California Animation Careers: Employment & Salary Trends, Job Opportunities, & Colleges Offering Animation Programs in California

Animation Careers in California

Overview

• The opportunity to work with some of the largest animation studios in the world
• Employment and salary growth
• Access to competitive animation training programs

Although the motion picture and video industries employ the highest number of animators in the world, advertising and public relations, and computer systems and design also employ a large percentage of America’s animators. Most animators in these fields can find ample opportunities in San Francisco, San Jose (Silicon Valley), Oakland, San Diego, Santa Ana, and Los Angeles. 

Animators interested in working in education choose California based on:

• The number of top universities and specialty schools in the state
• Salary and employment growth
• The opportunity to work in the field and teach

At 486 institutions of higher education, the state of California has five times as many colleges and universities than the national average of 88. Many of these schools offer art and animation programs that have been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).

Employment and Salary Trends for California Animators

California animators make up roughly 12 percent of all animators working in the U.S. As of 2009, nearly 10,000 animators worked in studios, computer design firms, schools, and advertising firms throughout the state. Overall, employment in the animation (and multi-media) industry is expected to grow by 14 percent for the 2008-2018 decade. This is higher than all occupations in the “artists and related workers” industry. At 12 percent, art directors are second in employment growth, followed by fine artists at 9 percent.

As of May 2009, the mean annual wage for animators overall was $62,810 per year. The lowest paid animators earned $32,360 per year and the highest paid animators earned $99,130 per year. As of May 2009, animators living in the state of California earned the highest mean salary for animators in the nation—$76,010 per year. The California metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of animators earned: 

• $83,610 per year (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara)
• $81,320 (San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City)
• $76,070 (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale)

These metropolitan areas are also among the top five areas with the highest concentration of animators in the industry as follows:

• 4,920 (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale)
• 1,900 (San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City)
• 1,340 (Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA)
• 650 (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara)
• 410 (Raleigh-Cary, NC)

Animation Career Opportunities in California

The world’s top animation studios are located throughout California. Aspiring animators interested in working in the motion picture and video industries may find employment at studio giants such as:

• DreamWorks Animation, Glendale
• 20^th Century Fox Animation, Century City
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Century City
• Sony Pictures Animation, Culver City
• Warner Bros. Animation, Burbank
• Walt Disney Feature Animation, Burbank
• Pixar Animation, Emeryville

Advertising and public relations animators can search for opportunities with some of the world’s top advertising agencies with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. These include, but are not limited to:

• Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles
• Wieden & Kennedy, San Francisco
• Foote, Cone & Belding, Los Angeles
• Goodby, SIlverstein, & Partners, San Francisco
• J. Walter Thompson, Los Angeles
• Publicis & Hal Rainey, San Francisco
• DDB Needham, Los Angeles
• Ogilvy & Mather, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco    

There are more than 5,000 computer systems and design firms in the state of California. This means, opportunities for computer systems and design animators are plentiful in the state. Although these positions are available in all major cities in the state of California, major cities located in the northern California area employ the highest number of professionals in this field. Silicon Valley leads the pack.

California Animation Training Programs

California offers access to top animation programs offered at renowned institutions from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles to Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park. Other top art and animation programs are offered at:

Academy of Art University, San Francisco

California College of the Arts, San Francisco & Oakland

California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

California State University, Chico

California State University, Fullerton

California State University, Long Beach

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Northridge

California State University, Sacramento

California State University, San Bernardino

California State University, Stanislaus

Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles

Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles

San Francisco State University, San Francisco (Certificate Only)

San Jose State University, San Jose

If you are interested in a career in animation, you can begin by enrolling in an animation degree program, a multi-media art program, a computer science program with a focus in animation or multi-media art, a fine art  program with a focus in animation, or an advertising program with a focus in animation. In addition to offering a degree in animation or multi-media art, most of the schools listed above offer degrees in the related fields listed here.