182
Nevada 15
Alaska 6
Hawaii 38

One of 18 majors within the trade school area of study, drafting & design engineering technology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Design Engineering Tech Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
General Drafting & Design Technology 4,028
CAD/CADD Drafting &/or Design Technology 2,179
Architectural Drafting & Architectural CAD/CADD 1,318
Mechanical Drafting & Mechanical Drafting CAD/CADD 1,058
Civil Drafting & Civil Engineering CAD/CADD 104
Other Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies 72
Electrical/Electronics Drafting & Electrical/Electronics CAD/CADD 47

Related Major Annual Graduates
Industrial Production Technology 11,288
Electromechanical Engineering Technology 10,780
Environmental Control Technology 9,376
Electronics Engineering Technology 8,347
Engineering-Related Fields 6,553

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 26 schools only.

  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Pixabay.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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