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Traffic designer education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a traffic designer. Traffic designers usually study civil engineering, drafting and design, or elementary education. 55% of traffic designers hold a bachelor's degree, and 41% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 37 real traffic designer resumes to see exactly what traffic designer education sections show.

The most common colleges for traffic designers are the California State University - San Marcos and the California State University - San Marcos.

There are also many online traffic designer courses to help get the education required to be a traffic designer.

What education do you need to become a traffic designer?

What degree do you need to be a traffic designer?

The most common degree for traffic designers is bachelor's degree, with 55% of traffic designers earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 41% and associate degree degree at 5%.
  • Bachelor's, 55%
  • Associate, 41%
  • Master's, 5%

What should I major in to become a traffic designer?

You should major in civil engineering to become a traffic designer. 37% of traffic designers major in civil engineering. Other common majors for a traffic designer include drafting and design and elementary education.

Most common colleges for traffic designers

Traffic designers often get their degrees at California State University - San Marcos, University of Delaware, and Ball State University. Here are the most common colleges for traffic designers in the US based on their resumes.
Traffic designer common collegePercentages
California State University - San Marcos9.52%
University of Delaware9.52%
Ball State University4.76%
New York University4.76%
The Art Institute of Phoenix4.76%

Best majors for traffic designers

Best colleges for traffic designers

The best colleges for traffic designers are Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A traffic designer with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for traffic designers. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become traffic designers.

1. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,465

Enrollment

6,483

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,832

Enrollment

4,550

3. Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA • Private

In-state tuition

$12,424

Enrollment

15,201

4. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

5. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-state tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

6. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

7. University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$14,184

Enrollment

30,845

8. University of California - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$13,226

Enrollment

31,568

9. University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA • Private

In-state tuition

$17,653

Enrollment

16,405

10. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

In-state tuition

$53,740

Enrollment

5,567

20 best online courses for traffic designers

Advertising disclosure

1. Analyze Network Traffic with TCPDump

coursera

In this 1 hour guided project, you will learn how to use one of the most versatile Linux networking utilities tcpdump to capture and analyze TCP traffic. Popular among all ranks of networking professionals, tcpdump will definitely empower you in daily networking operations. Basic network experience and shell script basics are highly recommended as prerequisites...

2. Creating Routing Policies to Handle Traffic with AWS Route53

coursera

In this 2-hour long project based course, we will look at how to handle and divert website traffic to multiple servers using Routing Policies in AWS Route 53. We will look at how you can configure different types of Routing Policies. We will start off with Simple Routing Policy which can be used to divert traffic to multiple servers / IP’s randomly. Then we will look at Weight Routing Policy which allows you to split your traffic based on different weights assigned. We will then move on to...

3. Facebook Marketing: Drive Highly Targeted Facebook Traffic

udemy
4.5
(464)

The One Thing That Everybody Wants is Traffic. You Simply Cannot Have Enough Traffic!...

4. Complete Meta Traffic Ads (Meta CPC) Course + ChatGPT Guide

udemy
4
(621)

Push People to your Website with Meta Traffic Ads (Meta Link Clicks). Learn Meta CPC Ads [Cost Per Click]. Use Chat GPT...

5. VPC Flow Logs - Analyzing Network Traffic

coursera

This is a self-paced lab that takes place in the Google Cloud console. In this lab, you configure a network to record traffic to and from an apache web server using VPC Flow Logs. You then export the logs to BigQuery to analyze them...

6. Dirty Internet Marketing- Free Viral Website Traffic. No SEO

udemy
4.5
(334)

Nifty Internet/Online/Digital Marketing Methods To Get Free Viral Traffic To Your Website/Blog. No SEO skills needed...

7. Facebook Marketing: Next Level Traffic Generation Strategies

udemy
4.2
(275)

Deploy these proven & tested Facebook advertising hacks and drive thousands of visitors to your website every day!...

8. BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager(LTM) V13 Training

udemy
4.4
(724)

Learn BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Version 13 with Step by Step Lab Workbook...

9. Easy YouTube Google Ads - Marketing and Advertising Traffic

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4.8
(521)

Run Ads the Easy and Fun Way Without Falling into Google's Money Traps... costing you thousands of dollars...

10. Complete Primavera P6 training; Project Planning

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4.3
(304)

Master project planning and scheduling with Primavera P6 (Basic & Advance)...

