Commercial and Industrial Designers salary

SOC 27-1021 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$83,910

per year, nationally

Middle half

$66,450–$109,050

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

33,490

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.2%

2,500 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$53,460$139,770

10th: $53,460
25th: $66,450
Median: $83,910
75th: $109,050
90th: $139,770

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where commercial and industrial designers earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Kansas	$104,870	90.1	260	0.84×
2	Michigan	$102,160	96.2	2,930	3.09×
3	Massachusetts	$101,720	105.8	1,240	1.58×
4	Rhode Island	$101,140	102.3	190	1.76×
5	California	$100,770	110.7	5,300	1.35×
6	Louisiana	$98,040	88.2	130	0.32×
7	Minnesota	$94,370	98.6	590	0.93×
8	Washington	$94,280	107.0	340	0.44×
9	Arkansas	$92,540	86.9	230	0.80×
10	Georgia	$91,360	96.3	360	0.34×
11	Colorado	$90,590	103.1	400	0.65×
12	New Jersey	$90,310	108.8	1,230	1.33×
13	New York	$89,640	107.9	2,400	1.15×
14	Indiana	$88,040	93.3	1,110	1.61×
15	Pennsylvania	$82,610	97.6	770	0.59×
16	Virginia	$82,230	101.1	1,480	1.67×
17	Connecticut	$81,300	103.6	160	0.44×
18	Idaho	$80,730	95.5	180	0.99×
19	Vermont	$80,690	98.0	120	1.77×
20	North Carolina	$80,620	94.3	1,000	0.94×
21	Wisconsin	$80,590	94.1	820	1.30×
22	Ohio	$79,470	92.8	1,190	1.00×
23	Florida	$78,720	103.4	1,990	0.93×
24	South Carolina	$77,300	93.7	810	1.63×
25	Oregon	$76,970	103.4	480	1.13×
26	Nevada	$76,680	100.0	210	0.62×
27	Oklahoma	$76,640	87.8	240	0.64×
28	Arizona	$76,420	100.7	170	0.24×
29	Kentucky	$76,100	90.2	420	0.98×
30	Missouri	$75,440	90.8	270	0.43×
31	New Hampshire	$74,050	104.2	110	0.73×
32	West Virginia	$73,030	89.5	110	0.73×
33	Montana	$72,990	94.6	60	0.51×
34	Nebraska	$71,570	90.1	90	0.39×
35	Tennessee	$71,230	91.9	750	1.06×
36	Maryland	$70,870	105.0	490	0.82×
37	Iowa	$70,420	87.8	440	1.31×
38	Alabama	$63,640	88.8	130	0.30×
39	New Mexico	$62,710	92.2	110	0.59×
40	Utah	$62,620	98.9	480	1.29×
41	South Dakota	$60,110	88.6	190	1.95×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where commercial and industrial designers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for commercial and industrial designers

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$141,310	110.4	410	1.69×
2	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$119,490	109.4	80	1.42×
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$112,950	103.6	420	0.43×
4	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$108,180	100.3	1,760	4.29×
5	Boulder, CO	$107,990	105.2	80	1.88×
6	Wichita, KS	$105,180	88.9	170	2.50×
7	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$104,980	111.1	270	0.61×
8	Baton Rouge, LA	$104,210	90.8	30	0.37×
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$104,000	115.6	1,250	2.45×
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$102,530	108.3	1,020	1.76×
11	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$100,520	98.1	200	0.71×
12	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$99,650	111.9	430	1.31×
13	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$98,260	92.6	40	0.40×
14	Colorado Springs, CO	$98,220	100.7	—	—
15	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$96,260	113.6	2,080	1.54×
16	Reno, NV	$96,060	101.0	40	0.72×
17	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$95,800	110.5	70	1.06×
18	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$95,170	108.8	40	0.82×
19	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$95,160	95.4	350	1.46×
20	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$94,890	112.6	2,560	1.25×
21	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$94,680	100.1	180	0.30×
22	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$94,390	104.8	480	1.13×
23	Worcester, MA	$93,680	102.5	90	1.15×
24	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$93,220	101.8	230	1.53×
25	Spartanburg, SC	$91,270	91.1	50	1.54×
26	Richmond, VA	$89,360	97.9	130	0.91×
27	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$89,190	102.6	490	0.79×
28	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$88,880	103.2	60	1.20×
29	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$88,190	97.6	40	0.60×
30	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$88,040	95.7	500	2.10×
31	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$87,620	98.2	120	0.77×
32	Rochester, NY	$87,570	97.0	110	1.03×
33	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$86,920	103.1	690	0.79×
34	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$86,120	106.7	130	0.58×
35	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$86,090	106.9	40	0.51×
36	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$85,660	108.9	120	0.17×
37	St. Louis, MO-IL	$85,530	95.1	140	0.49×
38	Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ	$85,480	98.9	40	1.21×
39	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	$85,280	93.4	30	1.47×
40	Pittsburgh, PA	$84,760	94.7	90	0.38×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where commercial and industrial designers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Graphic Designers$62,960
Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers$39,390
Interior Designers$67,190
Art Directors$114,850
Floral Designers$37,360
Fashion Designers$80,960
Special Effects Artists and Animators$102,030
Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators$55,490

Commercial and Industrial Designers salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where commercial and industrial designers earn the most

Best paying metro areas for commercial and industrial designers

Similar occupations

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