11. MikroTik Traffic Control with LABS

udemy
4.8
(468)

Learn advanced Mikro Tik Firewall, QOS HTB, Packet flow, DHCP and DNS topics & be ready for the Mikro Tik MTCTCE exam...

12. Project Planning with Advanced Roadmaps for Jira

udemy
4.5
(3,724)

Learn JIRA's project planning and agile road-mapping tool with a real-world project...

13. Advanced Planning & Scheduling with Primavera P6

udemy
4.6
(495)

Learn advanced planning & scheduling concepts, and apply them using Primavera P6 and MS Excel...

14. Strategic Planning Skills

udemy
4.4
(1,227)

Strategic Planning Skills...

15. Learn Risk Management: Risk Planning in Agile and Scrum

udemy
4.4
(712)

Complete Risk Management and Risk Planning Training: Identify Project Risks, Create Risk Plan and Monitor Risks in Scrum...

16. Construction Cost Estimating and Management

udemy
4.6
(642)

Learn the tools used by construction management professionals to ensure their projects finish under budget...

17. Advanced Planning Baseline Schedule with Primavera P6 &Excel

udemy
4.5
(438)

Practical Case Study with Step by Step instructions. Work Smart NOT Hard...

18. Project Management Fundamentals: Run projects effectively

udemy
4.4
(9,605)

Learn how to effectively analyze, plan, execute, and manage projects that consistently accomplish company objectives...

19. Primavera P6 Complete Course of Project Planning 2022

udemy
4.4
(260)

Complete course from program inception to reporting...

20. Plan the Project as a Business Analyst - IIBA Endorsed

udemy
4.6
(2,860)

Increase your value as a Business Analyst by learning how to plan projects successfully without a Project Manager...

Top 10 most affordable universities for traffic designers

The most affordable schools for traffic designers are University of Florida, florida state university, and city college of new york of the city university of new york, the.

If the best universities for traffic designers are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for traffic designers.

1. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

2. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

3. City College of New York of the City University of New York, The

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,140

Cost of attendance

14,430

4. Florida Atlantic University

Boca Raton, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$4,831

Cost of attendance

19,559

5. California State University - Northridge

Northridge, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,893

Cost of attendance

18,870

6. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,410

Cost of attendance

20,456

7. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Pomona, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,353

Cost of attendance

21,302

8. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

9. University of Central Florida

Orlando, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,368

Cost of attendance

21,034

10. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez

Mayaguez, PR • Private

In-state tuition

$4,094

Cost of attendance

14,302

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for traffic designers

The hardest universities for traffic designers to get into are Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Some great schools for traffic designers are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for traffic designers based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

17%

SAT average

1,507

2. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

7%

SAT average

1,545

4. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,512

5. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

6. University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA • Private

Admissions rate

26%

SAT average

1,427

7. Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA • Private

Admissions rate

22%

SAT average

1,465

8. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,471

9. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

10. New York University

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

20%

SAT average

1,419

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for traffic designers

The easiest schools for traffic designers to get into are South Dakota State University, oregon institute of technology, and portland state university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a traffic designer without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for traffic designers.

1. South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD • Private

Admissions rate

92%

SAT average

1,149

2. Oregon Institute of Technology

Klamath Falls, OR • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,139

3. Portland State University

Portland, OR • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

1,111

4. Saint Martin's University

Lacey, WA • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,111

5. Washington State University

Pullman, WA • Private

Admissions rate

77%

SAT average

1,123

6. Alabama A & M University

Normal, AL • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

957

7. Montana Technological University

Butte, MT • Private

Admissions rate

92%

SAT average

1,199

8. University of Colorado Denver

Denver, CO • Private

Admissions rate

64%

SAT average

1,132

9. University of Wyoming

Laramie, WY • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,202

10. California State University - Chico

Chico, CA • Private

Admissions rate

65%

SAT average

1,092

Average traffic designer salary by education level

Traffic designers with a Master's degree earn more than those without, at $59,183 annually. With a Doctorate degree, traffic designers earn a median annual income of $58,890 compared to $52,289 for traffic designers with an Bachelor's degree.
Traffic designer education levelTraffic designer salary
Master's Degree$59,183
Bachelor's Degree$52,289
Doctorate Degree$58,890

Traffic designer education FAQs

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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